Vanderbilt Commodores Outplay Arkansas, Lose Heartbreaker 28-31
by KingJamesIV on Oct 29, 2011 5:33 PM EDT
in Vanderbilt Commodores Football
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It had been a long time since an unranked Vanderbilt Commodores football team played that well against a top ten team at home. Despite thoroughly outplaying the eighth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, a few unfortunate plays derailed what would have been the greatest victory yet in the early James Franklin era.
Consider the following:
- Vanderbilt outgained the conference-leading Arkansas Razorbacks in Total Offense 462-388.
- Vanderbilt outrushed Arkansas 222-72, holding the Razorbacks well below their new (and lower) 140.3 rushing yards per game average.
- Vanderbilt held (and outdid) Arkansas to a paltry 5-of-15 third down conversion rate.
- The Commodores won the time of possession 31:34 to 28:26.
A costly, uncharacteristic fumble from Zac Stacy late inside the Razorback 5 yard line prevented the Commodores from capitalizing on the opportunity to push the score to a 35-20 advantage and perhaps spoiled what could have been Zac Stacy's greatest game wearing the black and gold. The Commodores could have used a little luck from the oblong spheroid on the play, but it was not to be as Arkansas' Jerry Franklin was able to scoop and score for a 94-yard TD that was the clear turning point in the game.
Indeed, the turnover battle was the one the Commodores lost. The Commodores had multiple opportunities to score defensive touchdowns of their own, as four potential interceptions bounced harmlessly off uncharacteristically stone-hands, three of which had "pick-six" written all over them.
The Razorbacks have made a habit of digging themselves out of holes that they dug themselves into. They survived another game; the Commodores should have finally made them pay.
Worst of all for the Commodores, Carey Spear's confidence level suffered a tough blow as he missed his potential game-tying, overtime-sending field goal attempt from 29. Frankly though, it shouldn't have come to that.
Though the result was particularly painful for Commodore fans, there are clearly some positive takeaways. Jordan Rodgers continued to show improvement under center. Both Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd played very well at receiver, perhaps giving us a glimpse of some future chemistry that could really help open up more running room for the stout Commodore rushing corps. The offensive line has come a long way from earlier this season and is opening some gaping holes.
The Dores have shown an outstanding ability to bounce back from tough breaks. This week will be another opportunity for Coach Franklin and the team to do so as they prepare to head to Gainesville.
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Awesome writeup
Now time to drink enough bourbon to murder a small horse.
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 29, 2011 5:55 PM EDT reply actions
Uggg
Hard to believe they didn’t let Rodgers throw for 3 straight downs there at the end. When you are an underdog, especially at home, you should play for the win, not a tie.
That being said, I like our odds of beating at least 2 more teams and getting to 6 wins. This offense can be more explosive than the 2008 team for sure.
Gueayghhhh
That’s the sound of being punched in the stomach. I made that sound about 4 times today.
The crazy thing about this game is it wasn’t like a miracle game. It wasn’t everything going your way. It wasn’t Arkansas just not showing up. It was a good-ass football game. We went toe-to-toe, and sure they were more talented, but we played them more or less straight up and probably should have won.
But it does make the stupid mistakes awful.
Man that fumble. Zac was having such a hoss of a game. He WAS our offense.
I also got a little frustrated with playcalling a couple times. The trick plays to start the half. I LOVE that we push it. But that is the time to set the tone for the half and just run a good drive. The thing that really disappointed me is that I just don’t see a ton of upside to that play. If you are taking such a big risk, it should have a chance to go all the way and a HB pass to Austin Monahan just doesn’t have the upside to me. But you take the good with the bad risks wise, that’s why they are risks.
And after Zac’s fumble, I was disappointed not to see him the next drive. The offense just didn’t work without him. Until he came back in.
But thinking back with the dropped INTs for Casey (guy had like 5 pass breakups and all I can think about is dropped pick 6s: spoiled), the fumbles, the time when the offense got stagnant b/c we tried to do non-Zac running things.
But man I believe in these guys.
When we're devastated after losing to a Top 10 team....
That means things are getting better. This team is good.
Excellent game...
from a Razorback fan. I am wholly impressed with what Coach Franklin is doing there. Had me on the edge of my seat for most of the game. Good luck to you on the rest of the season.
I sit on the side where I’m surrounded by opponents fans. Have to say that I was expecting to really hate all the Arkansas fans around me if for no other reason than the sheer number of them, but they were probably the classiest SEC fans I’ve seen this season., and appropriately embarrassed by the big cheap shot. Nice folks.
I was an usher at the SEC MBB tournament in '92
Without fail, the newly-joined Hog fans were the most fun of the bunch. I recall one gent, 70 if he was a day, in his Liberty overalls and plastic hog hat with a sign around his neck reading “I’m Too Sexy For This Hog”.
Seriously, they’re named after bacon. Respect.
"Well, if that ain't a show, I'll kiss your ass." - Gov. Jim Folsom Sr. (D-AL), 1948-52
by VandyImport on Oct 29, 2011 10:02 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Good signs
This one hurt more than Georgia where we miraculously had a chance at the end. This team outplayed the #8 team. We should have won and I am convinced that Franklin will get them over the hump. Rodgers continues to grow and improve and the running game looks good with Zac. It’s a tough break to fumble there but I can hardly wait for next year with Norman Warren and Zac running up huge numbers.
Still disappointed about the student section but the alums were rocking the house on the west side.
I agree that this goes to a bowl. I think we have a realistic shot at 7-5. When our expectations are higher, the disappointments are more painful. That is the process and I remain All In.
by Smoke n Mirrors on Oct 29, 2011 7:06 PM EDT reply actions
So....
Any chance we beat UF? Their offense looks baaaad. They’ll easily be the worst offense we’ve played since Ole Miss and UConn(going by yards per game). Unfortunately, the game is in The Swamp and we have not played well on the road this year…..
I keep thinking...
that we win the game today if we had worn the Death Star helmets.
by Smoke n Mirrors on Oct 29, 2011 7:59 PM EDT reply actions
This team can win eight
1. Spinning this will be a test for Coach Franklin. A team certainly could get demoralized by this, but I think he’s good enough at the motivation game to convince the team that they thoroughly outplayed a team that’s better than anything they’ll see for the rest of the year and, thus, they should expect to win out. If he can send them into all their remaining games expecting to win, that will be a big step toward actually winning them.
2. Rogers has improved a lot, but he can still get much better. He flat out missed a couple of very short screen-type passes and went for several third-down throws that had zero chance. I think he’s going to be a considerably better QB three games from now. It’s an incredible shame we wasted half a season with Larry because had Jordan gotten the full season in, we’d have likely won both this game and Georgia and would have a very good shot of winning out from here.
3. Assuming the backup kicker isn’t so bad he cannot make extra points in practice, Spear should never attempt another field goal for us. His will has been broken. If we put him in a pressure situation again he will probably collapse from an anxiety attack on the field before striking the ball. If there’s literally no chance that the backup can be a college kicker, we need to just eliminate the field goal from our minds and focus exclusively on TDs.
All in all, I say we beat Kentucky and win two of the remaining three, plus the bowl game, giving us our first 8-win season since 1714.
by Andrew D. Smith on Oct 29, 2011 8:14 PM EDT reply actions
Benching Spear for Fowler for missing that kick is roughly equivalent to benching Jordan for Larry if Jordan had thrown a pick on that last drive. I think we’re aware of how you’d feel about that.
Except that he hasn’t hit a pressure kick since he first missed one against Georgia, unless I’m misremembering. 0-3, with two of the three being chippees. (No, a 2nd quarter FG against a team that we were expected to run over does not count. There’s no pressure there.)
Perhaps I’m wrong. Hell, I hope I’m wrong because it’s hard to win football games without being able to score anything short of a TD. But, to my eyes and gut, today wasn’t just a 1 in 50 coincidence that just happened to happen when the game was on the line. It was a man announcing to the world that his spirit has been broken. Assuming that big doses of anti-anxiety medications violate NCAA rules, and I think they do, then they need to think about option B.
How can you, of all people, possibly bring up the Larry/Jordan thing to defend your view? This is the same thing. In both cases, the initial starter gives strong indications of lacking the mental toughness for the job and causes me to advocate trying plan B while you say coach knows better. I’m pretty sure I was right in the first case. I’m not entirely sure about my case for Fowler because I have no idea how good/bad he is at FGs. But if he’s not better, then we need to stop trying to kick FGs, at least until the team shrink says he’s found the problem with Spear and made a breakthrough.
by Andrew D. Smith on Oct 29, 2011 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions
To catch you up on the stats:
- Fowler was good his freshman year, hitting 16-21 with a few long kicks.
- Last season Fowler: 8/13, 61%. 23-24 XP. This season Spear: 4/7: 57%. 20-21 XP. Spear has made 33, 31 (gamewinner vs. UConn), 33, 37 and missed 38, 47, 27.
Here’s what I mean mentioning Jordan and Larry.
One guy is younger, more inexperienced (i.e. more potential to improve), throws/kicks the ball better and has a great tough attitude. The other looked like he might be solid, but declined instead of improving.
(On the attitude issue, Spear was voted as captain of the special teams as a true sophomore for his attitude, is fearless on kickoff coverage, and the same field goal confidence issues Spear seems to have now, Fowler showed last year).
You can make each of the same arguments you made for Jordan over Larry for keeping Carey over Fowler. The only difference is this time coach picked the new guy in the first place.
I’m not sure how you missed Fowler’s struggles last year while so skillfully recording all of Larry’s faults. But isn’t “neither guy looks great, let’s go with the newer guy with potential and attitude over the older guy with the unrealized potential” a pretty good summary of the case for Jordan over Larry?
Spear’s confidence is off right now. Coach needs to figure out how to get his head right and maybe consider Fowler for the shorter kicks, at least until then.
You said: “Spear should never attempt another field goal for us” for a guy based on 7 career attempts and having no knowledge of the other alternatives. That’s just not how you build a program.
It's strange to me
Because I thought Fowler was the favorite for shorter kicks anyway. He was supposed to be reasonably accurate, but not all that strong. He had some short kickoffs, and was 0-3 past 45 last year. Spear was the kickoff specialist and long-range kicker.
Maybe the staff hoped to consolidate the duties and free up a scholarship?
I never though of them necessarily trying to push Fowler out, but I guess he is set to graduate this year as a RS-JR, so they might not bring him back for the 5th year.
I think it was just open competition and Spear won. From the way Franklin talks about Spear, I just think they see him as the kicker of the future. They probably wanted him to get the maximum experience taking all of the kicks. But Fowler does have a pretty solid record on short kicks, so maybe it would be good.
What’s weird about Fowler is that he was so good including kicks in the low 40s his freshman year and then seemed to lose first his range, then his accuracy last season. Until I looked at the stats yesterday I had completely forgotten that he’d been so solid in ’09.
Everything you said is correct...
but I still won’t complain if Spear never kicks another ball for this team. Only Vanderbilt loses that game by missing a fucking 27 yard field goal. I watched the girl kicker at my local high school nail a 30 yarder recently. Maybe Coach Franklin needs to poach someone from the women’s soccer team (ala Necessary Roughness) for the final four games?
Between now and next season, Coach Franklin needs to hop in the helicopter and find a decent kicker.
This one did hurt
but I am really proud of these guys for not folding. Had a chance to win and that’s a whole lot more than we’ve had for the better part of 30 years! I agree with the poster above about Jordan – getting better with each game – and it is a shame we wasted 1/2 of the year without him starting. There is a lot to look forward to and I hope the students show up for the Kentucky game (after we beat Florida).
I would also have to agree with you guys about the Hog fans. There was absolutely no jawing or mouthing and I saw several cheer for our guys at the end of the game. Definitely the best SEC fans to visit Nashville in a while! Go ’Dores!
If we beat Florida I'd like to think attendance won't be a problem...
…but in any event, we need to pack the joint in two weeks. Seriously.
"Well, if that ain't a show, I'll kiss your ass." - Gov. Jim Folsom Sr. (D-AL), 1948-52
I love that every Sunday I’m already anxious/excited for Saturday. That’s a new thing I think.
by The Goche on Oct 30, 2011 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Terrible
I know there are plenty of positives to draw, but I just can’t get excited for yet another moral victory. All will be forgotten if we beat Florida or Tennessee, but I’m just tired of watching Vanderbilt football find new ways to rip defeat from the jaws of victory. Florida 2005 was the last time I let myself get excited for a tough loss. This one just sucks.
Also, Marquel Wade should be expelled.
What happened?
All game we seemed to be playing with intensity and determination until the final drive. Is it me or did our guys just seem like they weren’t into it. Taking their time, wasting precious seconds off the clock. And why in the world are you going for the endzone from the 10? We had plenty of time and only needed 6-yards for a first down. In my opinion, after the first down run play was stopped for 4-yards. Then why not go for the endzone (and the Win) but be focused on getting the first down. Rogers could have ran for the remaining 6 yds instead of throwing it out of the back of the endzone. We still had :12 on the clock AND a timeout. I was so disgusted with the play calling in the end.
I love what CJF is doing with our program but we still can’t figure out how to win games and so far this season has shown that in 2-minute scenarios our guys panic and make bonehead mistakes. If I’m CJF this week I focus more on 2-minute drills and put some pressure on our guys. We should be 6-2 right now and bowl eligible!
UF is hurting but they’re still scary because of their athleticism and speed. Don’t be fooled by their schedule. They’re tough to beat. UK looks like an easy win but so did MTSU … we all want to forget that game don’t we? UT may be hurting but you can bet your a$$ they will bring their ‘A’ game to play us. And Wake; however up and down they may be this year, always play us well and did beat FSU. There’s not guarantee for anything this year. Our boys have to learn to go out there and take what’s theirs.
Final thought: When you’re dominating a Top-10 BCS program forget about trick plays and just run the ball down their throat!!!!! Make them beat you … don’t beat yourself!
It pains me to write...
But what really got me confused was the no huddle offense drive when we were up 28-20. And then after the fumble return for a touchdown to tie it up, we were taking our sweet time.
Vanderbilt does not have the kind of offense to no huddle going to the fourth quarter with a lead of 8 on a no. 8 ranked team.
With Stacy having the kind of game he was having, and our offensive line really doing their job, you take out every second of that clock in the fourth quarter. I don’t care if we settle for a field goal there.
All in all, we have played unbelievably well against Georgia and Arkansas. But we have to play “aggressively smart” on offense when we are up. We have to be in control. I hate even critiquing this, as the coaching staff has made these guys into a team none of us thought would show up like they did this year.
Also, we can’t forget what kind of team we can look like. See: UConn.
Florida and Tennessee are going to be tough games, they are not gimmes.
I also don’t want to overlook Kentucky as they have nothing to lose, and Wake Forest is currently 5-3.
We still got some work to do, but this team has shown it can play with the best of them. Most of the time.
by Brett McReynolds on Oct 31, 2011 11:22 AM EDT reply actions
I like what I see
I disagree that the team lacked intensity on the last drive. I didn’t see a drop off. I think the play calling got a little conservative when we got to the 14. CJF’s comments after indicate they told Jordan not to force it. I would have liked to see a more agressive approach but I am still VUALLIN with CJF.
by Smoke n Mirrors on Oct 31, 2011 11:28 AM EDT reply actions
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