Surging Vanderbilt swings into LSU for race to seventh win

LSU and Vanderbilt are both 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the SEC as they prepare to meet Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La.

Those numbers mean very different things to the programs.

The Tigers have been ranked as high as No. 8, but enter the week unranked for the first time this season after losing three straight games.

The Commodores, who were winless in the SEC last season and three times in the last four seasons, are excited about being bowl eligible with a marquee win to celebrate. Vandy claimed the program's first victory ever against a No. 1-ranked team by beating Alabama.

Vanderbilt's surge moved head coach Clark Lea from the proverbial hot seat to coach of the year candidacy. He will be facing Brian Kelly, his former boss when Lea was defensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

The heat was turned up on Kelly after a 27-16 loss at Florida last Saturday.

"You have to examine everything that you do on a day-to-day basis and make sure that you're addressing those things that are most important to getting the right outcomes," Kelly said. "When you don't get the right outcomes immediately it's going to be, take this action, do this, bench this guy, fire that guy. For us it's much more about understanding that we have a process in place. We have to stick with that process."

The Commodores' success led to Lea being named one of five finalists for the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year on Tuesday.

"We're proud of the progress we've made," Lea said, "but we're not satisfied."

Vanderbilt, which lost 28-3 to visiting South Carolina two weeks ago, used an open date last week to let several players who were "banged up" heal, most notably star quarterback Diego Pavia, who has a lower leg injury but is expected to start against LSU.

"This is a great identity game where we need to be really good in all three phases," Lea said.

--Field Level Media