NASHVILLE -- Earlier this summer, Australian Football League coach Damien Hardwick stumbled across the Netflix series, "Any Given Saturday," which followed SEC teams throughout the 2024 season.

Hardwick, coach of the Gold Coast Suns in Queensland, was fascinated while watching the third episode, "Shock the World," which documented Vanderbilt 's 40-35 upset of then-No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 5, 2024.

It was the Commodores' first victory over a No. 1-ranked team and their first over the Crimson Tide in 40 years.

Led by an undersized, fiery quarterback and a coaching staff convinced it could take on the world, Vanderbilt flipped the script from being the SEC's perennial punching bag to world beaters.

"The club I'm at now is very, very similar," Hardwick said. "A bit of a laughingstock, a

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