- If there's ever been a better pair of sophomore running backs to grace one campus at the same time than Michel and Chubb, I'm forgetting their names as well as their vision, drive, speed, power, change of direction, blocking technique, versatility as a receiver, etc., etc...
- There was a lot made around me in the stands of Schotty continually running the ball in between the tackles. But, can we blame him? Chubb averaged nearly ten yards a carry. I'm anxious to see some pitches and counters too. However I also understand the desire not to show the Gamecocks anything more than we need to. And Saturday there was no need to.
- Hope the tight ends can get more involved going forward. They were targeted a few times and both Blazevich and Harris had nice catches. The more yards our running backs get they more those guys should be able to find some open space.
- The offensive line played better against the Commodores than they did against ULM.
- Remember when so much was made about freshmen receivers not seeing the field until they could block? Yeh, thankfully those days are gone. Godwin may not be very big, but he got in the way of at least three Vanderbilt defensive backs on Michel's long touchdown run.
- The wife and I nearly threw up watching the officials get paychecks for absolutely no reason. Seriously, how hard is to see Leonard Floyd's helmet being wrenched in unnatural directions?
- But she took some measure of solace seeing Richt mouth the words "That's targeting!!" when they vaulted over the line to tackle Lambert before the snap. Because she had yelled the same thing from the stands Saturday.
- I felt good not great about the defense walking away Saturday. For all the quarterback pressure and tackles for loss and interceptions, we gave up a lot of dinks and dunks. Rewatching it I feel about the same. They set their jaws in the red zone and the first string (if there is such a thing under Pruitt) did not give up a touchdown. But I keep asking myself How much of that is Vandy's offensive ineptitude?
- Not sure why teams run to Malkom Parrish's side. He's good in pass defense. He's great in meeting the ball carrier at the point of attack.
- Easy to see why Mama Jenkins was saying her son Jordan's game was good but could've been better. His momentary shock at not getting blocked (at all!) on a couple plays meant the ball carrier only lost two yards instead of three.
- Semi-sarcasm aside, if Lambert can take his offensive line out for ice cream, Floyd and Jenkins can take Mayes and Co. out for steaks and mashed potatoes and pork loins and macaroni and cheese.
- Can Collin Barber kick field goals too? I'm not joking when I say that if it weren't for Chubb, Barber would be the team MVP to this point. As we struggle to find answers at quarterback, we're going to need 32 to keep his game at this level. At some point the South Carolina or Alabama or Tennessee or Missouri games are going to drop down into field position games...much like the first quarter in Nashville.
- Davis took the blame for the uncovered pooch kick. All I'll add is that was awfully generous of him.
I'll have a post on the quarterback situation later in the week, so I'm not going to say much else about Lambert on Saturday. I understand the nervousness fans have watching him work through his progressions (although honestly, there were many times he was only watching one receiver). but I do think too much is being made about his 0-fer first half. There were some drops in there that could've been big plays and given Lambert some much needed confidence early on.
In a nutshell, weird things happen in Vanderbilt Stadium. And sometimes that includes 17 point wins that light up message boreds.
