The core weakness of a lot of Vanderbilt teams in the modern era has been its offense. It's a problem that not even James Franklin could fix consistently. When Derek Mason arrived as head coach, it seemed like he dealt with one train wreck after another.
Two starting running backs left the program when Jerron Seymour go to Eastern Illinois and Brian Kimbrow went to Middle Tennessee State. If that wasn't enough, four-star wide receiver Jordan Cunningham transferred to North Carolina. In a short period of time Mason watched three of his main offensive weapons leave campus.