It’s time to drop anchor at Vanderbilt.

The ship was afloat but adrift. Now it’s sinking.

But is it time to abandon ship on Derek Mason?

Maybe. In light of Saturday’s 34-10 defeat at the hands of lowly UNLV at Vanderbilt Stadium, it’s a fair question. And it’s one first-year athletics director Malcolm Turner and the school's decision-makers should be pondering right now.

UNLV’s victory was an upset — Vanderbilt was favored by two touchdowns — but it wasn’t a fluke. The Rebels completely outplayed a team with better players from a bigger conference, and made it look pretty easy.

It just means more?

To put things in perspective, UNLV — that’s the school located a mile or so from the Las Vegas Strip, once known for Jerry Tarkanian’s basketball teams but never known for football — strolled into the Music City with a 1-4 record.

That lone UNLV victory came against Southern Utah. One of the losses came was to Arkansas State. By 26 points. In Las Vegas.

The Rebels play in the Mountain West. Vanderbilt, of course, plays in the mighty SEC. But it isn’t playing SEC-caliber football.

You thought the Tennessee Volunteers were bad? UT at least has a conference victory after beating Mississippi State on Saturday, and seems to be getting better. This team is regressing.

Looking down the schedule, East Tennessee State next month may offer the only hope for another Vanderbilt victory. The Commodores have beaten the Vols three years in a row, but it’s hard to imagine this team winning an SEC game.

Bad offense, bad defense

Vanderbilt came into Saturday ranked 126th nationally in total defense. That’s out of 130 FBS teams. And dead last among Power Five schools.

That was before UNLV pushed the Commodores around their own field.

Oh, and Vanderbilt wasn’t rated much better than UNLV on defense. The Rebels were 114th, but had no trouble containing the Commodores.

The Big Three? Vanderbilt’s trio of running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, wideout Kalija Lipscomb and tight end Jared Pinkney — all projected to be playing in the NFL this time next year — haven’t made a big difference. Vaughn has gotten his yards, Lipscomb has shown flashes and Pinkney has been forgotten. They’ve hardly made the Vanderbilt offense feared.

That’s not to lay this game, or this season, at their feet. But if they can’t make the Vanderbilt offense go, who could?

Fair-weather fan base?

On a cool, sunny afternoon, Vanderbilt announced attendance at 20,048. At kickoff, probably half that number could be seen in the stands. And some of those left after two quarters.

They could see what was coming.

So even in fair weather, fans haven’t turned out to support the black and gold.

There weren’t a whole lot more on hand when the Commodores defeated Northern Illinois a couple of weeks earlier. The place was mostly packed for games against Georgia and LSU, but only because the visitors filled seats to watch their teams get a road win.

Fan apathy sends a powerful message. When supporters cease to care, coaches feel the heat. And athletics administrators have to make hard decisions.

Mason’s past and Vanderbilt's future

Mason seemed a good choice for Vanderbilt. He was a successful defensive coordinator at Stanford, a school with similar academic standards that has found success on the football field. There was reason to believe he could translate that on West End.

To be fair, the Vanderbilt football program has a long history of struggles. The school has been to nine bowl games in its entire history, and two of those have come in the last three seasons, under Mason. That’s probably why he got a contract extension after last season, although the details of his deal aren’t known.

But the 50-year-old coach hasn’t fielded a single winning team in his previous five seasons (and isn’t likely to this year) — something his predecessor, James Franklin, proved possible at Vanderbilt.

There’s every reason to like Mason. He’s personable and intense and he cares. He wants the Commodores to win. The question is whether he can make it happen.

A decision to fire a coach shouldn’t be made on one game. Even great teams (and great coaches) suffer upsets. But this loss didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s up to Vanderbilt to decide whether the program is going in the right direction, and whether Mason is the person to turn the ship around.