Vanderbilt travels to South Bend on Saturday afternoon to take on No. 8 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 13.5-point favorites, and ahead of the matchup, Mason spoke highly of the ND team playing at home:
Notre Dame fans, remember when Derek Mason said he wasn’t worried about South Bend?
His response to a question about going to South Bend in Week 3 made the rounds in July.
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This might seem like a bit of a different tune than back in July.
He made some headlines when he was asked at SEC Media Days about this game — here’s the full question and answer, from ASAP Sports:
Q. “You’re going to have a pretty early tough test early on with the trip to South Bend. How are you preparing your players for a trip to a location like that against a likely top-15 team?”
Derek Mason: “Yeah. We play in the SEC. I don’t worry about going to South Bend. Right now, I am worried about MTSU. I looked at how we started last year, and the blueprint is there.
“If you want to be successful, stay in the moment. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re staying in the moment. We’re about Notre Dame when that game comes. Right now, it’s about MTSU. It’s about going to camp. It’s about solidifying that depth. It’s about making sure when we harden this team enough that when adversity comes, this team knows how to handle it.”
Sure, at first glance, this could be perceived as Mason writing off Notre Dame’s home-field advantage.
But let’s take a look at the full picture, shall we?
- Mason said he was only thinking about Vandy’s Week 1 opponent, Middle Tennessee — just like any coach was doing before the season. There’s no looking ahead down the schedule for any college football head coach at a high level, and that includes Mason.
- The reporter is referring to Notre Dame’s stadium as a tough environment. The Irish have certainly won tons of games there. But don’t @ me Notre Dame fans, because Notre Dame Stadium isn’t exactly the most hostile to travel, for a team that regularly plays at Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and so forth — let’s not forget how Georgia fans completely took it over last fall:
3. Ultimately, this quote came out during “talkin’ season.” Quotes like Mason’s are bound to get some overreaction while it’s still long before any games are actually played.
So this quote wasn’t a big deal, but it’ll surely be on some fans’ minds as the game clock winds down.
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