Tag: Clark Lea

Way too early 2024 SEC Football Power Rankings

The Sooners and Longhorns are making the jump to the SEC in 2024, so where do they land in our way-too-early power rankings?

In 2024, college football will look like nothing we’ve ever seen. Conference realignment did plastic surgery to the game we’ve grown up with.

The Pac-12 is essentially gone as Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA move to the Big Ten. The Big 12 added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Stanford and Cal are off to the ACC, along with SMU getting a promotion from the AAC. The SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma.

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, coming off its most competitive four-team version.

All of this is happening in 2024.

It’s a new era of college football. For the SEC, the Sooners and Longhorns are coming off of double-digit win seasons and Texas made the playoff. But how do they stack up against their future SEC counterparts?

Here’s a look at our way-too-early SEC power rankings.

College football: Clark Lea gets extension at Vanderbilt

Would he have been coaching Notre Dame if Kelly left a year earlier?

Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea has been extended by Vanderbilt to remain their head coach through 2029.  Lea left Notre Dame after helping call their defense en route to College Football Playoff appearances in 2018 and 2020.

In two years at Vanderbilt, where Lea played fullback, the Commodores went 2-10 in 2021 before improving to 5-7 last year.  Obviously the expectations at Vanderbilt are different than say, the rest of the SEC.

Lea has taken a program that was in contention for being the worst Power Five program and turned it into a respectable one in short order.  His next step will be trying to get Vanderbilt back to bowl eligibility.  They last played in a bowl game following the 2018 season.

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Vanderbilt coach names starting quarterback for UGA game

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea names the Commodores’ starting quarterback for the Georgia football game

The Vanderbilt Commodores plan to start quarterback Ken Seals against Georgia. Seals has started two straight games for the Commodores.

The Commodores turned to Seals after AJ Swann, who started Vanderbilt’s first five games of the year, was unable to avoid turnovers. Swann threw 11 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in his five starts.

Ken Seals has only thrown one interception to go with six touchdown passes in his two starts. Seals played against Georgia in Vanderbilt’s ugly 62-0 loss to Georgia in 2021. Seals completed two of nine passes for eight yards and threw one interception.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea announced the Commodores’ plans to start Lea on Thursday, Oct. 12. The 2-5 Commodores have not scored a point against Georgia in their last two games against the Bulldogs.

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Georgia enters the game having started the season 6-0. The Bulldogs are coming off their best performance of the season against Kentucky.

Clark Lea details Vanderbilt’s cornerbacks ahead of fall camp

2023 SEC media days: Clark Lea details Vanderbilt’s cornerbacks ahead of fall training camp

Vanderbilt third-year head coach Clark Lea kicked off the second day of Southeastern Conference media days Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Commodores will conclude regular-season play at Tennessee on Nov. 25. Vanderbilt lost to the Vols, 56-0, last year in Lea’s second season.

Vanderbilt allowed 3,486 passing yards and 29 passing touchdowns in 2022.

Lea discussed the Commodores’ cornerbacks at SEC media days ahead of fall training camp.

“We have to find the best 11 on both sides,” Lea said. “We do return some snaps at corner, but that doesn’t mean that they haven’t played a bunch. This is about finding the people that are capable in the moment. Obviously, in a game now that is won and lost on the perimeter, we have to give our young players a chance to develop in fall camp. Obviously we have some second year players that are further along in their progress that we expect to have a role on our team. We also have a true freshman that comes in with the chance to make an impact, too. If you remember a year ago, CJ Taylor started as kind of a fringe contributor on our defense and became really our most dynamic playmaker on that side of the ball. That’ll happen at some level this year, too.

“What our goal here is, in fall camp, is to get all those guys exposure, and they’re going to be guarding some SEC-level receivers now. We have a good receiving corps, and it’s not always going to look pretty. For us, it’s to be patient enough to see that through, to keep coaching and developing them through both their wins and their losses and their reps, and to see how that group matures through camp and where we’re ready to start the season. At the point at which we put the ball down against Hawai’i, we don’t stop evaluating at that point. We’ll still look for the highest level performance. That gives those young players time to build into an impact role.”

Vanderbilt kicks off its season Aug. 26 versus Hawai’i at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville (7:30 p.m. EDT, SEC Network).

PHOTOS: 2023 SEC media days kicks off in Nashville

Vanderbilt and head football coach Clark Lea agree to contract extension

Vanderbilt has locked down head football coach Clark Lea for the forseeable future with a contract extension the two sides announced on Monday.

Vanderbilt and head football coach Clark Lea have agreed to a contract extension, the university announced on Monday afternoon.

The extension comes before Lea’s third year with the program. After going 2-10 in his first year in Nashville, the Commodores rebounded for a 5-7 record in 2022. It was the program’s first season of five or more wins since 2018, including key wins in November over Kentucky and Florida.

The program, which went 3-18 in its final two years under former head coach Derek Mason has shown vast improvements under Lea in just a short period.

While Vanderbilt did not disclose the contract terms, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that the extension will keep the former Commodore fullback with the program through 2029.

Before his time with Vanderbilt, Lea spent time across the college football landscape, stopping at UCLA, South Dakota State, Bowling Green, Syracuse, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame along the way. Lea served as the Fighting Irish’s linebacker coach for four seasons while also serving three of those seasons as their defensive coordinator under head coach Brian Kelly.

Vanderbilt and Lea will get their 2023 season started on August 26 as the Commodores host the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Their remaining non-conference schedule includes Alabama A&M and trips to Wake Forest and UNLV before diving into their SEC schedule starting September 23 against the Kentucky Wildcats.

SEC Coaching Rankings: Saban stays at the top, Brian Kelly enters top 3

The SEC is loaded with talented football coaches ranging from decades of experience to first-year hires. Here’s how they rank, according to CBS Sports.

The SEC is loaded with talented individuals. Whether it be players, coaches, training staff or others, the conference is known for being the gold standard in college football. Today, we place the 14 head coaches under a microscope.

CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee recently broke down every SEC head coach and ranked them from first to worst.

Below, Roll Tide Wire takes a look at the rankings and the reasoning behind them. There are some that are spot on, while others are just a bit off. At the end of the day, however, it’s all subjective.

Here are how Sallee ranked the 14 head coaches of the SEC.

How Sam Hartman fared in his one start vs. Notre Dame

It was so nice of @dtranquill to introduce himself to Notre Dame’s future quarterback all those years ago…

Back in late September of 2018, Notre Dame was riding a 3-0 start but struggling mightily on offense. [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] decided before the Wake Forest game that [autotag]Ian Book[/autotag] would replace [autotag]Brandon Wimbush[/autotag] as the starting quarterback and after guiding the Irish to a 56-27 victory, the rest was pretty much history in terms of that quarterback controversy.

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Plenty of people thought they had seen a glimpse of Notre Dame’s future beyond Book at quarterback when [autotag]Phil Jurkovec[/autotag] got playing time late.  It was a different young quarterback from that afternoon that would go on to play for the Irish years later, though.

[autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] was a freshman playing in just his fourth game at Wake Forest that day.  It was a day he’s probably long forgotten or at least put in his past as it was one of his roughest for the Demon Deacons.

Hartman completed just 12 of 24 passes for 110 yards.  He threw for no scores, ran for no touchdowns, but didn’t turn the ball over, either.  After having rushed for over 60 yards in each of his first three games, Hartman was swallowed up by [autotag]Clark Lea[/autotag]’s defense, putting up just 11 rushing yards on 16 attempts (3 sacks included).

Here’s to hoping (and assuming) Hartman will play a lot better as a 23 year old for Notre Dame than he did as an 18 year old against them.

Related items –

5 immediate thoughts on Sam Hartman’s game-changing decision

Notre Dame fans clearly thrilled for Hartman’s arrival

Here are some pictures from that game five years ago in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Former Notre Dame linebacker reuniting with former Irish coach in SEC

Reunited and it feels so good?

Former Notre Dame linebacker Prince Kollie entered the transfer portal just after the conclusion of spring practice in April.

After much speculation we officially know where Kollie is headed, and it involves the coach that played a huge part in getting him to come to Notre Dame originally.

Kollie is headed to Vanderbilt where former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea is entering his third year as head coach. Lea was the lead recruiter in getting Kollie interested in Notre Dame and obviously kept in positive contact after Lea departed for Nashville.

It’s a homecoming for Kollie, who starred at David Crockett High School in Tennessee.  

Kollie played in all 13 games for the Irish in 2022, racking up 19 tackles, 2.5 of those for loss and 1.5 sacks. He starred on special teams as he blocked a punt against Stanford, and he returned a blocked punt for a touchdown against Clemson.

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Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea gave an emotional interview after Commodores’ first SEC win since 2019

“It’s been a long, long run,” Clark Lea said fighting through tears.

Saturday was a monumental day for Vanderbilt football, and their fans everywhere have so many reasons to celebrate.

With the Commodores’ 24-21 win over No. 24 Kentucky on the road in Week 11, they snapped a 26-game SEC losing streak and claimed their first conference victory since October 19, 2019 (when they beat Missouri 21-14).

Trailing by four late in the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt took then lead with about 30 seconds left with quarterback Mike Wright connected with receiver Will Sheppard for an eight-yard touchdown. And with a good extra point, the Commodores had a field-goal lead when the Wildcats got the ball back for a failed last-chance drive.

And just like that, Vanderbilt is a winner in the SEC again. Along with snapping a three-year conference losing streak, it was also the first SEC win for Commodores coach Clark Lea, who was understandably emotional afterward.

“I’m proud of all the guys; they earned that,” Lea told the SEC Network after praising Wright’s play and perseverance. “They earned that. It’s been a long, long run — excuse my emotions — they earned it.”

Tearing up, Lea continued to shower his squad with compliments in his emotional post-game interview. He continued:

“You’ve got a bunch of guys that are fighting. And we’re building a program. Building a program’s hard. And it takes tough people that are aligned, doing the right things the right way. And that’s what these guys are doing. I’m glad they got rewarded today.”

Roll Tide Wire staff predictions for Alabama vs. Vanderbilt

The staff at Roll Tide Wire dishes out their predictions for Alabama’s Week 4 matchup with Vanderbilt.

Alabama is set to open its slate of SEC games this weekend when the Vanderbilt Commodores travel to Tuscaloosa. Nick Saban has been preaching consistency in performance all week long and the seven-time national championship-winning head coach is hoping for a complete game against the Commodores on Saturday night.

Vandy head coach Clark Lea is in his second season in Nashville and it seems like he has the program heading in the right direction. This Vandy team is off to a great start this season posting a 3-1 record entering Saturday night’s contest. But to say Alabama will be their toughest test yet is an understatement.

It will be interesting to see if the Crimson Tide can continue to show improvements this week as the schedule begins to toughen up over the next month.

Here are the staff predictions from Roll Tide Wire.

Staff predicts the game

Alabama (-40.5) Record ATS Winner Record Overall
AJ Spurr Alabama 2-1 Alabama 3-0
Stacey Blackwood Alabama 2-1 Alabama 3-0
Sam Murphy Vandy 1-2 Alabama 3-0
Brody Smoot Alabama 2-1 Alabama 3-0

AJ Spurr

This game won’t end in a shutout, as the 2017 contest did on the road at Vanderbilt. However, Alabama plays just as dominant. The Commodores’ ability to move the ball via the ground game will be a true test for the Crimson Tide. If Vanderbilt can get a few chunk plays, they have a solid shot at reaching the end zone at least once to put points on the board.

Alabama 52, Vandy 10

Stacey Blackwood

It is time for the 2022 Alabama football team to start to impose its will on the opposing team. The SEC opener against Vanderbilt seems like the perfect place to start. Although Clark Lea seems to be turning Vandy in the right direction, this Crimson Tide team is just too strong in all three phases. Alabama has its way with the Commodores in this one.

Alabama 52, Vandy 10

Sam Murphy

Vanderbilt enters the contest on a 21-game SEC losing streak, while the Tide are the reigning Champs. Vanderbilt is vastly improved from years prior, however, Nick Saban’s team is far more talented. I think Alabama’s offense will start clicking again, but it will be fun to see how the defense holds up.

Alabama 52, Vandy 17

Brody Smoot

Alabama has an opportunity to make a statement in its first conference game of the season. I think that Alabama will come out clicking on all cylinders. Vanderbilt is better than years past. However, they don’t have enough firepower on offense to remain in the game. The Commodores won’t be able to neutralize the Tide’s pass rush enough to create any type of momentum. I like Alabama big in this one.

Alabama 49, Vandy 7

All Betting Lines are courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook.