Vanderbilt is confident heading into Alabama game

Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea is very confident. That confidence has slowly but surely seeped its way into his program.

Perhaps it was at an all-time high last season when the Commodores played host to the No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in early October. Alabama came into the game the heavy favorite against a program that had become used to being the punching bag of the SEC. The Tide left bruised and broken, though, as the Commodores upset them to the tune of a 40-35 victory.

The rest of Vandy's 2024 season didn't go perfectly. In fact, the Commodores finished with a 7-6 record. It was the best record the program had notched since the 2013 season, though, and that win over Alabama specifically let the college football world know that Lea's program is for real.

And now, the Commodores have a chance to do it again. This time they're 5-0, ranked No. 16 in the nation and must head to Tuscaloosa to take on the No. 10-ranked Tide. It's a different situation. Perhaps a harder situation, but Vanderbilt has changed as a program.

Vanderbilt is a confident college football program 

"I think that it’s safe to say that our confidence has grown as we’ve experienced some results," Lea recently said, according to Thomas Goldkamp of On3.

Lea recognizes that the Commodores do have "thin margins" if they want to be a legitimate College Football Playoff contender. But this is a program that no longer has to just dream about the potential of winning big games sometime in the future.

Now, the Commodores know they can do it. Vandy knows it can be a contender, even in the loaded SEC. It just comes down to taking that belief and showing up on the field with it. A 31-7 victory over then-No. 11 South Carolina earlier this season would suggest that the Commodores are more than capable. 

"Last season was important for us in terms of getting some of those breakthrough moments to realize, 'Hey, this is something that we can do,'" Lea said. "I think this season has been about having the confidence to dominate, honestly. To have a dominant mindset when we take the field. That’s a tangible shift that we’ve had here from within. I think this is Day 265 for this team together. So that shift has happened over those 265 days where we’ve built trust and built connection and built vision toward what we want."

Despite their newfound confidence, the Commodores are 10.5-point road dogs heading into this one, according to ESPN BET. While they have changed, so have the Crimson Tide, especially since their season-opening loss to Florida State. Alabama is 3-1 and coming off a massive win at No. 5 Georgia on Sept. 27.

"We need that confidence to show up for us on Saturday," Lea said.

Truer words could not have been spoken by Vanderbilt's head coach.