The 2019 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in the

2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2019. The regular season began on August 24, 2019, and end ...

. The Commodores played their home games at

Vanderbilt Stadium FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Van ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, and competed in the Eastern Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC). They were led by sixth-year head coach

Derek Mason Derek Mason (born September 29, 1969) is an American college football coach. He currently is the defensive coordinator for Oklahoma State University. Mason served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University from 2014 until midway throug ...

Previous season

The Commodores finished the 2018 season 6–7, 3–5 in SEC play to finish in sixth place in the Eastern Division. They went to the

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replac ...

and lost 38-45 to Baylor. On January 11, 2019, Vanderbilt offensive coordinator

Andy Ludwig Andy Ludwig (born May 14, 1964) is an American football coach. He currently is the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at University of Utah. He played college football at Snow College and Portland State University, graduating in 1988. ...

was hired to take the same position at

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, leaving the position vacant. On January 31, 2019, Vanderbilt special teams coach Shawn Mennenga left to take the same position for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

, leaving the position vacant. On February 8, 2019, Gerry Gdowski, Vanderbilt's quarterbacks coach, was promoted to fill the offensive coordinator vacancy.

Recruiting

Position key

Recruits

Preseason

SEC media poll

The 2019 SEC Media Days were held July 15–18 in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. In the preseason media poll, Vanderbilt was projected to finish in last in the East Division.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Commodores had three players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams. Offense ''2nd team'' Ke'Shawn Vaughn – RB

Kalija Lipscomb Kalija Lipscomb (born October 6, 1997) is a Canadian football wide receiver for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Vanderbilt. High school career Lipscomb played high school footb ...

– WR Jared Pinkney – TE

Schedule

:Schedule Source:

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. #3 Georgia

at Purdue

LSU

Northern Illinois

at Ole Miss

UNLV

Missouri

at South Carolina

at Florida

Kentucky

East Tennessee State

at Tennessee

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{Vanderbilt Commodores football navbox Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Commodores football seasons

Vanderbilt Commodores football The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the East Divis ...