Vanderbilt victories are always weird.....

....but never very scientific.

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Pardon the bleary eyes. Between the game and an emergency meeting Sunday of the BDB staff, your humble blawgger has not gotten much rest. For the first time since its inception (well over a month ago), the BDB has a tie in its Trivia qustion for the week. Jenn from Lawrenceville evidently has her own research team at the ready and quite swiftly determined that Zach Mettenberger is UGA's other Elite 11 QB commit. She let her research staff have the rest of the day off and Chris Nama swooped in with the answer to the bonus question. Nama's success at BDB trivia has been well documented. So it came as no surprise that he knew Mr. Mettenberger's mom Tammy, is an admin asst for CMR.

Over an hour into the emergency meeting yesterday, Senior Chief Executive Financial Advisor Lisa suggested the prize be split. This set off a brouhaha as Chief Executive Lead Editor/Publishing Consultant Wyatt Donnelly was quick to point out that Jenn was first to respond and should therefore claim to prize. Lead Publicity Communications and Relations Advisor Gary Wallace sided with Wyatt's suggestion, pointing out that Mr. Nama only answered the bonus question. Janitor Chet Donnelly then threw his mop at Wyatt and yelled, "Those science experiments have fried your brain, ButtWad! The Bonus was the harder part of the (inaudible) question....(grunts)......(inaudible)......"

Afraid of the aggresive tone the meeting was devolving into, Lead Research Advisor Poindexter called on the head honcho himself. Bernie chastised the staff, especially Gary for wearing a bra on his head to the emergency meeting and decided to resolve the issue using a sudden death playoff question. So here's your cue Jenn and Nama, dig deep. The answer's out there somewhere: what is the name of Zach's father?

And now it is time to play another round of.............Good News, Bad News!

Good news - the Dawgs beat Vandy. Bad news - it couldashoulda been over by halftime.

Good news - the Dawgs only had 5 penalties this week.  Bad news - two pass interference calls (one VERY questionable, the other not so much) led to a Vandy score.

Good news - Stafford started really hot. Bad news - after starting 4/5, he seemed to lose a rhythm.

Good news - the D had two interceptions. Bad news - they left another handful on the field.

Good news - the O line created a lot of space for Knowshon to do his "thang". Bad news - another "big hefty" now getting coached by Ron Courson instead of Stacy Searels.

Good news - although my predicted final score was a couple field goals off, my overall assessment of what was to come was pretty accurate. Bad news - I take no special comfort in that.

Bonus Round - Double Bad News. Two arrests made early Sunday morning. Brandon Wood will not be joining his teammates in the Bayou. Vince Vance reminds me to renew my license next month.

Some thoughts from the Vandy game: I really thought the O line played well, but perhaps their greatest test lies in Saturday's showdown in Baton Rouge, cuz they like to "bring it", as my cousin Brooks likes to say. You continue to see some missed blocks, but it was nice to see them on a 2nd consecutive week, with the game in the balance late, grit their teeth, hunker down and shove some weight around. As for AJ Green, let's just take a moment to gaze into Bernie's crystal ball. AJ showed up on campus this summer. In a few months, he'll begin his first Van Halanger off season workout regimen. The kid is scary talented now, but with some muscle added to that frame - my oh my! He may be this year's most productive freshman receiver. This time next season he may very well be the country's best. The benefits are already suiting MoMass as Green draws more and more attention. Wonder who'll reap the benefits next year? (Marlon Brown - go ahead and commit!) And lastly, we saw Bryan Evans get pulled and Vance Cuff take his place. Evans was continually getting "picked on", especially close to the goal line on fade routes. He's given up 3 TDs the last two weeks. We heard the coaches last year (his freshman season) talk about how impressed they were with Cuff. Now's his chance to shine.

And one more "lastly", we seemed to blitz more against Vandy. And when we pressured Adams it either resulted in an INT, a shoulda been INT or a negative in down and/or distance. I sure hope it is a sign that Coach Willie is beginning to trust his secondary in more man coverage. Cuz we also saw that rushing three or four just isn't making the opposing QB sweat, at all.

Shout outs:

• Bailey Simpson and Beau Gilmore for being named UGA Homecoming Queen and King, respectively.
• Reshad Jones for a stellar performance, one Dawg fans had been waiting on from a kid who was once the nation's top recruit at safety. 
• The kid on River Road before the game who overthrew his buddy and subsequently landed his football into the solo cup of some Vandy fan. Classic! Even if it was an "accident". You'll get more than a shout out if you can duplicate that "accident" against a Tech fan next month.
• Terry Bowden for bringing national respectability to Yahoo! Sports with his insight and coverage of college football. 'Fess up! Raise your hand if you knew he wrote for Yahoo! before he gave Brother Tommy a forearm shiver - "yahoo style" last week? ..........no one???? Surprising.
• Knowshon. Again. The 172 yards he gained were impressive. But the 5 or 6 he gained after the "facial" he gave Ryan Hamilton of the Commodore defense were the most fun!
• DJ Shockley. Thanks for spending just a small part of your bye week with us as it is always a pleasure seeing you on the UGA sideline.
• And an early shout out to CBS for making the rowdy cajuns cut their revelry a little short this coming Saturday. A 2:30 kickoff should be much more pleasant for the Dawgs, and the fans that follow them down there. You know, as opposed to a 6:30pm start.
  

Hope to see you back here on Friday for the LSU preview. I stayed up past my bedtime Saturday night to get a look at the Tigers. Some parts of their win in Columbia were encouraging. Others......very, VERY disturbing.

Yours in red and black,

Bernie

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