On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman are joined in the studio by former Sports Editor Bryce Smith to discuss what went wrong in Vanderbilt's 34-31 loss to Texas, and preview a Homecoming Weekend date with Auburn. The trio moves on to talk basketball, beginning with the men's team's opening night victory over Lipscomb and an upcoming matchup against UCF on Saturday. After bidding Bryce goodbye, Henry and Tristan break down a win for Vanderbilt Women's Basketball over Cal in Paris and look ahead to the team's first home game against Furman next week. The duo then recaps the Commodores' win over Alabama in the SEC Soccer Tournament and previews Thursday's matchup against No. 19 Georgia. They finish up the sports of the week by talking about Vanderbilt Volleyball's second SEC win against Missouri, following a road loss to Kentucky, and quickly discuss the squad's home stand against No. 19 Tennessee on Friday. They close the episode with a combined Vanderbilt Men's and Women's Basketball 5v5 draft for Tristan's Two-Minute Drill™.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman break down one of the biggest weekends in Vanderbilt Football history, recapping their win over then-No. 15 Missouri, reacting to College GameDay's visit to Nashville and previewing their upcoming game in Austin. They shift to soccer, where Vanderbilt clinched the No. 2 seed in the SEC tournament after a victory over South Carolina to close out the regular season. The duo then moves to cover two 3-1 losses — to Georgia and South Carolina — for Vanderbilt Volleyball, who will take on Kentucky and Missouri on Friday and Sunday, respectively. They quickly give some thoughts on exhibition wins for Vanderbilt Men's and Women's Basketball and prepare for each team's non-conference slate to kick off. The dynamic duo closes the episode by bringing back an all-time segment with "Anything but Vandy," where they talk about anything going on in the world, as long as it's unrelated to Vanderbilt sports.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman welcome Staff Writers Charlie Siegel and Zachary Port into a full studio to break down an exciting week on West End. They begin the episode by breaking down a thrilling victory at home over then-No. 10 LSU before moving to preview College GameDay coming to Nashville for Vanderbilt's upcoming matchup with No. 15 Missouri. The group switches to soccer, where they recap a 5-1 victory over Mississippi State on the road and a 2-0 win against Tennessee at home, and look ahead to the team's final regular-season match against South Carolina on Sunday. They transition to discussing an unsuccessful week for Vanderbilt Volleyball, with losses to LSU and Ole Miss, before previewing this week's games against Georgia and South Carolina at home. With basketball season nearing closer, the quartet recaps the Commodores' recent exhibition against Virginia and takes a look at the roster construction for the Men's and Women's Basketball teams. The episode closes with a brand-new segment for Tristan’s Two-Minute Drill™ called "The Commodore Stock Exchange," where Henry, Charlie and Zach work together to decide if the stocks of different takes, trends and storylines are rising or falling.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman recap a bye week for Vanderbilt Football ahead of a highly-anticipated home stand against No. 10 LSU. After previewing this matchup, they transition to soccer, where Courtney Jones registered a brace in a 2-0 victory over Missouri at home. The Commodores will travel to Starkville, MS, to face No. 17 Mississippi State on Thursday before returning home to take on No. 4 Tennessee. They move to recap two road losses for the volleyball team, and look forward to two home matches against LSU and Ole Miss on Friday and Sunday, respectively. To finish off the episode, the duo gives some insight into each of their perceptions on the current state of SEC football with a set of good, old-fashioned power rankings.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman bring in Deputy Sports Editor Dylan Tovitz to break down a chaotic week of fall sports for Vanderbilt. The team begins by discussing a heartbreaking road loss to Alabama in football and looks ahead to what the upcoming bye week will bring for the Commodores. They move into soccer, where Sydney Watts paved the way to back-to-back victories at home against Auburn and on the road in Lexington, KY, before previewing this week's home stand against Missouri on Friday Night. Vanderbilt Volleyball suffers defeat to Oklahoma but is able to bounce back and pick up its first SEC win against Arkansas! They will look to keep this momentum rolling when they visit Auburn and Florida later this week. The trio wraps up the episode with another competitive trivia end segment — newly rebranded to "Tristan's Two-Minute Drill" — between Henry and Dylan on all-time CFB record-holders.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman welcome Lead Sports Analyst Eli Landers into the studio to talk about Vanderbilt Football's continued undefeated start, which has now been extended to five games. The trio previews the team's road trip to Tuscaloosa for a rematch with Alabama, where they will be featured on ESPN's College GameDay for the first time since 2008. After wrapping up football, they move on to discuss an unexpected loss in soccer to an unranked Texas team and look ahead to a matchup at home against Auburn on Thursday, as well as a short detour to Kentucky on Sunday. They then transition into Vanderbilt Volleyball, where an unsuccessful Texas road trip led to two 3-0 losses, but the team returns home for contests against Oklahoma and Arkansas this week. Tristan's end segment of the week was a historic Vanderbilt Football trivia battle between Eli and Henry — tune in to see who came out on top.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman get things started by talking about then-No. 20 Vanderbilt Football's 70-21 thrashing of Georgia State before moving to preview the team's final nonconference game against Utah State. They also go through the newly released SEC slate for the next four seasons and analyze the rise to No. 18 in the Week 4 AP Poll. The two hosts then move to discussing the Commodores' first SEC victory in soccer against No. 24 Oklahoma, and the team's jump from No. 17 to No. 13 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. After previewing a matchup with Texas on Friday night, the duo transitions to the state of affairs in the volleyball world, where the team was victorious against UC Irvine this past weekend, as they prepare to travel to Texas for a two-game road trip against two top-15-ranked teams. They wrap up the episode with a new segment called "Who Said That?", pulling some historic quotes from all-time figures in Vanderbilt Athletics, and trying to identify who said them.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman bring in a familiar guest, former Sports Editor Aiden Rutman, to talk about the current state of Vanderbilt Sports. The trio begins by breaking down a dominant 31-7 victory against then-No. 11-ranked South Carolina for the No. 20-ranked Commodores in football before moving to preview a repeat of last year's matchup against Georgia State. They discuss No. 17 Vanderbilt's lukewarm start to conference play in soccer with two scoreless draws against LSU and No. 10 Arkansas before transitioning to preview a home matchup with No. 24 Oklahoma. The three progress into talking about Vanderbilt Volleyball's losses during a California road trip and look ahead to hosting UC Irvine back in Memorial Gymnasium. To commemorate the episode's significance, they wrap up with a segment called "Mount Commodore" to crown the most influential moments and figures in the history of Vanderbilt Athletics.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman welcome Managing Editor Vincent Xu to highlight Vanderbilt's comeback victory on the road over Virginia Tech in football. The trio then looks ahead to next week's road matchup with No. 11 South Carolina before shifting to soccer and volleyball to cover the victories, losses, and draws from the past weekend. They move on to discuss the Commodores' first game of SEC play against LSU in soccer, and they preview Vanderbilt Volleyball's road trip to California for the team's next two contests. The episode comes to a close as the three take a look back at the first week of NFL action and make some overreactions from games and performances around the league.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman go through some of the standout performances from Vanderbilt's 45-3 rout of Charleston Southern in football. The duo then moves to discuss Vanderbilt Soccer's victory over Yale on Senior Night and looming matchups against Georgetown and Middle Tennessee State to wrap up non-conference play. They transition to Vanderbilt Volleyball, where the Commodores went 1-1 over the weekend with a win over Belmont on Wyatt Lawn and a loss to Illinois at Bridgestone Arena ahead of two contests with Lipscomb and Minnesota to wrap up the week. They close with a brand new segment called "Mascot Mayhem," where they analyze college football matchups if the two teams' mascots were to duke it out.
On this week's episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman are joined by Deputy Sports Editor David Hernandez. The trio talks about Vanderbilt Football’s upcoming matchup with Charleston Southern and what to look out for. They then transition to Vanderbilt Soccer's first loss of the season at Memphis and look ahead to a home stand against Yale, before moving on to discuss Vanderbilt Volleyball's first game in 45 years. They wrap things up with an SEC Football draft with the best players from around the conference.
On this week's episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Sports Podcast Producer Tristan Rutman meet for the first time of the 2025-26 academic year. They preview Vanderbilt Football’s position groups and which stand out as the most exciting and most concerning. The duo then discusses Vanderbilt Soccer's string of three victories to start the season before wrapping up with a brand new CFB trivia segment.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin take to the mics one more time as Vanderbilt students. The two begin with an update on the state of the VandyBoys. Is the team on the up and up despite losing two of three to Ole Miss? The duo then take the rest of the episode to reflect. Rutman and Barbin discuss their best moments from their four years as members of the Sports Section, and bid an emotional farewell to everyone who made their sports coverage possible.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Former Sports Editor Justin Hershey. The episode begins with Hershey dishing his thoughts on Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball’s transfer portal work - how are they going to replace the scoring of Jason Edwards? The trio then discusses Vanderbilt Baseball’s huge sweep of No. 5 Georgia. Will this be the series that really gets them hot down the stretch? Finally, Rutman and Barbin ask for Hershey’s take on Vanderbilt Athletics as a whole - how have the programs evolved since Hershey was the Sports Editor?
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Non-revenue Sports Specialist Jayce Pollard and Senior Staffer Dylan Tovitz. The episode begins with Pollard reflecting on a season in which Vanderbilt Bowling came up short. He talks about how NCAA Bowling has grown as a whole - the sport is in the best place it’s ever been. Tovitz then subs in to discuss a somewhat shaky baseball series in Oklahoma. Can the Commodores figure out how to piece together a lineup that makes them competitive with the best in the SEC?
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Senior Staffer Nolawi Solomon and Editor-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Hustler Barrie Barto. The episode begins with Solomon speaking with the guys about the importance of the VandyBoys’ sweep of the Gators, their excellent midweek play and whether he thinks they can host a Regional. The three then discuss the transfer portal, most notably Jalen Carey’s departure to rival Tennessee. Solomon leaves and Barto joins to conduct a draft of the best sports moments over the last four years at Vanderbilt.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Senior Advisor of the Vanderbilt Hustler Jorie Fawcett and Senior Staffer Dylan Tovitz. The episode begins with Fawcett describing how her love has grown for Vanderbilt sports, especially this year. Fawcett tells the story of her lucky shirt, which hasn’t let down any of the Commodore teams yet. Tovitz then joins the program to discuss Vanderbilt MBB’s roster rebuild and whether or not they will retain Jason Edwards. The trio then discuss No. 2 Arkansas’ sweep of the VandyBoys. The three dig deep on Vanderbilt’s lack of power and debate whether or not the problem is fixable.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Dore Report Contributor Alex Kurbegov. The episode begins with a breakdown of Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball’s first round NCAA Tournament loss at the hands of St. Mary’s. They then discuss the season as whole and potential transfer portal needs. The trio do the same for Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball, breaking down their season following their first round loss to Oregon. They then discuss the state of the VandyBoys after sweeping Texas A&M.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Deputy Sports Editor Grace Hall and Senior Staffer Dylan Tovitz. The episode begins with a breakdown of the VandyBoys’ weekend series against Auburn - what needs to change for Vanderbilt to be more competitive going forward? The four then breakdown both Vanderbilt Men’s and Women’s Basketball’s paths in the NCAA Tournament - will they both find success in March? Rutman, Barbin, Hall and Tovitz wrap the long episode with their tournament predictions overall, naming their Women’s and Men’s champions.
On this week’s episode of Live From West End, Sports Editor Aiden Rutman and Sports Podcast Producer Jonah Barbin are joined by Senior Staffer Tristan Rutman. The episode begins with both Rutmans and Barbin discussing the keys for Vanderbilt Women’s and Men’s Basketball as they await their NCAA Tournament bids. Rutman and Barbin then talk Vanderbilt Baseball - is the team good enough to contend with the best of the best?