What can Vanderbilt do for an encore?

NASHVILLE — The celebration at Vanderbilt over the school’s first bowl victory in exactly 53 years could linger well into next season.

Coach Bobby Johnson won’t let it.

So what if the Commodores posted a 7-6 season with their 16-14 victory over Boston College in the Music City Bowl on Wednesday for their first bowl win since the 1955 Gator Bowl? Johnson is a realist who knows only too well that Vanderbilt plays in the SEC.

“In turning the corner, like I’ve said many ties before, you never get over the hump. You never get around the corner. We’ve got to fight and we’ve got to work and we’ve got to continue to do what we’re doing to get better,” Johnson said even as he sat still slightly damp from being doused with water. “I’m looking forward to that.”

Johnson’s seventh season was supposed to be a rebuilding year at this school previously best known as the SEC’s perennial cellar dwellers — the Commodores had been the league’s only school not to even reach a bowl game over the past decade in a drought that actually stretched back to 1982.

He had lost the school’s all-time leading receiver when Earl Bennett left a year early for the NFL along with left tackle Chris Williams, one of the two best linemen ever to play here. Johnson had to replace the entire offensive line, and he went through a season unable to stick with either Chris Nickson or Mackenzi Adams at quarterback.

Still, Vanderbilt started 5-0 for the first time since 1943 and wound up ranked as high as No. 13. The Commodores earned their bowl status by beating Kentucky in their lone win over the final seven games of the regular season.

But led by a stingy defense that ranked second in the SEC in interceptions and 25th nationally in scoring defense, Vanderbilt showed a resiliency rarely seen before out of a program that had won as many as seven games only three other times in the previous 50 years.

This team struggled on offense so much that Vandy ranked 117th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. But they didn’t turn over the ball or hurt themselves with penalties. That was especially true against Boston College as Vandy had no turnovers and was not flagged once while coming up with two interceptions, including one by Myron Lewis to clinch the win with 1:36 left.

Nickson, who started the first five games before swapping back and forth with Adams, came off the bench Wednesday with redshirt freshman Larry Smith starting. Nickson only led Vandy with 57 yards rushing.

“If you were writing a book, this is about the best way you could end it,” Nickson said. “It’s been a great journey for me, full of ups and downs. I’ve grown as a man and developed so much of my character just through football. It just shows if you put your mind to something you can finish it. It’s been a great, great journey.”

All-SEC cornerback D.J. Moore announced after the game he is leaving a year early for the NFL Draft. Johnson said he was for Moore and knows he has the talent to compete in the NFL.

But the Commodores are stocked with talent thanks to the hard work of Johnson and his staff. Smith got his first start in the bowl game and was 10-of-17 for 121 yards while running 10 times for 25. Not one senior started on the offensive line, although the defense also loses senior safety Reshard Langford.

Nickson said the Commodores have something to look forward to, with a recruiting class that will come in ready to pick up where the current seniors left off. He also called Smith, an Alabama Mr. Football who led his high school to a state title, a great player.

“And we have about 12 other guys just like him on the bench right now. It’s going to be fun watching them. I can’t wait to see them play,” Nickson said.

It won’t be easy in 2009 with a schedule that features visits to LSU, Florida and Tennessee while the Commodores will host Mississippi, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Kentucky.

“It gives us a place that we can move on from,” Johnson said of the bowl win. “You know we want to get our program better, and this certainly ups the ante.”