Vanderbilt checked a big item off its to-do list by beating South Carolina, and there’s still more work to do.

The Commodores are 3-0 for the first time since 2017 and were rewarded for their 31-7 win over the Gamecocks with a No. 20 ranking in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25.

Like last year, when their upset of a top-ranked Alabama highlighted a 6-3 start, the Commodores are beginning to hear the kind of things from the public that can make a player’s head get too big for his helmet.

The breakthroughs keep happening for Clark Lea, who grew up in Nashville and played two seasons at Vandy in the early 2000s when the program was the dregs of not just the SEC but the entire Bowl Subdivision. He returned in 2021 as head coach.

Saturday’s 24-point win marked Vandy’s first in the South

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