Thoughts on Vandy game?

[Buzz4Him]

What are your thoughts on our gameplan for Vandy?

Do we keep it pretty simple like last year's Syracuse game? Lots of runs off tackle and simple out patterns on OFfense to keep the D honest? Pretty basic D coverage with few stunts and blitzes? This being in anticipation of the Clemson game coming up 09-14 and not wanting to show too much, plus getting the basics and OL gelled well.

Or, do we open it up on Vandy to set the tone and send a statement? Sort of the way the Navy game was?

I am curious because it seems that B'OB and Tenuta are being allowed to be their own men. No "meddling" but "well timed advice". How much will Gailey dictate as far as tempo, etc?

My guess is that we will keep it fairly simple. Control the clock and use the game to gell the O and D lines. A low scoring affair, somewhere around 17-7 or 24-10. Of course a couple of ill-timed turnovers may throw all this out the window.

 

[GT98]

Obviously, you would like to keep a few of the "wrinkles" back for the Clemson game. I would think that we will show a handful of different looks that we will use most of the year against Vandy. Again, no disrespect to the Vandy lurkers, but we are in trouble if Vandy gives us fits all game. Vanilla or not, we should win by 14 to 17 pts. The biggest thing that I am looking for in the first 2 games is execution. Don't care what schemes we run, just execute well; if we do that, we will win both games handily.

Also, I think that the vanilla scheme against Syracuse last year was more a function of Will Glover having a hamstring problem early in the game and wanting to keep extra blockers back for Godsey who was still nursuing the knee. Both of those factors lead to a very basic scheme that worked since Syracuse wore down in the 4th quarter.

I am excited about the possibilities of Bilbo and Smith lining up at receiver w/Suggs at QB; could be interesting. Gailey's offense in Pittsburgh was quite good having 2 QB's on the field at the same time.

 

[1865Jacket]

I think that while we surely won't reveal all of our offensive attack, we can't afford to be too conservative. Last year we had that luxury with veteran receivers and, more importantly, a veteran backfield. With 2 new QB's which must show what they can do in game situations, I expect us to open it up a little more. Let Suggs and Bilbo show you what they can do to try to get a better handle on the QB issue. I expect to see all the running backs get a shot until one separates himself. I'm looking for a good bit of the run game with a lot the option from both QB's, but I think you have to let em air it out too. Thought is that Suggs is the passer and Bilbo is the runner, but we need to let them do both and see which one works. I know I what I just said pretty much didn't form any sort of game plan, but that's kind of what I expect, a typical "little bit of everything"

 

[CowGill]

Don't forget the play they've been practicing where Dorsey drops back into the slot for the direct snap. Should that one wait for Clemson too?

 

[Buzz4Him]

I expect to see all the running backs get a shot until one separates himself. I'm looking for a good bit of the run game with a lot the option from both QB's, but I think you have to let em air it out too.

I agree about the running game. Especially after reading Gailey's quote in the Macon paper this morning about the other team knowing we are gonna run the left side. Let them try to stop it.

I think though, that we will probably continue to see no single back get the majority of the snaps like last year. I am glad of that too. keeping fresh legs in there is better if you have the depth to do it, and I think we have that kind of depth this year.

 

[oldfoggy]

My thoughts are if we keep it too vanilla then we stand the chance of having to work out the wrinkles against Clems Son and that will not be the place to try and put the full offense together.

 

[bellyseries]

Originally posted by oldfoggy:
My thoughts are if we keep it too vanilla then we stand the chance of having to work out the wrinkles against Clems Son and that will not be the place to try and put the full offense together.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">There's still the UConn workout.

 

[PhilipVU94]

Originally posted by GT98:
Again, no disrespect to the Vandy lurkers, but we are in trouble if Vandy gives us fits all game. Vanilla or not, we should win by 14 to 17 pts.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Obviously it's no secret that we've struggled, particularly at the end of last year, so i'm not offended. I would expect that the Vegas line will be in that neighborhood. It's hard for us to know what to expect with the new coaching staff, although in general they do have a reputation for better preparing their teams than the previous staff.

I would caution, though, against "holding back" against any opponent. Rumor was that somehow our staff tried to "not show everything" in the opener against MTSU last year. Of course in retrospect that sounds ridiculous, because that game probably sealed Woody Widenhofer's fate, but at the time MTSU was probably taken more lightly. At any rate, who knows if that's true?, but the point is you're best off preparing 100% for each opponent, and then if you get in a comfortable situation you don't have to use everything you've prepared.

At any rate, i will be extremely disappointed if our team has given up by the 3rd quarter. Based on all the advance hype about Coach Johnson, i don't think that will happen.

 

[ahsoisee]

Most likely we open up the game running the ball. We will have to test our offensive line to see how well it wiil perform prior to the Clemson game. It would be useless to use the Connecticut game to test our ability to run. That would prove nothing.

If the coaches feel the running game is fine (the offensive line is performing well) then we will test our passing game. If both are performing well, we will try to get a good lead and play a lot of reserves.

Do not be fooled! Vanderbilt will not roll over and play dead. We have a lot of new coaches and new quarterbacks and runners. It would be foolish of us to expect the team to come out and execute every play flawlessly in the first game.

Since Vanderbily has a new coaching staff, the game could get sloppy. For some reason, when one team gets sloppy, the other team tends to do the same. I will be satisfied with a win period, but of course, I would be ecstatic with a large margin of victory.

 

[oldfoggy]

Oh yes there is still Uconn but with the Huskies being a first year team by te 2nd qtr. We will be running the 2nd or maybe even the 3rd team and still not working the wrinles out.

 

[gnats67]

We may have to break out a couple of the "wrinkles" to get by Vandy. It'll be a good first game for us.

GT 34
Vanderbilt 17