Mizzou-Vandy represents a college football season turned upside down. Here’s how

This Saturday, the center of college football won’t be found in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Or Norman, Oklahoma, or Eugene, Oregon.

Instead, it will be in … Nashville?

Really? The same city that’s seen more chairs thrown off a bar rooftop by a country music star within the past two years than 10-win Vanderbilt seasons in more than a century? Honky-tonks and Kenny Chesney’s left ear have gotten more attention than the Commodores.

If you’ve paid attention to the SEC this season, you won’t be surprised by any of this. Neither should you be shocked that the visiting team making this game more interesting isn’t Alabama or Georgia, but Mizzou.

The leadup to Saturday marks a significant shift from the past. It’s a top-15 matchup featuring Vandy for the second time in school history, with the other coming in the good ol’ days of 1937. It’s the second Nashville visit for ESPN’s “College GameDay,” with the other appearance coming in 2008. It’s a game with potentially serious College Football Playoff implications, as both teams are 6-1.

It’s by far the best both teams have been heading into their matchup with one another since MU joined the SEC in 2012. It’s also a microcosm of what’s made the 2025 college football season unique. If you haven’t been paying attention, don’t assume the status quo. According to ESPN Research, AP top 10 teams have lost 18 times already, the most through eight weeks since 2007, a season of unprecedented chaos.

Like 2007, this season hasn’t just been defined by how many top teams are losing, but who is taking those spots. Indiana is No. 2 in the AP poll and received six first-place votes this past week. Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt each occupy spots in the top 10, while Texas Tech, Mizzou, Virginia and South Florida all are in the top 20.

The Hoosiers and Red Raiders entered 2025 with high expectations, but the other five teams in that group started this season unranked. That group of seven has combined for loads of losing seasons, little time in the national spotlight and only three national championships (all of which were won by Georgia Tech). Meanwhile, Penn State has bottomed out, Clemson is under .500 and Texas has struggled to look consistently competent on offense.

Speaking of the SEC, parity has run wild down South, as no team seems to be completely terrible. The conference’s bottom-four teams in the standings are perfect examples: Mississippi State took Tennessee to overtime and almost beat Florida last week. Arkansas has lost each of its first three SEC matchups by one possession, and its offense is one of the highest-flying in the nation.

Kentucky lost to Ole Miss and Texas by one possession, with the loss to the Longhorns coming in overtime last week.

While Auburn is 0-4 in SEC play for the third straight season, each of those losses has been by 10 points or less to currently ranked teams. The possibility of the SEC title game being Ole Miss-Vanderbilt (or Alabama-Georgia) isn’t as distant as you might think.

NIL and the transfer portal changing the on-field product wasn’t a question of if, but when, and that time appears to be now. Wealth has trickled down to the have-nots of the past like Vanderbilt and Mizzou, and the sport’s hierarchy has been shaken up accordingly.

The portal has gifted Vandy its Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback (Diego Pavia), leading pass catcher (Eli Stowers), top two defensive backs (CJ Heard and Randon Fontenette) and above-average punter (Nick Haberer).

MU used the portal to land its starting quarterback (Beau Pribula), star running back (Ahmad Hardy), leading pass catcher (Kevin Coleman Jr.), top offensive lineman (Keagen Trost), top defensive linemen (Damon Wilson II and Zion Young), top linebacker (Josiah Trotter) and top defensive back (Jalen Catalon).

The investment has turned into results. The Commodores have already won as many games this season (six) as coach Clark Lea did in three seasons as a VU running back from 2002-04. The Tigers are in good shape to win at least 10 games for the third straight season, which has never been accomplished in the program’s 120-plus-year history.

There is still plenty of season left, but Vanderbilt isn’t a cute story like it was in 2024. The Commodores look like a legit playoff contender. Pavia is an elite passer, runner and leader; if humans ran on confidence, Pavia would have a lifetime supply of fuel. Vanderbilt has been extraordinary at converting third downs, has controlled the trenches on both sides of the ball and sports one of the best special teams units in the nation.

Mizzou, which has also controlled the line of scrimmage and third downs for much of this season, has been incredibly resilient in tight games. These traits, long associated with traditional college football giants, have spread to many others.

Most Mizzou-Vanderbilt games have featured two mediocre teams trying not to make bad seasons worse. Should you tune into this edition of Tigers-Commodores, don’t expect the same. Expect far more stakes, stars and ripple effects than before.

Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian