Derek Mason on Notre Dame: We need to exceed their physicality

There was a minor stir this summer at SEC Media Days when Derek Mason, in response to a reporter’s question, said that Vanderbilt is not worried about going to South Bend.

Now that it’s the week of the Notre Dame game, though, there were no such comments. In fact, Mason compared Notre Dame to an SEC team and South Bend to an SEC environment. Mason said that to beat Notre Dame, Vanderbilt will need to exceed Notre Dame’s physicality and avoid mistakes.

Of course, in Vanderbilt world, Mason’s Notre Dame comments aren’t even the biggest news of the day. Here’s what Mason had to say about the retirement of Athletic Director David Williams:

In other news, Colin Anderson and Dayo Odeyingbo are both returning from injury this week, and safety Zaire Jones — who missed the first two games while serving a suspension — will return this week as well.

Oh yeah, and also:

(And there was much rejoicing.)