Make it count
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
- Start date
I think we will. It's only my opinion but I don't think Vandy has faced a ferocious D line like we have.........and what I mean by that....is sure, Bama and some are very good on D but I see them as more of "controlled" type defense where they play the fundamentals real good.....whereas we just seem to come after your butt every single play with our hair on fire, consequences be darned.... Been many moons since I've seen us play that way on D. Usually *WE* are the ones trying to play fundamentally sound, with a "bend but don't break" D, and it usually bites us. Our D this year seems to have a bit of "nasty" in them. Fine by me....we'll see if Vandy can hang.
I agree, we should.
This is Beamer's next challenge: get the team to play like we did against A&M. Every week. Play big time in the games that aren't as easy to get up for...like a 4:15 game in Nashville. I think it will take a spectacular coaching job by Beamer this week to keep the team grounded and focused on Vanderbilt after the adrenaline from A&M. Maybe his toughest challenge of the season.
Win this game and an 8-9 win season is on the table.
This is a trick game for us unless we come in fired up ready to play. This is not the same Ole Vandy. If our defense come out the gate swinging hard which they will and our offense comes throwing strikes with no drops. We will force Vandy into being one dimensional.
I hate the start time. I think it was a 4:15 start time a couple years ago when Mizzou came into WB and we were as flat as a pancake.
In some of the commentaries I've listened to and posted the last couple of days, I keep hearing the word ''disruptive'' to describe our defense and that OC's should fear falling behind on the scoreboard against this defense. I think this is the same thing you are describing and agree that even the ''Fire Ant'' defense was not this disruptive for opposing teams.
They had a clunker against Ga State and 3 point losses to Texas and Mizzou (in double overtime). Three losses by a combined 10 points.
It'll be a tough game and they should have our full and undivided attention.
Everything's in front of us right now. All our remaining games are winnable if we play as we did against A&M. Nine wins is within reach. Where we are now, anything less than 7 wins would be utterly deflating.
But our 3 remaining P4 games are also losable if we don't play clean football. Eliminate penalties and turnovers and good things happen.
Almost never in our program's history have we taken that next step, even under SOS. We have been agonizingly close. This is Beamer's chance to do it. He's got us on the threshold. Taking this team to an 8 or 9 win season would be a fantastic accomplishment.
Starts with Vandy, though. Have to flush the A&M game. As much as we all KNOW this Vandy team isn't the Vandy teams of old, I get a sense most are still in some sense thinking Vandy = win.
But our 3 remaining P4 games are also losable if we don't play clean football. Eliminate penalties and turnovers and good things happen.
Almost never in our program's history have we taken that next step, even under SOS. We have been agonizingly close. This is Beamer's chance to do it. He's got us on the threshold. Taking this team to an 8 or 9 win season would be a fantastic accomplishment.
Starts with Vandy, though. Have to flush the A&M game. As much as we all KNOW this Vandy team isn't the Vandy teams of old, I get a sense most are still in some sense thinking Vandy = win.
Beamer should show the team the 2010 UK game. Very comparable. We'd just beat #1 Bama at home. The fans were euphoric. We jumped into the top 10 and there were whispers of USC injecting themselves into the national title conversation after we'd taken down UGA and Bama. Then we went on the road to UK and flat-out stunk up the joint to end a 10-game win streak against them and wash away every last shred of good feelings from the Bama win.
Now we are in a similar position, having throttled top 10 A&M at home. We go on the road to Vandy (a much stiffer challenge than UK presented back in 2010). A 15-game win streak is on the line, along with a shot at a special season.
I think it would serve the team well to see what can happen if you take your eye of the prize, even for a second.
Now we are in a similar position, having throttled top 10 A&M at home. We go on the road to Vandy (a much stiffer challenge than UK presented back in 2010). A 15-game win streak is on the line, along with a shot at a special season.
I think it would serve the team well to see what can happen if you take your eye of the prize, even for a second.
They also barely beat Ball State. Vandy is a solid team, for sure, but they're not a world beater by any means. This is a game Carolina should win.
The question, though, is can Beamer keep the team amped up and ready for it? An afternoon kick in a tiny stadium in Nashville isn't going to be much of an environment after Saturday night. I'm really glad Vandy is ranked. That hopefully should help fuel the "disrespect" card or whatever it is coaches use to motivate their teams.
In a lot of ways that win Saturday reminds me of the Tennessee win in 2022. The way the games played out was very different, but the end results were the same.
This time, though, we still have four games left to make some noise. This is a real chance to make Carolina football relevant on the national stage for an entire month. If we're playing our best ball in November and win out, that kind of streak will make people notice. It'll be so much more than a 2 week flash-in-the-pan.
Vandy hasn't cracked 300 yards of offense in their last 3 SEC contests (288, 269 and 227) and have been outgained by the opposing team in all 3. Auburn outgained them 327 to 227. Vandy QB was only 9/23. But they found a way to win. I think that's the hallmark of this Vandy team...just finding ways to win. You shouldn't win a game when you only put up 227 yards of offense, but they won by 10 points. Texas outgained them 392 to 269, but they managed to keep the game interesting.
I think the key for us will be to get on top early. Their recent SEC contests suggest our D should be able to control the Vandy offense, but Vandy will be pumped and their fans will be hopping. When was the last time Vandy was playing to improve their bowl position with 3 games left in the season? Moreover, they have us, LSU and UT left on the slate, so, like us, this is their best shot at a conference win for the rest of the season.
Fortunately there will be fewer than 30,000 people in the stands Saturday, so their fans hopping won't have much bearing on the matchup.
It's definitely a much more interesting game than we expected in August, but I'd still be shocked if we lose. Vanderbilt is a good team that beat Alabama, so I would expect/hope that this team won't be overlooking them. I think I'd be more worried about Vandy this week if they sucked.
If we win, I expect an ugly kind of win. History suggests we'll have some letdown from the A&M game. How well we are able to control that likely determines the nature of the game.
Vandy will certainly be playing the disrespect card, being the underdog as the higher ranked team playing at home. We are obviously their best remaining shot at a win this season, so they'll be looking to send a message.
Yep. It'll be his toughest coaching challenge so far here. Not long ago, many on here (including me) were bantering about the reality of a 4-5 win season. Now he has put on the threshold of being able to think about an 8-9 win season. But it starts by playing Vandy in Nashville with a mid-afternoon kick. This on the heels of one of the more impressive victories in program history.
I would say it's virtually impossible to have the team come out as sharp and focused as they were against A&M. No matter what coaches tell players, there will no doubt be a "yeah, but this is just Vandy" mindset.
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