During a weekend full of setbacks, it was the game that particularly stunned the college football world in Nashville. Not only was Vanderbilt’s 40-35 win over Alabama the Commodores’ first victory against a No. 1 team, but also the program’s first over a top-five program.

Needless to say, head coach Clark Lea was a little emotional after fans stormed the field and tore down the goalposts at FirstBank Stadium (capturing the heart of Nashville’s celebration).

Here’s everything he said during his lengthy post-match press conference Saturday night:

“This was obviously a great night for a program, and you know, it’s one that we worked really hard to make happen. So obviously I haven’t been emotional at this point, when I stand in front of you I’m going to get emotional, but I think the emotions are a testament to the level of care and the level of investment from so many people who are encouraging us, to starting with our chancellor, who, remember, I said this from the beginning, but you know none of this would be possible without his faith in what we do and, God, his willingness to reimagine what this program can do are, and to free up and push resources.

Obviously for the best partner I could ever ask for in (athletic director) Candice Lee. She’s a great boss, a great friend, a great mentor, and few people know the level of fighting as well as she knows the level of fighting. Again, I wouldn’t be here without her, from the interview until now, and her support, her faith, her willingness to chart a path and open a path for me to do the things I need to do to get this program started. where it should go. Again, I’m grateful and I think there’s a lot of credit for her.

So as far as the match goes, regardless of how I feel now, we expected to win that match. It’s not shocking to me you know I would get emotional anyway because it’s a big win and to take that stadium and as we kneel the ball out you know just a picture in my mind of what the dream is is. That’s the dream. That’s why I came here. That’s what I came here for, and there are days when you feel like you’re very close, and there are days when you feel like you’re miles away. And to achieve that for this moment was special and something I will never forget.

Now we expected it and I am proud of our team, the way we fought. If you look at the game itself, we knew we had to limit possessions, which is an explosive offense. They’re a good Alabama team. I have a lot of respect for Caleb (DeBoer). I thought his boys were fighting too. I think they had nine possessions. We said that in our big three’s part of the game there was a ten-possession game, so if we got a nine-possession game, that means we met that goal.

“You need a team that plays together for that. All three phases are interlocked and I am proud of that. If you look at whether we had the ball in our hands for 42 minutes, you win such games against good teams. “

The second key for us was punch, counter punch. We knew they were going to get their plays, we had to look at the right times. We needed the next unit, regardless of what had happened before, the next unit to take the field and dictate the energy on the field, and we did that.

I thought the way we started the game defensively with the turnover for a touchdown, I thought the moments where we made stops and got the ball back, and obviously our offense to counter at the end and all that to end a possession was a lot. pleasure. I felt like we got results that way, and the special teams, you know, there were a few things that we want back from special teams — returning at the beginning of the half — I think even the kickoff , the foot kick step there at the end, we want to puncture a flat tire there vertically.

But overall, when you talk about the touchbacks on the kickoff, huge, the pin point, they backed them up and set up a good complementary sequence that we needed, that’s what a win looks like. It’s a team win, that’s what our program is. We have everything we need here to replicate that. We were a more disciplined team tonight. We’ve cleared the fines. I was proud of that. Hopefully we can learn a great lesson from this. We need to celebrate this and enjoy it and enjoy the moment, and then in 12 hours we need to turn the page and focus on Kentucky. That’s what we will do.

This is not an arrival for our program. It’s the beginning in some ways. I feel like this is a breakthrough moment for us, but it only matters, it only matters in terms of the climb we’re on and the journey as we turn around and get right back into our process. So again, you clearly know how much this means to me: I love our university, I love our city, I love our program. This is why I came back. It’s meant to be emotional because again, I’ve bled a lot into this and it just feels great to be able to celebrate with the team that I love and care about, and I’m looking forward to doing that . that more in the future.

I would like to open it up to questions.

Q: How happy are you for the players who stuck with it, especially after all the losses over the years:

I’m very happy for them. I think, again, you know we don’t do that, we focus on our faith and we understand that at any time as a competitor… even more so, I think, you know the world is now set up in such a way that you can quite avoid discomfort easy, and I don’t take it for granted that I have a team of warriors who will keep their mouths shut in the face of adversity. I mean there’s so many lessons to be learned from this build, and I said it after Virginia Tech and I said it tonight to the team, the guys that have been here, this is their fourth year with me, there’s nothing I can do to thank them for their faith and investment.

This is my job, it’s my passion, but I’m also a bit determined and you know, I like challenges and I like coming to work and I like the task of having to find a way through it. I think it’s inspiring and remarkable when young people share that passion and love for the challenge. And so yeah, I’m happy for them, I’m happy for all of them, the guys that we’ve added to this program, I can’t thank them enough for, again, their alignment with our environment, our culture and with where Vanderbilt- football is about. And I know they’re hungry for more too, so we’ll get back to work.

This transcript is the first seven minutes of his twenty-minute post-match press conference. More will be added soon…

What Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama’s stunning loss to Vanderbilt