I’ll never be able to unsee it. The hordes of black and gold, looking like ants from rooftop and streetlight views, with three-fourths of a yellow rectangle floating above their hard-to-make-out heads under the neon hues of Broadway bar signs in the heart of Nashville. Thank the Lord above for college football.
Thank the Lord that Vanderbilt fans rightfully acted like they’d never been there before after the Commodores did the unthinkable and toppled then-No. 1 Alabama, 40-35, on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The win, and the Commodore faithful’s dedication to walk miles from the stadium to the Cumberland River and send a toppled goal post to a temporary, but rightful, resting place was one of those moments that only comes in college sports — and mostly seems to happen in college football.
When the dust settled on a wild Saturday slate, with four top-11 teams losing to unranked or less-ranked squads, I was quick to realize that, in spite of its world-shocking win, Vanderbilt wouldn’t be getting my vote. I was shocked to see that my fellow voters made what felt like the right decision. Voting in the AP Top 25 Poll is perhaps the most inexact science in existence.
Everyone does it a little differently, with some sticking to algorithms while others stick to their gut. I try my best to blend both, but knowing that some voters try to take as week-to-week of an approach to the poll as possible, I figured my decision to leave Vanderbilt out would be in the minority. W, vs .