Ole Miss travels to Nashville on Saturday as a 10-point favorite over Vanderbilt, two weeks after a 52-28 loss at Florida. Vanderbilt is not what the old series produced: Clark Lea won 10 games and six SEC games last season, climbed as high as ninth and was named national coach of the year. A tropical system is forecast to reach middle Tennessee, bringing heavy rain Friday night into Saturday and possible wind.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis, on a crossover with Locked On Vandy, argued the forecast is what makes this game dangerous. If the rain comes as expected, Willis said, the run game moves to the forefront — at the exact moment Ole Miss has its leading rusher on a pitch count.
Kewan Lacy, who did not play at Florida, is expected back. Pete Golding has said he does not anticipate 40 or 50 snaps; Willis put the realistic number near 25, while the Locked On Vandy host put it at 10 to 12, and lower if the field is slick. Carries Lacy does not take go to JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier, against a front that Tim Beck and Jerry Kill scheme off numbers.
Willis said the path to victory is playing clean, and that the larger mistake at Florida was taking the ball out of Trinidad Chambliss’s hands for four straight handoffs. He named Suntarine Perkins as the player who has to start winning behind the line of scrimmage, and called this the week Johntay Cook II breaks out. Vanderbilt is still unsettled at quarterback: Jared Curtis is day-to-day and Blaze Berlowitz has started in his place.
Both hosts picked Ole Miss. Willis predicted 38-24, expecting a nervy start before an explosive play breaks it open. The Vanderbilt host took 31-21, citing the weather.
Photo: Kewan Lacy, September 12, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 8, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.