Vanderbilt football news: How Clark Lea's strategy beat NC State
· Yahoo Sports
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea celebrates after defeating NC State at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.
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Clark Lea’s Vanderbilt football team scored a dramatic 35-31 win over NC State football in Week 3 action that included a bold proclamation from Robert Griffin III on a botched safety and brutal fumble recovered for a touchdown to win the game.
Afterward, Lea shared his prophetic “every blade of grass” strategy with sideline reporter Michella Chester in reference to a play that perfectly represented it.
“I’m obviously proud of the team, we talk about every blade of grass on defense and literally, that’s every blade of grass. I think you’ve gotta credit North Carolina State, they played the better football today, but, you know, we had enough at the end there to get it close and to put pressure on ’em and it was gonna take every second of the clock.”
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Lea said that there are lessons to be learned from the hard-fought game and praised his defense for picking up quarterback Jared Curtis, who had three touchdown passes but also threw two interceptions. Lea chose to focus on the positives after his team slipped away with its third win of the season in three tries.
“This is our tenth win in a row at home,” he added. “That’s important.”
Curtis, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound quarterback, came to Vanderbilt as a five-star and got an opportunity to start ahead of schedule against a strong Wolfpack team. He responded by completing 20-of-34 passes for 277 yards on the day while also running for 64 yards on 12 carries, earning his coach’s trust in the process.
Next up is a road game at Auburn on September 26 which will test Lea, Clark and the rest of the Commodores as SEC play finally begins.
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