Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea said Tuesday that he would be on board with facing Memphis, a suggestion first made by Tigers coach Ryan Silverfield.
“I’m trying to get — let’s get Vanderbilt,” Silverfield told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “Let’s play them in Nashville. I think that’d be a fun one. Let’s play them at the Titans’ stadium. Let’s find anybody that wants to play us in a true neutral-site game. I think that’d be fantastic.”
When Lea was asked about the idea, he expressed interest, but also said he was more focused on the current state of the team than on scheduling right now. According to FBSchedules, the Commodores’ non-conference slate is already filled out for 2024 but there is room for an additional game in 2025 and 2026. The recent SEC expansion calls things into question, though, as it is unclear whether the conference will go to nine games after next season.
“Sounds like a great idea,” Lea said. “We can make it the barbecue bowl and decide once and for all. No, I love the thought. Obviously, there’s so much up in the air with the scheduling. I spend a little time and energy on that right now. You know my focus is on our team for sure. We have underachieved to this point. And there’s more. There’s more out there for this team. …. My energy is being directed towards the efforts we’re making right now. I’ll play whoever they put on the schedule.”
Lea said that he loved the idea of playing at Nissan Stadium, as Silverfield suggested, but the program has gone away from playing there in recent years. After scheduling a game against Virginia Tech in 2019 to be played at Nissan, the game was later moved to FirstBank Stadium. Vanderbilt has not played at Nissan since 2014. Athletic director Candice Lee said in July that there was little appetite for attempting to move games to Nissan amid the stadium construction.
The Commodores have not played Memphis in football since 1989. The men’s basketball team scheduled a home-and-home series with the Tigers that included the 2022-23 season opener at Memorial Gymnasium and a return to Memphis in 2023.
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Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
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2023-09-26 20:00:48
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