'That was a three-phase ass-kicking.' Everything Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said after the South Carolina game

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea spoke to the media following the team’s 28-7 loss to South Carolina on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say.

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Opening statement

“Obviously, that was a tough night, tough result. I first want to credit Shane (Beamer) and South Carolina. I thought they, obviously, were the better team, the more physical team, tonight. That was a three-phase ass-kicking, and credit to them – they earned it.

“On our end, it’s easy to be disappointed right now. Obviously, I’m frustrated – frustrated with coming up short in the game, frustrated also with the feeling that we didn’t represent ourselves the way that we wanted to or we want to play into an identity. That’s probably the part of it that hurts the most for me. That’s a good defense we played against. But the inability to get things going offensively and, at times, just feeling like we weren’t not only not covering people up, but just guys cut loose in the backfield, and just killing the momentum in drives – that’s not who we are defensively.

“I felt like we battled, and that’s a physical running team. But when we started the second half, and we got some momentum early, and then when we missed the sack, and they complete the chunk, and then they got the long touchdown run there, it just felt like we withdrew a little bit from the game. That’s frustrating to me. And it’s frustrating for our team, too. But it’s too late to do anything about it now.

“This is going to be painful to us. I think we’ve been clear on what our expectations are week in, week out. We need it to be painful. We need to learn and grow from it. We’re going to turn the page on this, just like we turn the page on the wins. It’s one game – we know were capable of playing poorly. We played poorly against an SEC opponent, and we we got what we deserve tonight.

“But it’s important that we stay together. I think we go deeper in the brotherhood and the love, the family that we’ve created here, and use the bye to try to get rested and recovered to have a great push to the end of the season. I got a lot of affection for this team, and I got a locker room of guys that are disappointed, upset. And their head coach’s right alongside them.”

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On Diego Pavia’s post-game status

“I don’t have an update. I’ll have one, obviously, this week. He’s, right now, being seen, and I’m not sure what’s going on, so I don’t want to comment on that.”

On whether Vanderbilt ran out of gas after six straight games without a bye

“I just don’t believe that we’re not capable of playing better and putting ourselves in position to be competitive in that game. I know I’ve got a team that has pushed really hard through the middle six (games). Obviously, we worked hard this week to try to give them some space to recover, but also not to shortchange the work. Particularly with our defense – I mean, in all three phases – that’s a physical, tough South Carolina team that exposed us when we weren’t in the right positions tonight.

“I don’t know that we ran out of gas. Again, my belief is that, when we play at our highest level – and that we’re capable of that tonight – that we can represent ourselves in a better way and play a competitive game um. But, certainly, I’m looking forward to the bye week to try to get rested and recovered.”

On Vanderbilt’s missed tackles on defense

“It’s frustrating, I want to be clear that these were things we knew that this team was capable of. You watch them on film, and you see the tough runs, and you see them running through contact, and it’s shown up over and over throughout the season. So I want to credit them for that. But I felt like we had a plan to neutralize some of those runs, and I felt like, at times, we had guys in the right position and just not finishing. And then the runs that just extend, there was a couple times where I felt like we had the run bottled up, and they’re able to push the pile. They fought for some hard yards tonight.

“You can’t help but feel personally about that a little bit. That’s where I struggle. It’s just – we want to be the team that’s winning those hard yards. And I thought on the edges, we did at times. On the edges, we were able to get knocked back and get TFLs. But they really hurt us through the middle of the defense.

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“We talk about building the run-wall inside out and outside in. There are times, particularly on the long run – the two long runs across the 50 – that we’re in split-safety boxes. Some of that’s about vertical passing game – and not that we don’t have a player to down the ball, but I can do a better job, too. I always say that the ownership starts with me, but we certainly want to represent ourselves better on defense, and (I’m disappointed with how we played).”

On Pavia’s lawsuit with the NCAA

“I think that probably would be a nice excuse for me to throw out there. I don’t think that had any impact on us. This is about a team that, when we’re playing to our identity, and we’re playing to our level, we can play with anyone in the country when we show up. (When) we don’t play our identity consistently over four quarters, we can get beat by anyone. This was a league opponent that took it to us, and I don’t want to find an easy way out of that. I want to own it, and I want to focus on the things that we control and find ways to get better.

“I was aware of it. Again, I can’t comment on it beyond just saying that, obviously, I’m always going to support our players, and I want for Diego (Pavia) to play as long as he can possibly play. I have such an affection for him and belief in him and appreciation for him um. But it’s a legal matter and in the courts now. We’ll see how it all plays out.”

On what Lea attributes Vanderbilt’s offensive struggles to

“I think, like last week, that’s a really good defensive front. We tried to design ways to neutralize their edges in particular, but I think the edges get a lot of attention. I was impressed with them through the middle of the defense – they were physical, tough. They collapsed space quickly. I think, in the second half, we found some space on the perimeter, and maybe, had we gotten to that a little sooner, we could have created a little more back and forth in the first half. It just felt like we were on our heels. So, part of it’s a credit to them, part of it is, ‘How do we reimagine the design there to get the ball into some space?’ And part of it’s going to be the identity of our offense and how we place snap in, snap out. I think the combination of those things created the distance they needed to win the game.”

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