Football With a Moment of Grace.

A college coach unlocked it

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After it was over, after unranked Vanderbilt had taken down No. 1 Alabama, 40-35, despite being a three-touchdown underdog, most of the questions were about the how. This was huge, after all. Vandy, 2-2 coming into the game, didn’t just win; the Commodores never trailed.

Never trailed against the top team in the country? Not for one minute of game time, no. And as for the how, just look at the stats: Vanderbilt stayed on offense for more than 42 of the game’s 60 minutes.

Alabama scored 35 points in less than 18 minutes of possession time. But the Tide couldn’t keep the ball long enough to win, and committed enough blunders to ensure that the ball stayed out of its own hands.

So Saturday’s upset had all the traditional markings, and it got the traditional post-game media treatment. But later, a college football writer named Matt Fortuna got on the phone with Vanderbilt’s head coach, Clark Lea.

The writer wanted to know something simpler: What did Lea say to his Vandy players at halftime?

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That’s a more insightful question than you might imagine, and some of that is about context. The Commodores were leading the No. 1-ranked team, 23-14, at the time. In the history of Vanderbilt football, its program had never taken down a No. 1 — never. It was almost time to take the field for the last 30 minutes.

What did Lea say to his guys?

Here is the coach’s full response, according to Fortuna, the writer:

"Just before we left the locker room, I had the guys take a knee, and I just created silence for about 10 seconds. Because I wanted all the emotion to drain out for a moment, to tell them that they had what they needed to close the game out, and that it wasn't going to take anything extra.

“It wasn't going to take anything special,” the coach continued. “It was about going out and playing to an identity and executing a plan, and playing with focus, and playing Vanderbilt football."

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I have heard many coaches’ halftime speeches. I’ve certainly seen my share of coaches tell their players to take a knee, though usually for prayer, in case God were perhaps keeping tabs on the game with their iPad.

Ten seconds of silence?

It may not be a first, but it sure sounds like the right idea. Maybe you had to be there.