Franklin Leaves Vanderbilt

After Bill O'Brien left for the NFL, Penn State hired James Franklin who was the former head football coach at Vanderbilt over the past three seasons.  So here is a look at the Vanderbilt Commodores of the Southeastern Conference during Franklin's tenure as head football coach using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.  First here is a snapshot of the Commodores over the last three years.

2011
Under Franklin's first year as head football coach Vanderbilt finished the regular season bowl eligible at 6-6, losing their bowl game to #16 ranked Cincinnati.  Vandy played against an "average" strength of schedule as compared to the league average.  The Commodores best game was a 41-7 victory over #68 ranked Wake Forest and their worst was a 21-27 loss to #77 ranked Tennessee.  Overall, Vanderbilt was the #35 ranked team in all of the Football Bowl Subdivision, with the #54 most productive offense and the #24 ranked defense.

2012
This was a good season for Vanderbilt.  They finished the regular season at 8-4 after starting 1-3 and defeated #69 ranked North Carolina State in their bowl game to finish at 9-4, while playing against an average SOS as compared to the league as a whole.  Of course, six of their nine victories were against ranked #90 or higher (including one FCS game).  Vanderbilt's best game was a victory over #45 Mississippi and their worst game was to #37 Northwestern.  The Commodores finished the regular season as the #38 ranked team overall and had the #58 ranked offense (slightly above average) and the #21 ranked defense.

2013
The Commodores finished the regular season at 8-4 and defeated #22 ranked Houston to finish at 9-4 overall.  Vanderbilt played against an "average" strength of schedule as compared to the "league" average SOS.  Yes, an SEC team having an average SOS due to the fact that they played four teams that were ranked over 100 (Austin Peay, Massachusetts and UAB - all non-conference games) and Kentucky which is a conference game.  That said, Vandy's best game was their bowl game win against Houston and their worst loss was to #45 Mississippi at the beginning of the season.  Overall, Vanderbilt was the #57 ranked team in total production, with the #73 ranked offense and the #25 ranked defense.

Analysis of 2013 NCAA FBS Head Coach Changes
Penn State and Bill O'Brien
UMass and Charley Molnar
Boise State and Chris Petersen
Texas and Mack Brown
Washington and Steve Sarkisian
Wake Forest and Jim Grobe
Wyoming and Dave Christensen
Eastern Michigan and Ron English
Florida Atlantic and Carl Pelini
Miami of Ohio and Don Treadwell
UConn and Paul Pasqualoni
USC and Lane Kiffen