Vanderbilt Football Sells Out First Game

The vibe around Vanderbilt football continues to grow.

A day before the Commodores kick off its 2025 campaign against Charleston Southern, the school announced that Vanderbilt has sold out its season-opener Saturday night, per a release.

The announcement is another example of how head coach Clark Lea has changed the culture, the feeling and the perception around Vanderbilt football. Over the course of the past two seasons, Vanderbilt has quickly gone from a team that was 2-10 and last in the SEC to a team that’s coming off its first winning season since 2013 and returns 70% of its production from 2024.

The vibes around Vanderbilt football feel significantly different to past years and the returning production shows that the program is on an upward trajectory. When players return to the program and pass up offers from other schools like quarterback Diego Pavia reportedly did, it shows that players buy into the culture, care about the culture and want to be there. The Clark Lea effect that has taken over the program these past couple of seasons is coming to fruition over time and the team selling out its first game of the season is a great example of it.

Perhaps a turning point last season was Vanderbilt’s upset victory over No. 1 Alabama. In what was one of the most surprising upsets of the century, Vanderbilt has found itself in headlines ever since. This season, the Commodores are wanting to prove that last season was just the beginning of an ascension.

The amount of returning players Vanderbilt has this season certainly helps a lot. The core of the offense and defense returns, which means there is already built-in chemistry between the players. While a bowl game victory is a good look for many teams, Vanderbilt has higher hopes than just a 7-6 record this season. The ‘Dores are wanting to compete for a SEC Championship and a postseason run.

"I think we’ve got the tools (offensively) and defensively to put our foot forward and win the national championship," Pavia said in an interview with Paul Finebaum of SEC Network.

Vanderbilt’s road to get to where it wants will be a challenge. With one of the hardest schedules  in the country, it faces a road gauntlet that not many teams have to face. If the Commodores 2024 season proved anything, it is that anything can happen. This team has proven to compete with and beat some of the top teams in the SEC.

For now, Vanderbilt’s journey to improve on last season starts tomorrow night at 6 p.m. as it takes on Charleston Southern on ESPN+/SECN+.

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