Vanderbilt’s 2024 win over Alabama still stands as one of the loudest moments in Clark Lea’s tenure, but as the Crimson Tide head back to Nashville, the Commodores are treating it like a lesson more than a memory.
That Oct. 5 upset came at a time when Alabama looked fully in control of the sport. The Crimson Tide were undefeated, fresh off a win over Georgia and sitting at No. 1 in the country.
Vanderbilt, by contrast, had opened the season with a win over Virginia Tech, then dropped two straight and entered the game with a 1-2 record. A double-overtime loss to Missouri had hinted at progress, but the outside view still hadn’t changed much.
Then Vanderbilt stunned Alabama, 40-35, and the scene at FirstBank Stadium told the story. The few sections packed with Vanderbilt fans emptied onto the field, and the celebration rolled all the way down Broadway to the Cumberland River with a goalpost in tow.
Lea said Thursday that the result brought his program something it badly needed.
“It got a lot of attention, and positive attention,” Lea said Thursday after his team finished practicing. “I think that always is helpful.
We battled in my time here, just kind of the negative echo chamber that exists, and that was a moment where we wer able to kind of break through. But again, it goes back to us controlling the internal and not focusing on the external.
And I think that game set the course for us to gain bowl eligibility in ‘24, and that was a big deal.”
The win sparked a three-game streak for Vanderbilt, which finished 7-5 and capped the season with a Birmingham Bowl victory over Georgia Tech. It also pushed Diego Pavia into the national spotlight ahead of the 2025 season, cementing him as one of the best quarterbacks in Vanderbilt history.
“It was just a game where things came together for us,” Lea said. “Three phases interlocked, physical run game. We were able to kind of play well early and sustain that play through the course of the game.
Now the rematch arrives with a very different backdrop. Vanderbilt is 4-5, fresh off a 25-23 win at Mississippi State that snapped a five-game skid and gave the Commodores their first conference victory.
Alabama comes in ranked No. 3.
Still, Lea sees some echoes of that 2024 week in the way his team is trying to reset.
“At that point in time, there was a lot in question about where the team was and where we were headed,” Lea said. “And I think there’s a lot that we can learn from that experience in this moment too, where the season hasn’t actually gone the way we envisioned it. But here we are and I think we’re getting closer to that identity showing up, and I’m excited to play.
“But we haven’t talked too much about ‘24, obviously, because they’re all important lessons. But right now, this is about the ‘26 team and how we best organize to play our best game on Saturday, because we’ll need to do that.”
Lea said the full meaning of the Alabama upset may not hit until much later.
“I do believe it’ll be a moment that we go back to when we’re reflecting back on the program in 20 years,” Lea said. “Right now we’re in it, and so we’re focused on this week and what we need to do to beat Alabama.”
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