Something that seemed unbelievable to start the season has happend. A 10-2 Vanderbilt is not in the College Football Playoff because maybe the 3rd best team in the ACC, whose champion is 8-5 Duke, and Alabama,
who just got Dawg-walked by Georgia by 28-7 in the SEC championship had to be in or ESPN would have cried for weeks on end. Even worse, Vanderbilt still ended up behind a Notre Dame team that last the only 2 games they played against opponents with a pulse and Texas who lost 3 games (including to 4-8 Florida) and went to overtime with Kentucky and Mississippi State.
No, I will not blame the 2 G5 teams that got in for 2.5 reasons. First, the ACC being inept in setting tiebreakers then having #17 Virginia lose to unranked Duke was unexpected. If not for that catastrophe that further emphasized the P4 (SEC, B1G, ACC, and Big XII) is really just a P2 (SEC and B1G), then only 1 G5 team gets an autobid. Second, the same powers that be who are mad and lamenting the fact Tulane and James Madison will likely be boatraced by Ole Miss (in a rematch) and Texas Tech are also the ones who think Vanderbilt does not deserve to be in over Texas, Miami, or Notre Dame even though our SOR (literally, how did you play against your schedule in comparison to a team with a certain power rating would be expected) is better than all 3. They are ignoring that Ohio State-Tennessee and Penn State-SMU had 25+ point margins last season, so P4 teams are equally capable of getting spanked in the first round as any G5 team. It does not matter if it is 25 points or 55 points once it gets beyond 3 scores.
The “half” reason is probably the most important even if it is the dumbest. Bluntly, there will never be a post-season tournament without autobids of some sort. The ACC surely thought they were safe from ever having their conference champion ranked below 2 G5 conference champions as do all of the other P4 conferences, but making it “5 highest seeded conference champions” instead of “P4+1” was probably also a bone to the PAC-12 during its rebuild attempt. I did the math on each NCAA tournament, and they all fall between 40-45% on what percentage of total bids are autobids.
After being left out of the CFP, Vanderbilt will still play in a bowl game. They did not choose to sulk at home like Notre Dame. Yes, the Fightin’ Irish have decided they will stay home after the great disrespect shown to them by the CFP Committee. I certainly understand their gripe, but they have leveraged their special status for so long. Shame it finally was not enough.
The SEC, in coordination with the schools and bowls, placed Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl. It was formerly the Outback Bowl from 1986 to 2022. The game is played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on December 31 at 12 PM Eastern. The Commodores will face the Iowa Hawkeyes. As an unranked opponent, Iowa does not present Vanderbilt to get a signature win to end the season.
As of now, Clark Lea does not anticipate there being any opt outs for the bowl game. As angry as Vanderbilt fans are, you can probably deduce that the team and coaches are even more ticked off. They will be looking to close out the best Vanderbilt season of the modern era and make a statement that they deserved to be in the CFP. The opportunity to reach 11 wins when the program high-water mark is 9 wins is still a special opportunity. The bowl is also a chance to give players who revitalized (vitalized?) Vanderbilt football one last time on the field as a team and in front of the Commodore fans.
We will have more coverage leading up to the game. You can also stay tuned to Vanderbilt’s postseason central webpage for ticket info, travel packages, and other information pertaining to bowl week games and the game itself.
