Bottom Feeders: Predicting each Power Five college football conference’s last-place team

SEC: Vanderbilt Commodores no longer belong in the conference they play in

Even though Clark Lea is a Vanderbilt alum and the Commodores are finally trying to use the fact they play in an awesome city like Nashville to their advantage in recruitment, this team no longer belongs in the SEC. They may clean up on the baseball diamond and may occasionally put it together on the hardwood, but the gap between them and Georgia in football could not be wider.

To be frank, the only non-conference game that feels like a win for sure would be vs. Elon. Even at Hawaii, home vs. a Wake Forest team without Sam Hartman and at Northern Illinois for some reason aren’t anything close to guaranteed wins. They might win more than just the Elon date, but herein lies the biggest problem anchoring the ‘Dores to the bottom of the Cumberland: SEC play.

Vanderbilt may play in the easier of the two divisions, but guess what? Not only do they face cross-divisional foe Ole Miss out of the West, but they also draw Alabama. Good luck with that. Even if the East is easier than the West, Georgia plays in the East, as does Kentucky and Tennessee. Even rebuilding teams like South Carolina and Florida should be better than Vanderbilt.

If Vanderbilt were to win a conference game, it would have to be at Missouri. Still, the gap between Vandy and Mizzou is by far and away the biggest gap between dead last and second to last in a Power Five conference. Should the ‘Dores win three games under Lea in his second season back in Nashville, they have to throw the most raging pizza party to ever grace this earth.

It is hard to have optimism with Vanderbilt, when you know they don’t even stand a chance…

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