If there was a good thing about losing to ETSU, it quickly ended any delusions about how competitive Vanderbilt would be in Clark Lea’s first season. That this team has now pulled out two wins over FBS teams is something of a miracle.
Granted, UConn might be the worst team in FBS (though they have fierce competition from UMass and New Mexico State for that title), but holy crap Vanderbilt looked pretty evenly matched with the Huskies on Saturday night. Like Colorado State, Vanderbilt benefited from some mistakes by the other side — UConn came up empty on two scoring chances, missing a 22-yard field goal and failing to convert a 4th and 1 at the Vanderbilt 17 — but unlike against Colorado State, Vanderbilt was committing mistakes of its own — that turnover on downs was immediately preceded by UConn taking over at the Vanderbilt 26 off a Ken Seals interception.