On Dec. 27, Vanderbilt Football will conclude its historic season against Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl.
The two have a storied past: They have met 38 times with the Commodores holding a 20-15-3 record in the series. Both programs were founding members of the SEC in 1934, though Georgia Tech departed the conference on June 30, 1964.
“We understand the significance of the game and we embrace the fact that the [result] is historically meaningful to our program,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said on Dec. 9.
Despite Vanderbilt holding the edge in record, it hasn’t defeated the Yellow Jackets since Oct. 19, 1941 — 83 years ago. The two teams have met 13 times since then, with the Commodores being outscored 352 to 94, losing 12 times and tying once. December 27 could be the Commodores’s chance to finally snap the 83-year drought and bring home the prized Cowbell that defined the rivalry’s past.
A historic trophy on the line
The two teams started honoring the yearly meeting with a trophy in 1924: a silver-plated cowbell. The trophy was created after a Georgia Tech fan brought a cowbell as a noisemaker to a 1924 matchup between the two teams. The Cowbell would become a staple at every matchup between the two teams and go home with the winner. The trophy went missing after some time and was not awarded at any of the 2002, 2003 or 2009 matchups between the programs.
A Georgia Tech employee eventually rediscovered the Cowbell in a trophy supply room cabinet ahead of a 2016 matchup, and as such it was awarded to the Yellow Jackets that year. The trophy will be at the Birmingham Bowl, waiting to go home with the victor.
Alumni coaches
The 2024 and 1941 squads are led by head coaches who are alumni of Vanderbilt and donned the Black and Gold for Vanderbilt’s football team. The difference is that they played 80 years apart.
Henry Russell Sanders, most commonly known as “Red” Sanders, served as the head coach of the program in 1941. Sanders served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt from 1940 to 1943 and again from 1946 to 1948 — missing the 1944 and 1945 seasons to serve for the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Sanders — an Asheville, North Carolina, native — attended Vanderbilt from 1923 to 1926, where he was a four-year letterman in both football and baseball. Sanders lettered in football, basketball and baseball at Vanderbilt, serving as the captain for the VandyBoys during his senior year, but didn’t have the same success on the gridiron at first. Sanders was the backup quarterback on the football team — however, he was said to have a brilliant mind for the game.
“Red Sanders has one of the best football minds I have ever known,” legendary Vanderbilt Football head coach Dan McGugin said of his former player.
He graduated from Vanderbilt and started his coaching career — serving stints at Columbia Military Academy in Tennessee, Riverside Military Academy, University of Florida and LSU — before he took over the football program in 1941. Sanders would finish his time at Vanderbilt with a 36-22-2 record before heading to UCLA, where he compiled a 102-41-3 record and a 1954 national championship.
Clark Lea played for the Commodores from 2002-2004 at the fullback position. Before joining the Commodores, though, Lea played baseball collegiately for two years — at Birmingham Southern in 2001 and Belmont University in 2002. Lea eventually moved on to football in the fall of 2022, and it didn’t take long for him to run into the Yellow Jackets. The Commodores played Georgia Tech during the 2003 season when the Yellow Jackets won 24-17. Lea saw the field in the Sept. 27 loss, rushing one time for one yard.
Upon graduating, Lea started his coaching career, serving stints (like Sanders) at UCLA, South Dakota State, Bowling Green, Syracuse, Wake Forest and Notre Dame.
Lea took over the head coaching position for his alma mater after the 2020 season and took some time to get going. Entering his fourth year as head coach this fall, Lea held an overall record of 9-27 with just two wins in the SEC.
This year, however, Lea turned the tide on his program, finishing the regular season 6-6 and qualifying for a bowl game for the program’s first postseason appearance since 2018.
Reliving the win
Vanderbilt’s last win over Georgia Tech came at Dudley Field on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 1941. Georgia Tech had won both matches of the previous two years and blanked the Commodores 19-0 the year before on nearly the same day.
There were also questions surrounding whether or not the team was healthy enough to hang with a tough and physical Yellow Jacket squad. They had started hot and repped a 3-0 record going into the rivalry clash, but the Commodores were without their captain and star offensive tackle Mac “Pothead” Peebles, who suffered an elbow injury the week before against Kentucky. This meant that sophomore Tex Robertson would have to step up to fill Peebles’ position. In the end, the Black and Gold overcame adversity and captured a 14-7 victory; running back Jack Jenkins was the star of the game, scoring both of Vanderbilt’s touchdowns. Jenkins would also go on to win First Team All-SEC, SEC Player of the Year and Third Team All-American honors that year.
The first quarter of play was a battle between the two teams in front of a crowd of 15,000 spectators; at its conclusion, the score was tied at 0-0. The Commodores put the first points on the board in the second quarter off a 76-yard touchdown drive — which included a 35-yard rush from Art Rebrovich — to put them up 7-0 going into halftime. Vanderbilt came out firing again in the third quarter, scoring its second touchdown and extending its lead to two scores. The Yellow Jackets brought the game within a score in the third quarter thanks to a touchdown of their own, but it wouldn’t be enough. Vanderbilt blanked Georgia Tech’s offense in the fourth quarter to walk away with a win and bring the Cowbell back to West End.
This clash between Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt is not just another bowl game; it’s the 39th page in a matchup that has been honored with a trophy for 100 years. The Commodores will have a lot riding on this matchup: Will they finally break the 84-year drought and bring the Cowbell back to West End?
