A small amount of controversy occurred when Vanderbilt canceled games at home with Northwestern and away with Ohio State. Letters were sent cancelling the games, with the explicit reason being the need to accommodate
Mizzou into Vanderbilt's SEC East Division. Northwestern, like Vanderbilt in the SEC, is the sole private institution in the
Big 10, alleged that the real reason was fear on the part of Vanderbilt to continue playing its Big 10 counterpart—a series which had been referred to as the Battle of the
Nerds.
Rape case On August 9, 2013, four Vanderbilt football players were arrested and indicted for rape. Brandon Vandenburg, Cory Lamont Batey, Brandon E. Banks, and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie were taken into custody and given a state-mandated
HIV test in connection with the
Vanderbilt rape case. All four men were charged with five counts of
aggravated rape and two counts of
aggravated sexual battery. They allegedly carried an unconscious 21-year-old female student into a dorm room in the school's Gilette House, and
gang-raped and
sodomized her on the floor in a 32-minute attack on June 23, 2013. They took graphic photos and videos of the rape. A fifth player, Chris Boyd, pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit accessory after the fact and was dismissed from the team but not the university for his role in helping to cover up the rape. Three of the players were convicted, and received prison sentences ranging from 15 years, the minimum allowed by Tennessee law for their crimes, to 17 years. The fourth player accepted a plea deal which included 10 years' probation, and did not receive any jail time. ==Coaching staff==