2013 Vanderbilt Commodores football team


The 2013 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Commodores played their seven home games at Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field in Nashville, Tennessee, which has been Vanderbilt football's home stadium since 1922. The 2013 team was coming off back-to-back bowls for the first time in school history. The 2012 season was the best win percentage since 1955 ; the nine wins were the most since 1915, and the 5 SEC wins were the most since 1935. The 2013 team was headed by James Franklin who was in his 3rd and final year at Vanderbilt.
For the third straight year Vanderbilt had made it to a bowl game. Vandy defeated the Houston Cougars in the BBVA Compass Bowl 41–24. Vanderbilt finished with 9 wins in back to back seasons for the first time in school history. This was the last season the Commodores won a bowl game and finished with a winning record until the 2024 season.

Before the season

A small amount of controversy occurred when Vanderbilt canceled games at home with Northwestern and away with Ohio State. Letters were sent cancelling the games, with the explicit reason being the need to accommodate Mizzou into Vanderbilt's SEC East Division. Northwestern, like Vanderbilt in the SEC, is the sole private institution in the Big 10, alleged that the real reason was fear on the part of Vanderbilt to continue playing its Big 10 counterpart—a series which had been referred to as the Battle of the Nerds.

Rape case

On August 9, 2013, four Vanderbilt football players were arrested and indicted for rape. Brandon Vandenburg, Cory Lamont Batey, Brandon E. Banks, and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie were taken into custody and given a state-mandated HIV test in connection with the Vanderbilt rape case. All four men were charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. They allegedly carried an unconscious 21-year-old female student into a dorm room in the school's Gilette House, and gang-raped and sodomized her on the floor in a 32-minute attack on June 23, 2013. They took graphic photos and videos of the rape. The victim told the court that after Batey raped her, he urinated on her face while saying she deserved what he was doing to her because of the color of her skin, which sources reported was "That’s for 400 years of slavery you b----." The defendants were dismissed from the football team on June 29, 2013 and banned from campus during the six-week investigation that followed. A fifth player, Chris Boyd, pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit accessory after the fact and was dismissed from the team but not the university for his role in helping to cover up the rape. Three of the players were convicted, and received prison sentences ranging from 15 years, the minimum allowed by Tennessee law for their crimes, to 17 years. The fourth player accepted a plea deal which included 10 years' probation, and did not receive any jail time.

Game summaries

Ole Miss

StatisticsMISSVAN
First downs2819
Total yards489426
Rushing yards206126
Passing yards283300
Turnovers02
Time of possession30:4629:14

Austin Peay

StatisticsPEAYVAN
First downs621
Total yards139442
Rushing yards85169
Passing yards54273
Turnovers11
Time of possession30:4729:13

At No. 13 South Carolina

StatisticsVANSC
First downs1431
Total yards268579
Rushing yards121220
Passing yards147359
Turnovers23
Time of possession22:5037:10

At UMass

StatisticsVANMASS
First downs2317
Total yards406248
Rushing yards16699
Passing yards240149
Turnovers21
Time of possession32:1927:41

UAB

StatisticsUABVAN
First downs1723
Total yards362540
Rushing yards156206
Passing yards206334
Turnovers21
Time of possession30:3129:29

Missouri

StatisticsMIZVAN
First downs2927
Total yards523468
Rushing yards245130
Passing yards278338
Turnovers01
Time of possession29:5830:02

No. 15 Georgia

StatisticsUGAVAN
First downs1621
Total yards221337
Rushing yards107119
Passing yards114218
Turnovers32
Time of possession31:0528:55

At No. 14 Texas A&M

StatisticsVANTAMU
First downs1928
Total yards329558
Rushing yards95182
Passing yards234376
Turnovers35
Time of possession35:0724:53

At Florida

StatisticsVANFLA
First downs1226
Total yards183344
Rushing yards12639
Passing yards57305
Turnovers04
Time of possession29:0031:00

Kentucky

StatisticsUKVAN
First downs1714
Total yards262313
Rushing yards142116
Passing yards120197
Turnovers40
Time of possession27:2832:32

At Tennessee

StatisticsVANTENN
First downs1518
Total yards285237
Rushing yards90184
Passing yards19553
Turnovers43
Time of possession31:4528:15

Wake Forest

StatisticsWAKEVAN
First downs1522
Total yards266403
Rushing yards111132
Passing yards155271
Turnovers12
Time of possession21:5138:09

Vs. Houston (BBVA Compass Bowl)

StatisticsVANHOU
First downs1412
Total yards365384
Rushing yards211146
Passing yards154238
Turnovers33
Time of possession35:4124:19