Clark Lea says there’s ‘bias’ against Vanderbilt in CFP Rankings, and he’s right

Like other coaches of 10-win teams pounding the table to reach the College Football Playoff this season, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea is flabbergasted as to why the 14th-ranked Commodores are on the outside looking in entering Tuesday night’s penultimate rankings.

Lea feels Vanderbilt has done enough to make the field and believes there’s a “bias” against the Commodores.

“I don’t know a world that exists where this team doesn’t belong in that field,” Lea said Monday on SEC Network. “I’m learning right now about all the flaws about how we determine who’s in, who’s out. I’m very interested in fighting against any perception. I think there’s a bias against Vanderbilt. I think we’ve been ignored earlier in the season and we were not given a chance. It took us winning our way into the conversation. All we’ve done is line them up and knock them down.” 

When the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams ahead of the 2024 season, most assumed 10 wins would be the magic number within the SEC based on schedule toughness, especially after the “record strength” metric was added in August. New metrics even spurred commissioner Greg Sankey and league athletic directors to move to a nine-game conference schedule for 2026 and beyond to balance competition and better position SEC teams in the playoff conversation.

Three SEC teams were left out of last season’s bracket at 9-3 overall due to a third loss, another data point that strengthened the idea of 10 wins within the conference being the trump card to other at-large hopefuls.

Unfortunately, the Commodores are learning a hard lesson to that perceived statute this weekend as 10-win Oklahoma is projected to make the field, as is 10-win Alabama, even if the Crimson Tide lose to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

“We’ve got two kind of flaws on our schedule — a loss at Alabama and a loss at Texas. Both those games we were in it in the fourth quarter. I would love to play those games again,” Lea said. “We’ll play anywhere and everywhere. Put the ball down in the parking lot. Anyone they want to put us against in that playoff, if they want us to play-in, we’ll play in. If they want us to play three games to get in, we’ll play three games. I’m proud of what this team has done and we deserve a chance to win a national championship.” 

How preseason bias is hurting Vanderbilt

You see why Lea is arguing perception bias now, right? That’s partly why BYU (11-1) is on the bubble right now with Utah (10-2) and others. The Commodores were never supposed to be in this position when you consider they were left out of the AP’s Preseason Top 25 and didn’t receive a single vote over the first two weeks of the season despite convincing wins over Charleston Southern and Virginia Tech.

Vanderbilt barged its way into the rankings after Week 3 when the Commodores traveled to then 11th-ranked South Carolina and ended a 16-game losing skid against the Gamecocks in blowout fashion. Why was South Carolina, who finished 4-8, ranked near the top 10 after failing to pass the eye test against Virginia Tech and South Carolina State?

Preseason bias was based on what last year’s team accomplished and the expectation it would happen again.

AP Poll voters on Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt has barely moved in CFP Rankings

While the playoff selection committee doesn’t use the AP Poll as a guide, it certainly creates narrative over the first two months of the season prior to their first CFP rankings release. Tuesday’s updated top 25 will be the committee’s fifth reveal of the season and we’re expecting Vanderbilt to land inside the top 15.

After debuting at No. 16 in the committee’s first poll in early November at 7-2 overall, Diego Pavia and the Commodores have only moved up two spots since despite a collection of blowout wins.

The Commodores went 3-2 against ranked teams this season, but Saturday’s 45-24 victory over Tennessee was the Commodores’ lone win against a team currently slotted inside the selection committee’s top 25. And moving to the metrics conversation, Vanderbilt ranks No. 15 in game control, 11th in strength of record and 22nd in strength of schedule — comparable marks to others in the at-large discussion.

Moreover, the Commodores rank second in the SEC in scoring offense (39.4 points per game), No. 3 in total offense (468.5 yards per game) and have scored more points than any current SEC playoff hopeful over their last three games (135). Only two teams currently projected to make the playoff — Notre Dame and Indiana — are rated higher in scoring efficiency.

None of these positives matter for Vanderbilt if the selection committee deems the Commodores less than Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, BYU and Miami — the five teams vying for the last two at-large spots in Sunday’s final bracket.

Vanderbilt’s been so far back of the pack — fair or not — in the playoff discussion that committee chair Hunter Yurachek hasn’t had to answer a single question about his group’s opinion of the Commodores in recent weeks. That’s likely not going to change this week despite Vanderbilt’s clobbering of Tennessee, an opponent who’s been used prior in the conversation about quality wins for Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma.