If you're not happy as an LSU fan, imagine how tough it must be to be a Vandy fan. Vandy is 34-83 over the last 10 years. One winning season. Also imagine how tough it must be to recruit football players to a team that is almost never on national television, almost never in a bowl game, and almost never has a winning season. And they recruit in the same state as Tennessee and Memphis. Which is why Vandy's first string offensive depth chart sports exactly one kid from Tennessee (LT Wesley Johnson, rFr, Rivals 3 Star). Most of the kids starting on Vandy's offense are from Georgia (4) and Alabama (3), which generally means they didn't make the cut for UGA, GT, Bama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State...you get the picture. Vandy's average Rivals star rating on offense is 2.7 stars (8 3stars, 4 2stars (they list 12 starters)). Quarterback. Larry Smith had the worst QB efficiency rating in the SEC last year - 88, which is really bad. The next closest rating was almost 20 points higher. Smith completed only 46% of his passes for 125 ypg, 4 TDs and 7 interceptions. Billed as a dual-threat QB out of Prattville HS, Alabama, Smith hasn't panned out as a runner, either, averaging only 2.5 ypc in 9 games last year, for a 25 ypg average. However, Smith may be getting better, as one might expect for a second year QB. Last week against Northwestern, Smith had a better outing than his 2009 stats show, completing 19/33 passes for 240 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception. He also had 48 yards on 14 carries. And he made some long throws (>15 yards) to 5 different receivers, so he's spreading the ball around. Grade: C. But that may be pessimistic if he improves between week one and week two. Running Backs. Warren Norman and Zach Stacy are two pretty decent RBs. Norman (who is apparently nursing a nagging injury but still playing) had 783 yards rushing last season for a 5.4 ypc average. More importantly for Vandy, he broke Herschel Walker's SEC record for all-purpose yards as a freshman, amassing 1,941 including 1,050 yards and 3 TDs on kickoff returns. Norman was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2009 as a true Frosh. He had 46 yards on 10 carries and 1 TD last weekend. Stacy had 478 yards for 10.7 ypc in 2009, and put 103 all purpose yards on LSU's defense. He had 69 yards last week against Northwestern, including a 33 yard TD run. Grade: B. Receivers & Tight Ends. With the worst starting QB in the conference, its tough to judge just how good Vandy's receivers may or may not be. Freshman WR John Cole led the Commodores with 382 yards in 2009, and TE Brandon Barden was #2 with 367 yards. Slot receiver Odom Umoh had 267. All three of these players are back this year, and TE Barden had the biggest game against Northwestern, with 63 yards on 4 catches, including a 36 yard TD reception. Three other receivers had long receptions: Umoh (19 yarder), Wimberly (37) and Krause (24). RB Norman also had a 23 yard reception. So Vandy has some capability to connect downfield. Grade: C? Hard to know. Offensive Line. Left Guard Kyle Fischer is the only returning starter on the Vandy offensive line. Senior Center Joey Bailey is in his first year as a starter, but has played a lot in his 4 years of playing time. The rest of the line consists of 2 redshirt Sophs and a redshirt Frosh. I won't bother looking at last year's OL, because they're basically gone! Against Northwestern, it appears Smith was only sacked once, but was hurried at least 5 times, had a few rushes for negative yards, and fumbled twice, both recovered by a RB. On the day, Vandy rushed for 192 yards on 38 carries, which is not bad. Size-wise, the OL is listed as 300, 310, 295, 285, 265 from left to right. That's undersized for an SEC OL. Grade: C? They're so inexperienced, it's hard to know after 1 game. OVERALL: C Vandy's offense has what appear to be a couple of weapons at RB, and maybe a pretty good TE. QB Larry Smith isn't likely to light up LSU's secondary, but then again....nobody predicted that UNC's Yates would do what he did, either. And is there any doubt that Vandy is practicing that damned TE slant to Barden about 500 times this week? The difference, however, is UNC's Yates is a 5th year senior with 4 years of starting experience, and Smith - is not. I think Vandy will try to challenge LSU's young DBs and LBers by throwing tons of quick passes, and I expect LSU will get to Smith early and often and force him to either take a sack, use his legs, or make a hasty throw. That ought to be enough to force him to make mistakes, even on short routes. If LSU stalls on offense too often, however, and allows Vandy's RBs too many chances, I think those two are good enough to cause a tired DL and LB corps some problems later in the game. End of the day - I don't see Vandy's offense being too much of a problem for LSU. As long as LSU keeps the defense off the field late in the game.
A B and three C's That is probably the only C's their team has ever gotten They probably have 3.5 GPA's in Chemical Engineering
I think we win easily. However, I do not expect a 70-0 score. I believe we will stay in control of the game throughout, and see some more trickery in the offense. I also think that Vandy will serve as a chance to show discipline in-game, and for the players to learn to avoid the penalties that amounted to shooting themselves in the foot. I'm thinking 37-10.
I wonder how much they hold the football team to their student body academic standards? I'm guessing, to compete in the SEC, they give the team a LOT of extra help, just like LSU and other schools do. I did a brief search but didn't find anything on that. Probably a thread or two in their message boards - haven't had a chance to go there, yet.
