Clark Lea comments on Vanderbilt’s ‘sloppy’ win over Hawaii

Vanderbilt got the outcome it was after as it came out of its first game of the season with an 35-28 win over Hawaii.

Commodores head coach Clark Lea wasn’t happy about the way the victory over the Rainbow Warriors came to fruition, though, as the team escaped a scare in a game that never should have had a final score that was that close.

“It was a sloppy game,” Lea said. “We were fortunate to come away with a win. The first credit goes to Timmy Chang, who has done a really nice job advancing that program. It’s a prideful team that was fighting for the state of Hawaii.”

Coach Lea addresses the media following tonight’s victory vs. Hawai’i. https://t.co/ag7bninSss

— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) August 27, 2023

Lea commended Hawaii for its performance and the passion it played with, but expressed the ways he saw Vanderbilt become its own worst enemy throughout the contest.

“Hawaii made it hard on us tonight. We can certainly do a lot on our end to clean up our performance. If I was disappointed about anything, it was just feeling like our energy waned through the game… I think that had a lot to do with our performance and lack of inspiration in that performance.

Vanderbilt will return to action against Alabama A&M on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT.

Crissy Froyd

Crissy covers SEC football news for Saturday Down South.