Greg McElroy reacts to Vanderbilt's 2024 SEC schedule
Back in June, SEC schools found out who their 2024 conference opponents were going to be. Immediately following, there was a lot of debate about what the SEC got right, got wrong, and who had the hardest schedule. In that, one of the more interesting teams was Vanderbilt, which is currently trying to rebuild the program under head coach Clark Lea.
In a special episode of Always College Football, analyst and former SEC quarterback Greg McElroy broke down the 2024 Vanderbilt schedule.
“Looking at Vanderbilt, they protect the Tennessee game and they protect a couple other games in the SEC East,” McElroy said. “But, Vanderbilt, they get Kentucky, they get Tennessee, and they, of course, get South Carolina. That game will be at home.”
One team notably missing from Vanderbilt’s schedule, according to McElroy, is Florida. The Commodores and Gators have met every year since 1992, with Vanderbilt even finding some success against Florida.
“Notably missing from the Vanderbilt schedule, Florida. Florida and Vandy, they’ve had some tough contests in recent years, most notably when Vanderbilt beat Florida last year, but that game’s been way too close for comfort on several different occasions in recent history.”
Another team who Vanderbilt notably won’t play in 2024 is Ole Miss. Under the East-West Division format, the SEC protected one cross-division rivalry per team. Games like Auburn-Georgia fell in this category. For the Commodores, Ole Miss was their protected rival.
In 2024, Vanderbilt’s road schedule will feature games against Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, and Missouri. The Commodores’ home games are against Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. That leaves Vanderbilt with four non-conference games, against Virginia Tech, Norfolk State, SMU, and Georgia State.
Anonymous SEC coach says that Vanderbilt is improving
Clark Lea took over as the head coach of Vanderbilt in 2021 and it was expected that the Commodores were in for a long rebuild. That rebuild is ongoing, though it may be going quicker than most people thought, with one anonymous SEC coach telling Athlon magazine that the team is improving.
“They’re getting better, but you have to be realistic. Are they as good a team as a roster that beats Florida and Kentucky? No, but they hung in long enough to win those games, and they’re so much better than that first season team. They took such a huge jump from Year 1 to Year 2 [under Clark Lea], but they’re going to taper off because of the league,” the coach said.
“They want to fight you. That’s the sign of a good culture, when you come in to play a two- or three-win team, and they scrap for four quarters and play hard.”