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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-06-27 14:19:00+00:00.
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.
Vanderbilt (high = 40, low = 82) is the second SEC team in the countdown at #57, and Diego Pavia is probably seething that he and his team are being this disrespected relative to Thomas “Just Go Ahead and Give Me The Heisman Already” Castellanos and Florida State. Clark Lea led his alma mater to their first winning season since the James Franklin era last year, and needs only 4 wins to pass predecessor Derek Mason’s winning percentage this year.
Roster outlook
By getting Pavia back for another season, the Commodores have already won the offseason lottery, but Vandy ranks 8th in the country in returning production. In addition to Pavia, who was not only their star QB but led the 'Dores in rushing, they get back top RB Sedrick Alexander, TE Eli Stowers (who led the team in receiving yardage) and top WR Junior Sherrill (who is, as the name implies, a junior this season). On defense, they rank 10th in the country in returning production, with the only significant loss being sack leader Nick Rinaldi. Good thing, because Lea really didn’t do a whole lot of adding to the roster, ranking dead last in the SEC in recruiting (77th nationally) and overall (51st nationally), though he did manage the 36th best portal class (which, ridiculously enough, was still only the 14th best class in the $EC). The biggest pickups appear to be former Mississippi State WR Trent Hudson and 4 new offensive linemen (including 1 from Oklahoma State and 1 from Texas Tech, the latter of which raises eyebrows given how much money Cody Campbell threw around to beef up the Red Raiders).
Schedule and outlook
Like the rest of the SEC, Vanderbilt’s conference schedule is the mirror of last year, so if they can repeat that in 2025, the Commodores should be able to go bowling in consecutive years for the first time since Franklin did it. But that included wins over Auburn and Alabama, and while they definitely proved it’s not impossible, it’s definitely improbable. In fact, the only SEC opponent not in the top 30 of these aggregated ranking is Kentucky, which makes this seem like a really tall ask. In the OOC, they get what should be 3 “easy” wins against Charleston Southern, Utah State and Georgia State, but the latter beat them in 2024, though this year it’s in Nashville. The only game not mentioned is a road game in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech, who will definitely be looking to avenge their own road loss to Vandy last year. Expect Pavia to be swinging his dick all season, but it sure looks like the arrow is pointing down more than the anchor is in 2025.