No, Derek Mason didn’t trash talk ND with his quote about South Bend

His response to a question about going to South Bend Week 1 has been making the rounds.

SEC Media Days was held in Atlanta last week, and head coaches around the league talked about the upcoming 2018 season. One head coach whose response to a question that’s been making the rounds is Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason. According to some Notre Dame fans, Mason had some trash talk when he was asked about the Fighting Irish, the Commodore’s Week 3 opponent, last Thursday. Here’s the full question and answer, from ASAP Sports:

Q. “You’re going to have a pretty early tough test early on with the trip to South Bend. How are you preparing your players for a trip to a location like that against a likely top-15 team?”

Derek Mason: “Yeah. We play in the SEC. I don’t worry about going to South Bend. Right now, I am worried about MTSU. I looked at how we started last year, and the blueprint is there.

If you want to be successful, stay in the moment. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re staying in the moment. We’re about Notre Dame when that game comes. Right now, it’s about MTSU. It’s about going to camp. It’s about solidifying that depth. It’s about making sure when we harden this team enough that when adversity comes, this team knows how to handle it.”

Sure, at first glance this could be perceived as Mason writing off Notre Dame completely. But let’s take a look at the full picture, shall we?

1. Mason said he’s only thinking about Vandy’s Week 1 opponent Middle Tennessee — just like any coach nowadays is doing. There’s no looking ahead down the schedule for any college football head coach at a high level, and that includes Mason.
2. The way that South Bend is mentioned in the question sounds like the reporter is referring to Notre Dame’s stadium, not South Bend in general. And don’t @ me Notre Dame fans, but Notre Dame Stadium isn’t exactly the most hostile environment to play in — let’s not forget how Georgia fans completely took it over last fall:

3. While these media days are sometimes fun and informative, ultimately this is still “talkin’ season.” Quotes like Mason’s are bound to get some overreaction while we’re still long before any games are actually played. Once this game rolls around, I doubt we’ll still be talking about this quote.