Vanderbilt Scouting

gtrower

gtrower

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Being in Ireland the last 11 days I haven't seen much of any football other than Tech. Anybody watch Vandy play USCe or MTSU? Thoughts? Apparently their RB Webb leads the SEC in rushing right now - which doesn't mean a whole lot other than he's gotten a lot of carries against a weak SOS. Looks like their passing game is non-existent as their starter is 23-50 (46%) for 186 yards and 1 TD. That's 3.72 ypa which is about as bad as you can get. He's dead last in FBS in that statistic among 124 qualified QBs - and it's by over a full ypa. That tells me they can't throw it deep and struggle throwing it short. He doesn't have anything rushing either so doesn't appear to be a dual threat guy. For reference JT5 is 13-25, (52%) for 199 yards, 7.96 ypa. But again this is pretty useless without having watched the games - I'll probably catch them on espn3 over the next few days.

Perusing their message boards is tough given that the non-subscription boards are ghost towns. Seems to be general surprise that Tech is even favored in the game let alone 1 TD favorites. I thought 7 sounded about right going into this game as I think we've got the edge with talent, coaching, and home field. But given the meltdown last season it wouldn't be a shocker at all to lose this game.

Quick look at the box scores suggests a horrible pass offense with a good run game paired with a decent run defense and bad pass defense.

Hopefully Saturday looks a lot like the 2009 game with CPJ drawing up plays in the turf for homeruns.

 
I haven't watched much of Vandy's games but your analysis seems spot on after talking to some SEC fan friends.
 
EastboundJacket said:
Side note, but which play was the one he drew up, again? The long pass TD?
Click to expand...

Yeah, 1:45 in the highlight video above. The story I remember was CPJ noticed the safeties firing up hard with one of the pre-snap motions we were using so he huddled the guys up and showed them on the turf what he wanted to playside AB to do, and sure enough the safeties fired up and Peeples got 5 yards behind them. Who knows if he ever actually did draw it up on the turf like that, but makes for a good story. And a TD.

***EDIT***
Well right after posting the above I stumbled across a bleacher report article from last year.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2567364-the-genius-behind-georgia-tech-how-coach-paul-johnson-bucks-convention-and-wins

"It's the sequence of the calls; he is three steps ahead of what's going on," Bohannon said. "He sets something up. He has a great knack for it. The man is special on game day. He sees who is making the play, and he remembers and uses it. The timeliness of his calls is what's uncanny."

Bedford, the ex-Tech rocket scientist, remembers a game on Halloween in 2009 with Vanderbilt. The Jackets were up 42-31, and Vandy wouldn't go away. The offense was gathered on the sideline when Johnson came over to them and said, "You want to score a touchdown?"

Johnson then made up a play, as if he was drawing it up on dirt in the mountains of his native North Carolina.

"We ran the new play, which we had obviously never practiced before, on the first play of the next drive," Bedford said. "Just as coach promised us he would, the safety came flying up to stop what he thought was a counter option, which allowed [quarterback] Josh Nesbitt to hit Embry Peeples in stride for an 87-yard touchdown pass."
 
gtrower said:
Looks like their passing game is non-existent as their starter is 23-50 (46%) for 186 yards and 1 TD. That's 3.72 ypa which is about as bad as you can get. He's dead last in FBS in that statistic among 124 qualified QBs - and it's by over a full ypa. That tells me that we'll make him look like a Heisman candidate.
Click to expand...

fify
 
View from a 3rd party observer, watching due to degenerate gambling....:)

Vandy's loss to South Carolina was really ugly. They were up 10-0 in that game and allowed USC to come back and win 13-10. With their 3rd string QB. And Vandy was at home. They only totaled 242 yards in that game.

Although they whipped MTSU 47-24, they only had 344 yards of offense. Their first FG was set up by a 55 yd fumble return. Their first TD was set up by a 47 yd KO return. Another TD was set up by a 59 yard interception return.

Webb is a very solid back and ran for over 200 yards in the game, including a couple of big runs.

Vandy did have a pretty nice drive for a TD in the 2 minute at the end of the first half, and a couple of sustained drives in the 2nd half. MTSU also helped with 9 penalties for 92 yards, including a couple of key personal fouls.

Basically comes down to controlling Webb and making Shurmur (QB) beat us.
 
I've watched both of Vandy's games this year, as well as a few last year. They are a very run heavy team for a non-option attack. Whereas we're about 20% pass right now, they are about 35% pass. In the SEC, only UGA runs the ball more so far this year (either by percentage or by total touches), and only Nick Chubb and Arkansas feature back RW3 have more total touches than Ralph Webb, who has more yards than either of them. He's a pretty good back, who has managed to have success despite the lack of a passing game. Webb himself is tied for the #1 spot in terms of most receptions on the team.

He and the guy behind him account for about 75% of their yards and touchdowns. If we can shut them down, we'll have a good game.

Defensively, they are very physical up front. We're going to struggle a lot. Opportunities will exist in the air, but we'll have to be able to hold the pocket long enough to take them, since we're not the kind of team that throws a ton of short routes and screens.
 
I watched a little bit of Vandy vs USCe. I started contemplating suicide while watching so I had to turn it. Hopefully our game is a little more exciting.

Vandy does not look good. I thought their D was pretty stout but it was against a Muschamp coached team.
 
Vandy's running back is legit. Their QB is not.

They also have a safety who will be playing on Sundays. Probably a lower scoring game yet again...if I had to guess.
 
If we don't have 8 in the box all game Saturday, I'll be disappointed. #somewhatTIC
 
Just watched the first 7 or 8 possessions from the MTSU game. Hard to believe they won that game at all let alone by as much as they did. Their passing game looks even worse on film than it does on paper. Running game got stuffed repeatedly but Webb made some great individual plays. MTSU moved the ball at will but had two fumbles and an INT. This all in the first 20 or so minutes. Wasn't that impressed with their front 7 really despite reports that it is supposed to be good. Little pressure from their front 4 and their secondary looked lost.

Feeling more confident about Saturday now. I'm gonna go with 27-16 Tech.
 
Just listened to the Tuesday press conference.

CPJ says they will be facing the biggest LB we've seen or may see this season. Also that Vandy has a good running attack, but that the D has been "decent" against the run so far this year, and he expects Vandy's running game to be similar to that of BC.
 
I remember that game quite vividly as I was there. Fun game.

Swallowed chewing tobacco juice on the way back by accident, and then ate Cracker Barrel.
 
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