Nashville, TENN--Vanderbilt was right there with No. 5 Texas.

That wasn't enough for it to leave Saturday happy despite being 17.5-point underdogs, though.

"I've got a disappointed team," Lea said. "My team expected to win that game. To come up short is unfortunate."

The result was unfortunate for Lea's team, although it may have signified that it can compete with anybody that walks into FirstBank Stadium.

Vanderbilt doesn't want to hear that, though.

"We're not interested in coming up just short," Lea added. "I'm heartbroken about coming up short."

Lea's players were heartbroken, too.

That's because they expected a different result.

"I'd say that's the most confidence we've had going into a game," Vanderbilt linebacker Bryan Longwell said. "It's really disappointing."

Saturday seemed particularly defeating for Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who came into Saturday night's press conference dejected after a delay.

Pavia wasn't willing to take positive from Vanderbilt's Saturday loss. He was just crushed. Plain and simple.

"It sucks," Pavia said of losing. "I hate losing more than I love winning."

Pavia set his goal out weeks ago, he wanted Vanderbilt to be a College Football playoff team. That's likely a dead dream now, although Pavia is still dreaming.

"We want more, the team deserves more."