What fluke? Commodores expected to win

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The surest sign that this may indeed be a "New Vanderbilt", as several of the players suggested Thursday night following their 24-17 victory over No. 24-ranked South Carolina, had little to do with the final score.

It wasn't so much that Bobby Johnson and his Vanderbilt staff completely and utterly out-coached the Head Ball coach (Steve Spurrier) and his staff.

It wasn't so much that Vanderbilt's offensive and defensive lines took over the game at key moments in the game, or that Vanderbilt was more disciplined and more opportunistic in special teams.

Nope, the surest sign was that the Commodores expected to win this game and weren't overly giddy afterward when they did.

"At Vanderbilt, people are always going to downplay us and second-guess us. I guess that's the history of our school, but we're trying to change that," said Vanderbilt junior tailback Jared Hawkins, who put the game away in the fourth quarter with some punishing runs. "We're trying to let people know that we're not a blow-off game and not a blow-off team."

Even after all the close misses, all the bad breaks and 25 straight years of losing seasons, Vanderbilt never blinked in taking down the Gamecocks for the second straight year.

The only thing surprising to Johnson was that it was such a surprise to some that Vanderbilt (2-0) would win.

"We beat them last year, and I don't know why everybody thought they got so much better than we were getting," Johnson said. "I was glad to get out there and play the game. It was fun."

The last time Vanderbilt beat the same SEC team in back-to-back seasons was 1998 and 1999, and that team was South Carolina. Of course, the Gamecocks won just one game total in those two seasons combined.

This was a South Carolina team nationally ranked, a South Carolina team coached by a Hall of Fame coach and a South Carolina team that had no excuses after losing at home last season to the Commodores.

"They were talking like last year was a fluke," Vanderbilt defensive end Steven Stone said. "They gave us a bunch of bulletin board material."

Stone, who had a key third-down sack on South Carolina's final possession, said he didn't hear much from the Gamecocks' players following Thursday's game.

"Nah, they wanted to get out of there pretty quick," Stone said.

For Johnson, who continues to upgrade the talent at Vanderbilt and get these players to forget about the program's morbid past, it was another big step to win a marquee game at home.

The Commodores' other big wins on his watch had come on the road. In fact, it was Vanderbilt's first win over a nationally ranked team at home since 1992.

"We move on from here," Johnson said. "This, I think, ups the ante a little bit. We've got a responsibility now to keep playing this way, play better, get better, work hard, and hopefully, we can do that."

Senior quarterback Chris Nickson said the Commodores owed the home fans a big win.

"We'd win one on the road and then come home and stink it up," Nickson said. "I want them to enjoy this. I want them to get used to this, because this is the way we expect to play. It's our house, and we're going to protect our house."

by ESPN.com's Chris Low