Vanderbilt outscored its opponents 161–21 for a record of 7–0–1 (5–0–1 in conference games) and a share of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) championship.

It also featured the first time the Kentucky Wildcats were able to score on the Commodores, and the "muddiest game" in Vanderbilt history against rival Sewanee.

[3] 1921 was Wallace Wade's first year as a full-time assistant coach for the Commodores, and the intensity of their practices had increased since his arrival[1] (the first workout on September 12).

Before coming to Vanderbilt Wade coached at the Fitzgerald & Clarke School in Tullahoma, Tennessee, where he won a state prep-school championship in 1920 with a 16–3 record.

Other Commodore players debuting on the team included Putty Overall and Rupe Smith, who played for the Middle Tennessee State Normal School in the years surrounding the First World War.

[n 2] Returning veterans included Neely, Frank Godchaux, Doc Kuhn, Tot McCullough, Pink Wade, Alvin Bell, Alfred Sharp, and Percy Conyers.

[14] According to sportswriter Ferguson "Fuzzy" Woodruff, "While prospects seem fair to middling in most of the big southern colleges, there are two notable exceptions.

[19][20] According to a story on file in the Vanderbilt University Library quoted by Chuck Offenburger, "McGugin didn't want to get involved in politics, but he 'was drafted into service by a citizens committee'".

[21] Vanderbilt opened the season at Old Dudley Field against the Middle Tennessee State Normal of Murfreesboro, winning 34–0.

The field was at the northeastern corner of the campus, where Wilson Hall, Kissam Quadrangle, and a portion of the Vanderbilt University Law School now stand, adjacent to today's Twenty-First Avenue South.

Commodore touchdowns were scored by Tot McCullough, Thomas Ryan, Rupert Smith, Percy Conyers, and Alvin Bell.

The Commodore, Vanderbilt's yearbook, reported on the passing game: "Practically the only thing of note was the aerial efficiency—Kuhn to Ryan and Kuhn to McCullough".

[25] Tex Bradford reportedly had to wear street shoes during the game, because Vanderbilt had not yet received cleats large enough to fit him.

Before the game, Wade told his players "in no uncertain terms that the coaches were disgusted that such ragged material should display no symptoms of fight".

[32] Near the end of the first quarter, Godchaux finally got off a good punt to Mercer's 10-yard line and Tom Ryan made the tackle.

[30] After a Mercer punt and a return of fifteen yards by Ryan, Vanderbilt began a scoring drive highlighted by Godchaux' 48-yard run around the left end for a touchdown.

The next play was a 55-yard pass from Jess Neely to Tot McCullough for a touchdown,[27] and the half ended with Mercer's 25-yard kick return.

[42] According to Edwin Pope's Football's Greatest Coaches, "The Texas game, sparked by McGugin's unforgettable oratory, was the big one; and Vandy got out of the year without a loss".

The 1921 team was arguably the best in Longhorns history, and Vanderbilt football seemed to be in decline when Georgia Tech defeated the Commodores 44–0 the year before.

[47] As Charles Cason writes, "Instead of hammering detailed strategy into them,"[48] coach Dan McGugin took his team to the nearby grave of former Vanderbilt quarterback and third-team All-American Irby "Rabbit" Curry in Marlin.

[1][43] Just before the teams took to the field, referring to this grave, McGugin tapped his fingers on the locker room floor and began his noted speech: You are about to be put to an ordeal which will show the stuff that's in you!

He will be degraded in the hearts of the rest as long as they live...[49]On third down near the middle of the second quarter, Texas' Ivan Robertson (with the Commodores' Tom Ryan and Tex Bradford running after him) was intercepted by Vanderbilt captain Pink Wade.

[54] According to Blinkey Horn, the Tennessee coaches "never saw, in all the spying trips, such interference as the Commodores made yesterday for Doc Kuhn".

Other chances included Alabama halfback Rosenfeld intercepting a pass with a clear field ahead of him, returning it 32 yards before Vanderbilt's Red Rountree tackled him from behind.

[69] Before the game, the match was described by The New York Times as an "important clash";[70] another source called it a "tooth and toe nail event.

According to Nashville Tennessean sportswriter Blinkey Horn, "Georgia would have trampled Vanderbilt to atoms but for Lynn Bomar ... [who] was the stellar performer of the game.

[89] The game was scoreless until the fourth quarter, when Sewanee fumbled the snap on a punt and the punter was smothered by Jess Neely, Frank Godchaux, and Pink Wade for a safety.

[85][90] Later in the quarter, Henry (Hek) Wakefield punted the ball 54 yards from his own 38-yard line and Pos Elam recovered a fumble by Sewanee's Powers.

[93] Centre (which upset Harvard) lost to Texas A&M in the 1922 Dixie Classic, leaving Vanderbilt as the only undefeated team in all its games.

[2] The following chart provides a visual depiction of Vanderbilt's lineup during the 1921 season with games started at the position reflected in parentheses.