Reality Can Wait For Vanderbilt
One winning season in 28 years…who cares? Vanderbilt has high hopes and new enthusiasm with the hiring of Coach James Franklin. And this is football we are talking about…American football. Stuck in the best conference in all of college football, winning at Vanderbilt has proven to be very difficult. The high academic standards make it nearly impossible to compete with the likes of Florida, Alabama, Auburn and every other team in the conference for that matter. That is why the Commodores are 1-15 the last two seasons in SEC play.
But none of that matters. For now Vanderbilt believes they can win and Coach Franklin has instilled some belief in his players and even more in the fan base. Nabbing quarterback Lafonte Thourogood away from Virginia Tech on signing day is a big deal and maybe, just maybe, Coach Franklin can continue to recruit relatively well by Vanderbilt standards. If Northwestern can go to the Rose Bowl, the Commodores can at least go to a bowl…right?
Unfortunately, all the high hopes and enthusiasm in the world will not make the Commodores a more talented team or Alabama or Florida any worse. It will take time if Coach Franklin is the man who can turn this program into a consistent six win team instead of a two win team. The good news, for now, is that this is pretty experienced Vanderbilt squad. They return 19 starters, which is pretty impressive. The schedule is also not too bad with home dates against Elon, Connecticut and Mississippi to start off the year. The Commodores won at Mississippi last year, their one conference victory in the last two years, so that has to be considered a winnable game. The Commodores also host Army and Kentucky and take a road trip to Wake Forest to finish off the year. The schedule could be much, much worse.
There could very well be three or four wins in that bunch. That would add even more hope around the program, but the true strength of Vanderbilt football will come in the following years when Coach Franklin starts getting his recruits on the field. Until then there will be hope, but it will slowly disappear as it always does at Vanderbilt.
Read the in-depth football preview for this team
