re: What prevents Vanderbilt from competing in Football using Stanford's model?

Academically you can compare the two schools... with obvious edge to Stanford in name recognition but overall both schools have very high academic standards.

Comparing Stanford and Vanderbilt in Athletics is hard to do.. First off, Vanderbilt doesn't have the national name recognition as Stanford. Vanderbilt also has to recruit against all SEC/ACC/Big 10 schools for there athletes. Second, playing FB in the SEC isn't easy no matter who you play. Quality players get drafted every year to the NFL. Third, Vanderbilt does succeed in other sports like Basketball and Baseball. Football in the SEC is brutal every year.