Vanderbilt’s fast start has already shown up in the AP Poll.
After opening the 2026-27 season with a pair of convincing wins over Bellarmine and Wake Forest, the Commodores climbed from No. 24 to No. 22 in the latest rankings. It’s a strong early return for a team that has looked sharp on both ends through its first two games.
The SEC footprint in the poll is crowded, and Vanderbilt sits sixth among league teams. The Commodores trail No.
1 Florida, No. 7 Texas, No.
11 Tennessee, No. 18 Alabama and No.
19 Arkansas. Kentucky rounds out the conference’s ranked teams at No.
What has stood out most so far is how Vanderbilt has controlled games without needing one player to carry everything. The Commodores held Bellarmine to 47 points and Wake Forest to 51, a sign that the defense has been ahead of schedule in the Mark Byington era. They also leaned on rebounding and depth to separate from both opponents.
Against Wake Forest, freshman guard Ant Brown Jr. delivered from deep with four made three-pointers. Nebraska transfer big Berke Buyuktuncel also made his presence felt in the paint with his defense and rebounding.
That balance has given Vanderbilt a little room for error, and T.O Barrett said the group believes that kind of depth can matter over the long haul.
“I feel like we can really rely on each other. We all have off nights, I had an off night.
I couldn’t get a bucket to fall, but there’s other guys that can score the ball as well,” Vanderbilt guard T.O Barrett said. “We got a lot of guys that can make shots, a lot of guys that can make plays and I think that’s going to really help us especially toward the end of the season.”
The schedule gets busy again this week. Vanderbilt hosts Memphis on Tuesday night at 6:15 p.m. CT, then returns home to face Prairie View A&M on Friday in Memorial Gymnasium.
Memphis and Vanderbilt met last season in Memphis, where the Commodores held on in overtime after the Tigers rallied. Memphis now comes to Nashville riding a win over VCU, one of the stronger mid-major teams this season.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Showed Fight Vs. Vanderbilt But One Stretch Changed Everything
Mississippi State had enough fight to make the afternoon feel more competitive than the scoreboard first suggested, but the damage was done early. Vanderbilt built a 16-0 halftime lead, then had to weather a much better second-half effort from the Bulldogs, who found some life on both sides of the ball after the break. AJ Swann finished 23 of 36 for 254 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense even supplied a spark with a forced fumble returned for a score.
Still, the game turned on a stretch Mississippi State could never fully erase, and the issues that surfaced in the first half were hard to ignore. The run defense had trouble holding up, and an interception helped put Vanderbilt in control before the Bulldogs settled in. Jeff Lebby came away acknowledging the need for better coaching, a reminder that for Mississippi State, the frustration was not just about one bad quarter but about getting more consistent results from a team that keeps showing flashes without enough payoff. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Just Delivered The SEC Road Breakthrough Fans Needed
Vanderbilt walked out of Starkville with a 25-23 win over Mississippi State, a result that carried a little extra weight because it ended a long drought in that building. For a program looking for a road breakthrough in the SEC, getting one in a tight, low-margin game made the trip feel like more than just another Saturday result.
Brock Taylor was central to it all, repeatedly delivering points when the Commodores needed them most and giving the offense a steadier path through a game that stayed tight into the final minutes. Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby also pointed to the late two-point conversion try that came up short, a sequence that left the Bulldogs chasing the finish and Vanderbilt celebrating a road win it had not found there in years. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Just Found A Late-Season Formula Fans Can Believe In
A road win in the SEC can change the mood around a program in a hurry, and Vanderbilt got exactly that kind of lift with a 25-23 victory at Mississippi State. The Commodores snapped a five-game losing streak and picked up their first conference win of the season behind a defense that came up with key stops late, a steady run game that produced 160 rushing yards, and a perfect day from kicker Brock Taylor, who kept the offense on schedule whenever drives stalled.
Sedrick Alexander and MK Young helped Vanderbilt lean into the ground game, while freshman safety Mason Lewis led the defense with 10 tackles in a performance that gave the Commodores something to build around. For a team that had been searching for a formula, this was the kind of win that can matter beyond one Saturday, especially if the defense and special teams continue to travel well while the offense finds enough balance to stay in games late. [Read more 🡒]