NASHVILLE — There was a beaming Clark Lea, standing on the FirstBank Stadium turf after Vanderbilt’s slugfest of a victory over Missouri, 17–10. And here came a large man in a navy blue sweater, gray pants and white sneakers to shake his hand.
The man was Jimmy Sexton, agent to almost all the coaching stars in the Southeastern Conference. Watching Sexton congratulate the winner after a big game is a time-honored tradition in the league—it’s just that the coach being glad-handed at a moment like this isn’t usually Lea.
Nick Saban back in the day? For sure. Kirby Smart? Absolutely. Kalen DeBoer? Yes. Steve Sarkisian? Sure. Lane Kiffin? Definitely.
Lea? Rarely.
His career record in five seasons at his alma mater is still 11 games under .500, with an SEC mark that is 20 games under breakeven. But the breakthrough is happening, and Sexton offered what was, symbolically, the secret handshake. Welcome to the big-game club.
In this moment, the 43-year-old leader of the Commodores is as deserving of that respect as any Sexton client. Or anyone else in the college football coaching profession. The Vanderbilt miracle continues—doggedly, tenaciously, proudly—with every big dream still within reach.
Vanderbilt not only hosted a big game in the latter half of the season, it found a way to win it.
“To win a game like that against a really good opponent on a day that was really meaningful to us,” Lea said, “this was a cool day for Vanderbilt football and we’ve earned the right to celebrate it. … I wasn’t going to tell [the players] that tonight didn’t matter. This was an important game for us and we needed to understand that.”
Here’s how important: Two-thirds of the way through this paradigm-shifting season, eternal doormat Vandy is 7–1 overall and 3–1 in the SEC. The Dores are ahead of Oklahoma, Tennessee and LSU in the league standings. They are tied in the loss column with Georgia, Mississippi and Texas—and the Longhorns are only still in the picture thanks to a desperate comeback against tied-for-last-place Mississippi State. They trail only Texas A&M and Alabama, which also was fortunate to survive an upset attempt at the hands of South Carolina. They are completely viable in the College Football Playoff race.
Vanderbilt’s remaining schedule: at Texas, vs. Auburn, vs. Kentucky and at Tennessee. Some other contenders face a tougher gauntlet than that.
Do the Commodores have a chance to win them all? Yes. Could they also lose at least half of them? Yes. Such is the nature of 2025 in the SEC.
But for Vanderbilt, which has never won this league and very rarely come close, being in contention heading into November is mind-boggling. It’s terra incognita.
And yet, Vandy keeps passing the tests necessary for membership in the circle of contenders. It started last year, when the Commodores climbed up to 7–6 and shocked Alabama to serve notice that this isn’t the Same Old Vandy. Then it escalated this season with consecutive road beatdowns of Virginia Tech and South Carolina.
After a 5–0 start, Vandy was beaten by Alabama on the road—a defeat that some thought would deflate the Dores. Instead, they turned around and handled LSU here last week, ratcheting up the stakes for this game pitting a pair of 6–1 teams.
ESPN’s College GameDay came to town to put its stamp of relevance on the proceedings. A Vandy student absolutely crushed the obligatory field goal on the show from 33 yards out—in his socks—to win $500,000 and another 200 grand for charity and a shout-out from the star Commodore.
“That will cover a lot of tuition fees or whatever,” said quarterback Diego Pavia.
Pavia is the face of this Vandy renaissance, the swaggering street fighter from Albuquerque who transferred in with a posse of coaches and teammates from New Mexico State last year. He possesses confidence, charisma and leadership qualities in abundance, which is why he’s a Heisman Trophy candidate—and why Vandy launched a campaign for him last week.
“Hell yeah, I believe it,” Pavia replied when asked whether he thinks he deserves the Heisman, with a “2TURNT” hat on his head.
But on this chilly Saturday, Vanderbilt’s path to victory led through its defense and a running back who was out of football last year, doing what he described as missionary work while hoping to join the team.
Start with that player, backup running back M.K. Young. He was part of the New Mexico State migration to Nashville that was led by Pavia, tight end Eli Stowers, offensive coordinator Tim Beck and offensive assistant Jerry Kill. But Young joined a year later, amid circumstances that remain largely unexplained.
Young spent last season in his hometown of Midland, Texas, doing odd jobs at Greater Ideal Baptist Church. He says he attended seminary school in order to become a preacher, but he never took his eyes off the dream of becoming a Commodore.
“I’m grateful for the chance,” he said. “I was in the tunnel and didn’t know where the light was.”
Young ran to daylight with a third-quarter handoff to the right side, breaking to the sideline and going 80 yards for a touchdown. It was Vanderbilt’s longest run since 2022, and it was exactly the jolt the Dores needed to supplement a dogged defensive performance.
Vandy held Missouri to its fewest points in 364 days, since a loss to Alabama last Oct. 26. The Dores stopped the Tigers at their 21-yard line in the first half, holding them to a field goal. They stopped the Tigers at their 1-yard line in the second half, on a play that ended up dislocating the ankle of Mizzou starting quarterback Beau Pribula (the remainder of his season is in doubt). They stopped the Tigers at their 11-yard line, forcing a field goal attempt that doinked off the upright.
And on the final play of the game, with victory seemingly assured but not complete, Vandy stopped Missouri at the 1-yard line again when a Hail Mary pass was caught just short of the end zone.
“Battled for every blade of grass,” Lea said.
MIZZOU WAS ONE YARD SHORT OF THE HAIL MARY 😱
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 25, 2025
Vandy comes out with the win 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0YEXo033Io
The single biggest defensive play Vandy made came from safety CJ Heard, a transfer from Florida Atlantic in his first year with the program. Early in the fourth quarter, Heard blitzed and basically intercepted a handoff at the mesh point between backup quarterback Matt Zollers (who played great as a true freshman in a tough spot) and running back Jamal Roberts.
“I caught the mesh,” Heard said. “I basically took it from the running back.”
That gave a struggling Vanderbilt offense the ball at the Mizzou 44-yard line, and the Dores slogged their way into the end zone. There were two first-down-producing penalties on Missouri in the drive before Pavia finished it by diving in from one yard out.
That was roughly 5:43 p.m. Nashville time. Simultaneously, preseason SEC favorite Texas was down double digits in Starkville, Miss., and current SEC leader Alabama was down eight in Columbia, S.C. It seemed like the entire league was about to tilt on its axis.
But while the newly flattened hierarchy of the sport makes the rise of Vanderbilt possible, it doesn’t mean the playoff path is paved smoothly. Order was restored elsewhere, and the Commodores remain one of many SEC teams gouging each other’s eyes out to get to the league championship game in Atlanta.
“This is how it’s going to be,” Lea acknowledged.
But he and Vanderbilt are in the fight. Lea has frequently described his team (himself included) as misfits. Young came into the postgame news conference wearing a shirt that read “Misfits.” While every team loves to champion the underdog role, Vandy’s ownership of it is more authentic than about anyone’s.
“All of us have scuff marks,” Lea said. “There’s not a one of us that was wanted anywhere else. It’s just who we are, man.”
Yet at the end of a flawed-but-fierce afternoon in Nashville, there was nowhere else Clark Lea wanted to be than here. Heading into Vandy actually has a chance.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Vanderbilt in the College Football Playoff? The SEC’s Biggest Surprise Isn’t Done Yet.