Vanderbilt, one of the most academically elite schools in the South if not the nation, is traditionally the whipping boy of the SEC come football season. Granted, their offensive line has 4-digit SAT scores, so it’s almost not fair, but there you have it.

Except this year. Vandy started strong with a convincingly thorough whipping of Miami (OH) back in August, and really turned heads with its win over Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks, then ranked 24 (that’s 2 in a row Steve’s dropped to the Commodores; maybe that should have told us something). Then came Rice, a true peer — they’re also an elite academic school playing football with state squads — but Vandy kept rolling. And the next week they beat Ole Miss, and all of a sudden Vandy was 4-0 with two SEC wins under its belt, and had a top twenty ranking (19).

Pretty much everyone thought that would be over once they met #13 Auburn today, though. Spurrier’s not having much luck in South Carolina, and Ole Miss is nearly always helpless when someone not named Manning is calling the plays. “It’s been fun, boys,” said the sports press, “but enjoy it while it lasts.” Indeed, that sounded reasonable: the last time Vandy beat Auburn was 1955, in the Gator Bowl.

A little while ago, though, it became clear it’s going to last at least one more week, and probably two, as the Vanderbilt Commodores edged Tuberbille’s troubled Tigers 14 to 13 in Nashville. Vanderbilt is 5-0 for the first time since 1943. Vandy’s ongoing top-25 position is also pretty new — its undergrads weren’t born the last time that happened (1984) — and they haven’t finished with a winning record since ’82. They still might not do that, but it’s certainly possible: next up is Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2 SEC). A win there puts them at .500, with wins at Duke and/or Wake Forest certainly possible. Sadly, their schedule is back-end heavy; they’ve still got to play four more SEC teams (#11 Georgia, #12 Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee), too, and can’t realistically expect to bag more than one of those even if they’re lucky.

All that’s in the future, though. Today is still today, and as of this writing, they are in first place in the SEC East, and remain one of only three undefeated teams in the SEC (the other two, Alabama and LSU, are in SEC West).

Oh, yes, the Tide won, too, but frustratingly so, with needless errors and penalties in a game that was theirs to lose — Kentucky hasn’t ever beaten them in Tuscaloosa, and, like Vandy, is something of an SEC also-ran in football. The UK defense is real, though, and Saban will be justified in handing out some serious asskicking this week for gameplay that, against a more competitive team, would have cost them the game. Amusing stat, though: Tide RB Coffee had more yards on the ground than the whole Kentucky offense. At the end of the day, an ugly win is still a win, so Bama goes 6-0 with a bye next week, then Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Arkansas State cued up before the big show in Baton Rouge in November 8. (Thanks to Frank for the correction.)