Vandy responds in a ridiculous but understandable way to the playoff committee’s handling of win over Tennessee Vols
The Commodores are desperate with selection Sunday approaching, but it’s easy to get why they’re trying to take a drastic measure.
The Vanderbilt Commodores came into Neyland Stadium and punched the Tennessee Vols in the mouth, pulling away in the second half for a decisive 45-24 win.
The Commodores took full control in the second half, and the Vols’ defense was helpless to stop QB Diego Pavia and the Vandy offense, who rolled up 312 rushing yards and 582 total yards on the day.
However, Vanderbilt’s margin of victory was enough to knock Tennessee out of the College Football Playoff rankings. And that was held against them by the College Football Playoff committee this week, as Vandy held at 14 and was jumped by Texas.
Effectively locked out of the field, Vandy has tried to take a drastic and unprecedented measure according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel – schedule a thirteenth game with another contender before selection Sunday arrives.
Vanderbilt has been looking to schedule a 13th game to try to impress the playoff committee before selection Sunday
I mean, I get it. All the committee can consider that point is their own criteria. And data points, which is a word they love to use publicly way, way too much. And Vandy is out of them at this point. The only solution? Create more. I get that.
But it doesn’t sound like, per Thamel, that’s a possibility to happen. “Ultimately, the operational and legislative requirements along with last-minute scheduling constraints could not support the game,” Thamel added.
And honestly, adding another game would create a slippery slope, as if results of such games were allowed to be considered, then other teams would be scrambling to do it in droves moving forward. You have TV contract issues, league requirements, officiating situations, and many more that aren’t coming into my head right now. Basically, it would just be an enormous mess.
Playoff committee chairman gave a silly explanation for why Vanderbilt’s win over Tennessee wasn’t counted following the rankings release on Tuesday.
“The committee has a great deal of respect for Vanderbilt and what they have achieved, an amazing season, a 10-win season,” Yurachek said. “When you look at their schedule, now that Tennessee is no longer ranked, they just don’t have a signature win. They’ve got wins against LSU, Missouri and Tennessee. Missouri and Tennessee were previously ranked in our poll. They are no longer ranked in our poll.”
However, Yurachek also went on to praise Alabama for their narrow, last-minute win over 5-7 Auburn with an interim head coach for some reason.
“It’s just Alabama in a rivalry game on the road. Auburn has been an extremely tough place to play for many teams this year, such as Georgia and Vanderbilt, and the committee gave Alabama a little respect for winning that game, getting out early 17-0. The game got tied again, and Alabama, a gutsy call there late in the game to go for it on 4th and 2 and then getting a turnover again late in the game. The committee just felt like that was enough of a win, of a metric, to push Alabama ahead of Notre Dame.”
Huh? Uh, ok. Sure, Mr. Yurachek. Actually, Vanderbilt played Auburn AT HOME IN NASHVILLE.
I’m not advocating for Vanderbilt to be in the playoff, to be clear. I’m simply highlighting the absurdity of the entire selection process.
Vanderbilt came in and took care of business in a commanding way against Tennessee in Neyland Stadium. That should not be given any less weight than winning in Neyland Stadium. In fact, it should be given more credence. THAT is a tough place to play, as evidenced by close games this year by the Vols against playoff teams Georgia and Oklahoma, as well as the Vols’ home record in Josh Heupel’s tenure.
But apparently it wasn’t enough for this committee. And there’s nothing Vanderbilt can do about it – to the dismay of Commodore fans and perhaps the amusement of many Tennessee ones.
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