Clark Lea and the Vanderbilt Commodores will be going bowling for the first time since 2018 after downing Auburn 17-7 Saturday afternoon on The Plains.

Lea’s Commodores have been an excellent story to follow this season. Vanderbilt pulled off a massive upset win over No. 1 Alabama earlier in the year and danced with Texas before falling just short last week. Now, they’re 6-3 with a very real chance to finish at 8 or more wins.

That’s a big jump for a program that, respectfully, has been the worst in the SEC for a long, long time. The Commodores have struggled so much that some members of the media started jokingly giving them No. 1 rankings at SEC Media Days – a poke at the idea Vanderbilt could be anything more than an SEC doormat, in their eyes.

But now, people have to start respecting Vanderbilt. Clark Lea said it well Saturday, insisting that he believes “the world needs a strong Vanderbilt football program.”

As stated above, Vanderbilt will now go bowling for the first time since 2018, but it’s looking for its first bowl victory since 2014 when it downed Houston at the Compass Bowl. The Commodores are currently a top 6 or 7 team in the SEC, so they’re likely to get a decent bowl game this year depending on which teams reach the College Football Playoff from the conference.

For now, Vanderbilt is only focusing on what it can control. The Commodores are back in action next weekend against South Carolina in Nashville.