Vanderbilt
If you read this column often, you know that one of my preseason win future recommendations was to play Vandy under three wins. Six weeks later, the Commodores are 5-0 atop the SEC East and ranked #13 in the AP poll. I’ll happily eat as much crow as you want to throw my way as this is a young exciting outfit that plays full tilt for 60 minutes.
It was easy to pile on Vandy before the season started as they returned just nine starters, three on offense. As if that weren’t bad enough, the Dores had just nine seniors on the roster and little in the way of playing experience. Playing in the tou gh SEC and with a non-conference schedule of at Miami Oh, at Wake, and much improved Duke at home, you could have made and argument for Vandy possibly going winless. No shot !!!
Vanderbilt has done it with improvisation, conditioning, and great defense. QB Chris Nickson set the tone early by running Miami Oh into submission. Nickson always seems to make something out of nothing with his elusive scrambling. The defense is undersized but very fast, flies to the ball, are thunderous hitters, and lead the nation in takeaways. The Commodores have outscored their opponents 67-10 in the second half, a tribute to their conditioning, grit, and heart.
Vanderbilt has not gone to a Bowl game since a 36-28 loss to the Air Force in the 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl. With wins over South Carolina and Auburn already in the books, most of the hard work is done. A win over a very beatable Mississippi State makes Vandy Bowl eligible and needing just20one win in six games (at Georgia, Duke, Florida, at Kentucky, Tennessee, and at Wake Forest) to seal the deal.
As previously mentioned, Vandy has just nine seniors but 32 juniors meaning with the extra month of practice for their Bowl and a likely much better recruiting class of talent coming in, we might be hearing about Vanderbilt for some time to come.
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