0%.

Too much money and confidence invested in Mason to can him. The team is slowly but surely looking better.

The year prior to Mason getting to Stanford (2009) they were ranked 98th in total defense. They quickly jumped after he got there (Though it wasn't just him). There were also more players there fitting and familiar with the system so the improvement was no doubt quicker.

Year by year:
2009 - 98th
2010 - 21st (DB Coach)
2011 - 31st (Assoc. HC/Co-DC/DB)
2012 - 42nd (Assoc. HC/DC)
2013 - 43rd (Assoc. HC/DC)
2014 - 2nd

Looking at the rankings, Stanford didn't immediatly get better when he moved up the coaching ladder. Concerning is Stanford's ranking YTD. We could pretend this being year 1 with so many young players and the new system as something similar to Stanford's '09 season. So far this year Vanderbilt is 104th in total defense. Maybe this year should be a mulligan, though you may be concerned with Vanderbilt's same period rankings.

Vanderbilt:
2009 - 42nd (CBJ)
2010 - 84th (CTI)
2011 - 19th (CJF)
2012 - 22nd (CJF)
2013 - 26th (CJF)
2014 - 104th (CJF)

Now the offensive philosophies in the PAC-12 & SEC are completely different at many places leading to higher total defense numbers, especially the last few years in the PAC-12.

My point is maybe, in this conference, when the players and system match better that we may be equal or better defensively than the last 3 years.

Maybe.

Offensively we were the last team in FBS to score an offensive TD. I will give you no arguement for our offense potentially getting better. If anyone wants to dig up Stanford's recent #'s (or better yet UCLA's during the reign of Dorrell) they can, although I don't think you'll find anything worthwhile to compare.