When he took over for Jeff Franklin, the Vanderbilt program was enjoying unprecedented success. While he couldn’t sustain the nine-win status that Franklin enjoyed in his final two seasons, he did reach bowl games in two of his first five seasons. Then came last year’s 3-9 season, which is in line with what long-time SEC fans are accustomed to from the Commodores.
Mason’s teams are known for being stingy on defense. With 10 starters returning, that unit will certainly be the strength of the team in 2020, but they are coming off a year in which they gave up over 400 yards and 30 points per game. This means that players like linebacker Dimitri Moore, safety Tae Daley and defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo will be hungry to live up to Mason’s standard this season.