Exclusive: Clark Lea Knows it's Time for Vanderbilt to reverse November Trends Surrounding his Program

As Clark Lea got off the podium on Nov. 2 after clinching Vanderbilt’s first bowl-eligible season since 2018 after a win against Auburn, his Vanderbilt team was 6-3 and had bigger aspirations than just going bowling. 

Fast forward three weeks, and it was wondering if it’d be the lone bowl-eligible SEC team that didn’t receive an invitation to one of the 12 bowls that the league had a designated spot in. Vanderbilt finished the season with three-consecutive losses–two of which came by multiple scores–to Tennessee, LSU and South Carolina and was trending downward as the end of the regular season approached. 

A group that once had College Football Playoff aspirations was limited by a plague of fatigue that has often hit this program as the season wears bodies down. 

“The big challenge has been when you have a goal to win at the highest of levels, you have got to be able to win in November,” Lea told Vandy on SI. “I felt like we came out with the right spirit [in November], but and attitude, but we weren’t able to sustain play as the games wore on.” 

Vanderbilt is 3-13 in November games in Lea’ tenure and has just one November win outside of the 2022 season, in which it knocked off Kentucky and Florida in a two-week span. The narrative surrounding college football’s final regular-season month has often been one that’s unkind to the Vanderbilt program, which often appears to have its depth worn down at that point in the year. 

The 2024 rendition of Lea’s team-in particular–had an uphill climb in November as it faced three College Football Playoff contenders and didn’t have much of a downfield passing game to build in some relief for its worn down groups on the line of scrimmage. Vanderbilt’s coaching staff isn’t blind to that and also isn’t blind to their season potentially hanging in the balance of their ability to change the narrative surrounding November games. 

“That’s been a focus across the board; How do we become harder to break?” Lea says in regards to an offseason goal. “That’s habits and routines, how we sleep, how we hydrate, how we strengthen our bodies. It’s also gonna be in how we train in the summer, the choices we make in training camp and the choice we make there.” 

Vanderbilt will look to strike a balance between building in reps for its mainstays like quarterback Diego Pavia, tight end Eli Stowers, linebacker Langston Patterson as well as two-way player Martel Hight and finding time to rest them so that they’ll be fresher for live play during the season. 

Perhaps the more important key than Vanderbilt’s stars at skill positions maintaining their health is its line of scrimmage staying intact down the stretch, though. 

“If you look at our performance in November a year ago there were too many third and one to threes where we were kind of bleeding yards and setting up easy conversions [for the opposing offense],” Lea said. “Line of scrimmage play is critical in the SEC and I think it’s the most important aspect. Creating depth on both sides is essential.”

If Vanderbilt doesn’t have adequate depth once the season wears on, it will show in its performance like it has down the stretch in most of Lea’s seasons at the helm. Lea feels as if he and his staff have improved that area of their team, though. 

Their theory will certainly be tested in November. 

“The availability of our roster becomes the strength of our performance,” Lea said. “So we understand we have to be smart, to understand the endurance run and schedule accordingly.”