1977 Vanderbilt Commodores football team

1977 Vanderbilt Commodores football
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	2–9 (0–6 SEC)
Head coach	Fred Pancoast (3rd season)
Home stadium	Dudley Field

1977 Southeastern Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Alabama $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 6 Kentucky	6	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
Auburn	5	–	1	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
LSU	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Florida	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Georgia	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Mississippi State	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Tennessee	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Kentucky ineligible for SEC championship due to NCAA probation. Mississippi State later forfeited all 1977 wins due to NCAA violations. Rankings from AP Poll

The 1977 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 1977 NCAA Division I football season. The Commodores were led by head coach Fred Pancoast in his third year. Vanderbilt had its second year with only two win both being non-conference games (2–9 overall, 0–6 in the SEC).

This was Vanderbilt's football program's 88th season. From 1890 to 1941 Vanderbilt won 304 games and lost 111, with 10 ties. It took the then successful program only 19 years to reach the 100 win mark, another 16 to meet the 200 mark, and 17 more to make it to 300 wins. It took Vanderbilt 50 years to lose 100 games, and 23 more to reach the 200 loss margin. Vanderbilt only needs 15 more years to make it to 300 losses. From 1940 to 1962 Vanderbilt would win and lose 100 more games. However, from 1962 to 1977 it only took 13 years to lose 100 more games. By the 1977 season Vanderbilt, a once respectable program, was now year after year the worst team in the SEC. The program would not get better any time soon. Vanderbilt's lost its 400th game in only 13 more years. In SEC play, from 1960 to 2011 Vanderbilt only had two above .500 win seasons, winning only 52 games, 16 of which they did not win a single game.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 10	at No. 1 Oklahoma*	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	L 23–25
September 17	at Wake Forest*	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC	W 3–0
September 24	No. 10 Alabama	Dudley Field Nashville, TN	L 12–24
October 1	at Tulane*	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA	L 7–36
October 8	No. 18 LSU	Dudley Field Nashville, TN	L 15–28
October 15	Georgia	Dudley Field Nashville, TN (rivalry)	L 13–24
October 22	at Ole Miss	Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS (rivalry)	L 14–26
November 5	No. 7 Kentucky	Dudley Field Nashville, TN (rivalry)	L 6–28
November 12	at Air Force*	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	L 28–34
November 19	Cincinnati*	Dudley Field Nashville, TN	W 13–9
November 26	at Tennessee	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	L 7–42
*Non-conference game Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game

• Source: 1977 Vanderbilt football schedule