SATURDAY TAILGATE - MTSU

...Another short tailgate this week, sorry y'all!

AoG WEEK IN REVIEW

Our boys lost, but as CDA said, "I've never seen the Vanderbilt community so optimistic after a loss before." We not only stuck around with one of the best teams in the country, but if we had a better offense, we'd have won. That's twice now. Don't be fooled by our conference losses, we've now played the top two SEC teams BETTER than anyone else has. That doesn't count in the win column, but it means a lot to those who are looking for signs for the future.

Derek Mason will go a long way today in beating MTSU in a convincing fashion. There's no set score for "convincing", but I want to feel like we were the better team. I want to say that we are, but MTSU has a pretty rich history of pissing in our cheerios. You all know how I feel about their "win" against us last time. I will lose my mind, however, if I count 13 men on the field ever again. I have made my thoughts very clear on how I feel right now. Mason has proven to me that the team is going in the right direction, and has earned a third year. Catastrophic end to this season could make me recant those words.

The biggest problem we've had is in our offense. If Vanderbilt's offense was just a bit better we're 4-0 right now. AoG's very own football coach, theomega311, has given his thoughts about the matter. There's a lot there, so I don't want to summarize it in two sentences. That would be an injustice, as he's ACTUALLY A FOOTBALL coach, and you? You're just some armchair QB, like me. He's not as optimistic as we are for our chances for the remainder of the season, but it's an important read if you care at all about our team.

One other piece of good news for us - safety Zaire Jones gave us a verbal commit on Sunday following the Mississippi game. Jones is a 4* recruit if you ask ESPN, though I'm sure that will change in the near future thanks to the hilarious thing recruiting services do when they knock off ratings on a player when they commit to us. Jones had offers from several schools, including Virginia, Missouri and Mississippi State. Stay tuned to AoG, for we have a pretty exciting piece highlighting what this kid can do.

Finally, in non-football news, the FIRE STALLINGS crowd has another reason to glower. Top 150 prospect PF Clevon Brown has anchored down. He joins PG Peyton Willis as the second player in Stalling's 2016 class. Big time power forwards are something we could always use more of, so I'm excited.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Week 4 was crap. Like seriously, I told you this last week, there wasn't anything there. Our game might have seriously been the best game to watch. That's also easy for me to say, since I was busy watching the Yankees win the in Bronx and only really caught half the Vandy game.

• #18 Utah 62 - #13 Oregon 20. I already have laughed at Oregon losing a game, but this... this was something magical. Oregon losing by a truckload to Utah was an early Christmas gift. Did anyone actually watch it aside to check on the score and laugh? Oregon can still win the conference title, which just lol.
hahaahahahahahahaha.
• Florida 28 - Tennessee 27. Tennesseeeee you're gonna beeeeee.... LAST IN THE ES EE SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. With 10 minutes left in the game, Tennessee went up 27-14 in the swamp. Victory seemed fairly certain. Florida did what I wish we had done - a slow methodical drive that took 6 minutes and ended in a touchdown. This drive included TWO fourth and long conversions. Florida then forced a (2 minute) long 3-and-out only to score again on a quick four play, 52 second drive. It wasn't over. Tennessee, with 1:30 left on the clock, got their butts downfield and lined up for a 55 yard field goal. Butch celebrated the wide right kick a little early...

Non-Score footbaw stuff:

• Aggie needed OT to beat Arkansas. Maybe they're not as insurmountable as we all think.
• PSU had plans to honor war veteran Bruce Heim before their game against army, but has decided not to, citing "old wounds". Those old wounds? Heim severed as a board member of The Second Mile, you know, that charity that Jerry Sandusky met his victims through. Oh, and according to ESPN, he advised the charity's chief exec that they not report Sandusky showered with children to the charity's board.
• The question about relaxing the early-entry restrictions for college players are coming to the fore with Leonard Fournette's season. Fournette, a Sophomore, cannot go to the draft, but already the usual talk that he should sit out 2016 so he doesn't get hurt are circulating. The early-entry restrictions officially exist so players can be "mentally and physically ready" for the NFL. Maybe at the time, and in many circumstances, that can be true. However, the real issue here is the NFL nor the NCAA want to upset this apple cart of CFB being a free farm system. The obvious way to do this would be to allow undrafted players return AND allow them to declare when they want. Oh right, we're still trying to do the whole "student athlete" schtick.

THERE'S ACTUALLY OTHER FOOTBAW!

Thankfully, there's ACTUALLy good games on this weekend. Woo! Also, LOL MIAMI LOST TO CINCINNATI THURSDAY NIGHT!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

• USC @ Missouri - 1200, SECN. This game is going to be a cripple fight of hilarious measure, but it's a noon game and it involves two teams we SHOULD beat this year. Consider it a scout game, if you're a VU fan. Spoiler Aler - Missouri will win.
• #23 WVU @ #15 Oklahoma - 1200, FOX1. I know nothing about these teams, but if you're some jackass that can't see the value in watching two terrible SECE teams battle in a hilarious cripple fight I guess you can watch this. Loser.
• #13 Alabama @ #8 Georgia - 15:30, CBS. Game of the week here folks. There's a lot of doubt that Richt can lead the Dawgs to a proper victory in a big game. Alabama is also STILL plenty pissed about how they handled Mississippi. I'm sure they think they were robbed too because of the play where God himself said NO MORE. Actually, the few minutes I had to read RBR to get a link for this bullet point tells me that. Bama fans are still angry over that game, and cannot accept that they lost and deserved to. Even if it means a filthy Pac-12 team gets into the playoff, this loss needs to happen. SO HUNKER DOWN YOU SILVER BRITCHES.
• Arkansas @ Tennessee - 1900, ESPN2. Aggie needed OT to beat Arky last week. Either Aggie was sleeping, or Arky is a lot better than they showed the first few weeks... something we should be quite familiar with. Tennessee however has lost two games in the last moments. Arkansas is really looking for a statement game and so is Tennessee. This is a good game to have on while you're watching our game on your laptop or whatever.

OTHER NOTES:

• There is no Pac-12 degenerate game of the week. I would give it to Arizona - Stanford, but ESPN informs me that it's on the Pac-12 Network, and does ANYONE carry that? LOL PAC-12 AM I RITE?
• I am tempted to tell you to watching ND-Clemson, but every time I list them they break my heart. You're welcome, "Your Uncle Mike".

I SWEAR TO GOD, IF MTSU BEATS US AGAIN

We're playing MTSU, otherwise known as that team that put two extra men on the field to block a FG the last time we played.... I knew I couldn't get through this article without saying that.

No Q&A sessions this week because MTSU has somehow less fans than Vanderbilt. We do, however, have our own predictions along with our reader's thoughts! The Mississippi game has given us all enough confidence to think we'll pull it out. DoreonthePlains has his usual sunshine and rainbows take on things. That's really all we have this week for our game prep. Feel free to cry here.

GAMETIME

Let's just hope that we can finally break this ridiculous losing streak to these guys. Cripes.

Just a reminder - the audio feed is now FREE on VUCommodores.com (link below) and starts at 19:00 ET (18:00 CT)

1-3 (0-2)

GAMETIME: 19:00 ET (18:00 CT) LOCATION: JOHNNY FLOYD STADIUM, MURFREESBORO, TN TV: CBS SPORTS NETWORK RADIO: 1510 AM, 95.9 FM, 98.3 FM GAMETRACKER: Click this link AUDIO FEED (FREE): Click this link (VUCommodores, All-Access) VIDEO FEED: Does CBSN have an online feed? Lemme know if it does.

2-2 (1-0, CUSA)

ANCHOR DOWN Y'ALL!