Division Eastern Division | 2016 record 6–7 (3–5 SEC) | |
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Conference | ||
The 2016 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represents Vanderbilt University during the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Commodores play their home games at Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field in Nashville, Tennessee, and compete in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They are led by third year head coach Derek Mason. This is Vanderbilt's 126th season of college football.
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Schedule
Vanderbilt announced its 2016 football schedule on October 29, 2015. The 2016 schedule consists of 6 home and away games in the regular season. The Commodores will host SEC foes Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and will travel to Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, and Missouri.
The Commodores will host two of its four of its non–conference games which are against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky (WKU) both from Conference USA, and Tennessee State from the Ohio Valley Conference.
Coaching Changes
On December 15, 2015 coach Mason announced that special teams coach Charles Bankins, OL Coach Keven Lightner will not be retained for 2016. Mason cited a difference in philosophy rather than poor performance for the coaching changes.
"I just see this football team moving in a different direction and I just wanted to make sure these men were treated the right way," Mason said. "I feel like it’s time for us to move forward."