Clark Lea said weeks ago that Friday’s Birmingham Bowl was a legacy game for his team.

Lea’s team appeared to take that to heart as it added to its legacy on Friday by moving to 7-6 on the season and secured its first bowl win since its last trip to Birmingham in 2013 with a 35-27 win over Georgia Tech.

Vanderbilt’s most exciting team in years will now go down as more than that; it will go down as winners, too.

Lea’s affectionately named “team four” stunned the world with a win over No. 1 Alabama, it secured the program’s first win at Jordan Hare Stadium and it also did something that’s been done just four times throughout the program’s history.

Vanderbilt went to a bowl game. And won.

The Commodores didn’t just do it, either. They beat a 7-5 Georgia Tech team decisively and proved that when it’s healthy, it’s a force to be reckoned with.

Vanderbilt blew Friday afternoon’s game open. Plain and simple.

It saw Diego Pavia put on a show like he so often has as he’s built up his legacy this season. It saw CJ Taylor record an interception for his last hurrah in a Vanderbilt uniform. It saw Eli Stowers perform some heroics like he so often has throughout his Vanderbilt career. It also saw Vanderbilt put together a dominant half more decisively than it had than it has against a power five opponent all season.

All the things that Vanderbilt fans came to know and love about their team were apparent on Friday.

That team will now go out in a way that Vanderbilt fans will love, a way that none of Lea's previous teams have. They'll have a winning record; and momentum.

Those two things have been a rarity in Vanderbilt's program, which hasn't had a winning season it lost James Franklin in 2013. A bigger rarity; both of them together.

Vanderbilt now has both to take into the new year and the transfer portal. It also has its star quarterback back.

As a result, Lea's team has hope. Not just hope of another bowl eligible season, but hope of a step forward.

That's a thought to worry about tomorrow, though.

Today this is about year four. This is about a group that defied all odds--and reason-- to do what its program has so often failed to do. It's about a group that proved that you can build a winner in Nashville.

That group had another moment in the sun in front of a national audience on Friday. It also finished.

That's not something that should be glossed over. Vanderbilt ended its special season in a special way. It ended careers in a special way.

Its legacy is cemented. That legacy is one that everyone involved should be proud of.