Vanderbilt will play one of its season’s most defining games in less than two weeks.

The Commodores’ performance in a Thursday night meeting with the high-octane offense of Western Kentucky may dictate the direction of Derek Mason’s second season as head coach.

Here are five things we have learned about the Commodores since fall camp started:

1. Derek Mason has granted new OC Andy Ludwig full control of the offense.

Listening to the post-practices interviews makes the relationship between head coach Derek Mason and new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig quite clear. Mason, who assumed the defensive coordinator role himself after firing both coordinators in the offseason, brought Ludwig in to fix the offense, and that’s exactly what he’s going to let him try to do — without interference. Surely Mason gives general counsel on the things he likes and dislikes from practice, but ultimately he believes the key to success for Vanderbilt in 2015 is for him to focus on coaching the defense and handling the duties required of the head coach.

2. The quarterback debacle from last season is still not settled (publicly).

Derek Mason spent the offseason telling anyone who would listen that he planned to pick a quarterback and stick with him for the 2015 season. That quarterback was decided to be Patton Robinette during spring practice, but he has since left the team to pursue medical school.

That left the sophomores Johnny McCrary and Wade Freebeck, along with freshman Kyle Shurmur, to battle things out in the fall. So far, indications are that McCrary and Freebeck are receiving a larger portion of the snaps at practice, but that neither has done enough to separate themselves from the pack and claim the job.

Both Mason and Ludwig have hinted at withholding on publicly naming the starter until the first game of the season, so we may be left guessing on this one until the very end of the preseason.

3. Bad news has been plentiful.

The biggest news out of Commodores fall camp has been of the “oh no” variety. Starters WR C.J. Duncan and LT Andrew Jelks have each been lost for the season due to leg injuries.

Perhaps the most talented player on Vanderbilt’s offensive line, Jelks may be hard to replace.

Duncan led all Commodores receivers with 441 receiving yards last season, but the Commodores do have some young players capable of replacing that production. Look for converted DB Darrius Sims, sophomores Trent Sherfield and Caleb Scott, as well as redshirt freshman Ronald Monroe to receive more snaps as a result of this injury.

4. Shorter practice is better for this coaching staff.

As reported by The Tennessean’s Adam Sparks, Derek Mason has vowed to never conduct a two-hour practice again.

Instead, he has been limiting the workouts in fall camp to somewhere in the 70-90 minute range.

“The days of having three-hour practices with guys standing around just to be standing around — those are long gone,” Mason told Sparks. “Looking at the data, our guys are putting up workloads like they’re playing games in 74 minutes or in 83 minutes (the time of Saturday’s practice). It’s all about the work capacity.”

5. The Commodores plan to have a new look in 2015.

Aside from an ill-advised tweet, the biggest headlines from Vanderbilt fall camp have been generated by the release of new uniforms for the 2015 season.

First, the Commodores revealed a new take on their regular gold, black, and white uniform combinations. Those included two new anchor-themed helmets.

But Vanderbilt wasn’t finished. The Commodores recently revealed a “Deep Water” themed grey uniform set that includes another alternate helmet decorated with chrome and an image of crashing waves.

Whether the Commodores play better in 2015 is yet to be determined, but what we do know is that they will look nice in the process.