Vanderbilt Outruns Elon Behind Smith's Offense, 45-14

Quarterbacking looked good. Protection was there. Kicking game was solid. Excellent work on 4th down conversions and superior conditioning down the stretch. And most of all, a blowout win against a team that we SHOULD blow out and no sweating out the 4th quarter.

It’s only one win, but it’s one win. =)

I did feel much better about the offense, but there were lots of concerns.

At the end of the game when we ran it up, Elon was totally and completely gassed. If we don’t have the big advantage in depth, this game would have been much closer, and most of the season we’ll have a big DISadvantage in depth.

I really did like the playcalling and I think the offense was generally better. Larry did a solid job most of the time. Zac looked good when we called runs (I’m hoping we passed more than we typically will because we had a chance to work on the passing game in a live situation). We’re clearly much better at WR.

The defense has me concerned. The secondary looked more like the last season secondary than the strength of the team they are supposed to be. The D-line didn’t really dominate, and I don’t recall seeing any LB other than Marve make a play.

I don’t know, I just remember my first Dore game in 2009 when we whipped Western Carolina, looking a lot more dominant than we did tonight, and I was excited and it didn’t mean squat. Now I think Elon is a lot better than Western Carolina was, but we really just didn’t look that much better than Elon until they wore out.

Not saying that I’m worried, but I do think that 45-14 is misleading. 45-14 is great when you spent the whole 4th quarter running out 2nd stringers, but it took well into the 4th quarter before our starters were actually able to put ’em away.

There were some good things, but we’re going to need more to get a win either of the next two weeks.

I took into account the fact that it was an opponent that Vandy is unfamiliar with, plus we don’t really know how good elon is. I also considered that it is sometimes hard to get up for an opponent that you are supposed to just steamroll over. Did Vandy make mistakes? Sure. Could they have done things better? Of course. But, when it is all said and done, I will take the end result every time. Not to mention that I saw remarkable improvement compared to last season on offense and even on defense.

I liked the way the defense responded after Elon cut it to 24-14, only giving up 24 yards total on Elon’s next 5 possessions. Larry looked good when he stood in the pocket and delivered. And the return of +3 TO margins and lack of silly penalties (2 substitution penalties, Elon?) were welcome sights.

But there were plenty of things to work on. 309 yards of offense would have ranked 106th in the country last year. The offense didn’t need any help accomplishing (?) that. I will note that all four of the 2nd half scores started at midfield or closer — it’s a little harder to roll up yards when you’re starting at the opponents’ 35, so I can’t say too much.

More than ever, I’m convinced our OL line will decide this season. Larry can’t throw consistently on the run. He just can’t. There was one nice long ball, but he badly overthrew Krause on his first pass, and bounced one behind Barden’s ankles on his last. Both of those were designed rollouts with no pressure. He nearly got picked throwing to Lassing in double coverage, too. If he’s going to rollout, someone’s got to make him plant his feet before delivering.

(I’m also worried about his long-term health. That shot he took didn’t look hard on camera. Maybe he landed funny. He’s given a lot to the team, and I don’t want him having permanent shoulder problems when he’s 30.)

It was Labor Day weekend and an unexciting opponent, but man, those thousands upon thousands of empty seats in the end zone were disappointing. Everyone wants to talk about “changing the culture,” but it’s the wrong discussion. THERE IS NO VANDERBILT FOOTBALL CULTURE. The goal has to be to CREATE one, not change something that doesn’t exist.