Vanderbilt bowl dreams disappear thanks to blown second-half leads
NASHVILLE — The season that Vanderbilt thought would end in the school’s first bowl berth since 1982 is over, and now the Commodores are busy asking, “What if?”
Like where would the Commodores be if they hadn’t blown a second-half lead before losing to Mississippi in overtime? Or Navy? Rutgers, Florida or Kentucky?
Unfortunately, they know the answer.
“We’d already be bowl eligible,” quarterback Jay Cutler said.
“We have to look at ourselves as a team and a staff to see where we went wrong and where we can change for the better.”
So, the Commodores (2-9, 1-7) remain the Southeastern Conference’s only team without a bowl appearance over the last decade. Kentucky and South Carolina have been to two each in that time.
They now are just 11-46 over the past five years, which includes six victories from Johnson’s first three seasons.
Johnson said he didn’t want to squelch the preseason enthusiasm among fans and players that had the Commodores taking advantage of an easy schedule to earn the first bowl berth since the Hall of Fame Bowl.
“We had a chance to do that. We didn’t get things done at the right time and the right place, but we certainly had our opportunity to win six games,” Johnson said.
Their season-ending 38-33 loss to No. 15 Tennessee last weekend summed up the Commodores’ 22nd straight losing season and fourth consecutive year with only two victories.
They spotted Tennessee a 14-0 lead, turned the ball over four times and still had a chance to win in the final minutes before Cutler was intercepted with 2:07 left.
“We have a very small margin of error, and we have to be very good in just about everything we do,” Johnson said. “I don’t think we make more mental errors, probably less than most teams, but we can’t afford as many as we’re making.”
Vanderbilt was the SEC’s least penalized team, and the Commodores cut their turnovers down to 17 from 26 in 2003.
But they were outscored 78-7 in the fourth quarter before their final game, when they scored 14 points against Tennessee. The ninth-best offense in the SEC, generating 334.8 yards per game, ranked 91st in the nation and was 108 (out of 117 I-A teams) in scoring offense with 19.3 points a game.
The defense was 65th in the nation, allowing 26 points a game.
Johnson said they will assess the season and study what they must improve upon, and he won’t be keeping any secrets from the Commodores.
“We feel like we were better. We just didn’t get things closed out in certain games. It was a season of a lot of ‘What ifs?’ This happens, that happens. You never know. We’re going to keep working at it,” he said.
“I don’t have any regrets coming to Vanderbilt and being part of this program,” Geisinger said. “I think it’s on the rise, and I’m glad to be part of Coach Johnson and this staff. I think they’ve brought a lot to this program that hasn’t shown in the win column.”
Unfortunately, those are the results that count most.