Monday, September 1, 2008

Commodore Banter (9/1)

Hope all of you had a great weekend and are enjoying your Monday off from work. Unfortunately for us, Vanderbilt still holds class on Labor Day. Anyways, onto the links and the Commodores prepare to "Black Out" South Carolina on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. CT.

The Sports VU's own David Rutz has a bunch of good tidbits in today's football notebook for The Tennessean.

*The Commodores suffered another setback at wide receiver after freshman John Cole suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee during Thursday's 34-13 victory at Miami (Ohio) and will be sidelined for at least eight weeks. There is a chance Cole can receive a medical redshirt and retain four years of eligibility.

With George Smith (foot) and Alex Washington (knee) already out of action, Vanderbilt is now even more thin at wide receiver.

*Jeff Jennings (bruised shoulder) remains day-to-day and coach Bobby Johnson said "he could be ready to go" on Thursday night at home against South Carolina.

*Perhaps the most exciting part about Thursday's home contest with the Gamecocks? ESPN's announcing team, which includes play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler, color analysts Craig James and Jesse Palmer and the blogosphere's favorite sideline reporter Erin Andrews.

As for the Gamecocks, coach Steve Spurrier remains noncommittal about his starting quarterback.

Tommy Beecher started the season opener, but threw four interceptions and was injured late in the third quarter. As a result, back-up Chris Smelley could get the nod.

"I think they'll have the same game plan for either one," Johnson said. "We're not concerned about a quarterback controversy. Whoever they put in there, we'll line up and play against them."

David Rutz of The Hustler issued his report card for the Commodores' season-opening victory.

I would say that he was too generous with the offensive line (B-) and running backs (C+). Also, I'm a bit confused by his claim that "Miami's receivers on crossing routes exposed the linebacking corps' lack of speed." I didn't think Chris Marve, Patrick Benoist and John Stokes were that slow...

I'm off to the weekly press conference in a couple of hours so make sure to check back this afternoon for all the latest on your Vanderbilt Commodores.

3 comments:

David Rutz said...

Haha Jarred, I thought you might have some issues with the report card. It's obviously a subjective thing.

Also, are you sure Mo Patton wrote that notebook? Doesn't look like his byline...

Jarred Amato said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David Rutz said...

Haha, did I come across as angry? I was just giving you a hard time.

I thought the 0-line's lack of experience ought to be taken into account in assessing how they did. Nickson was running for his life a lot, that's for sure, but give Miami's far more experienced defense some credit too.

As for the running backs, Jennings was obviously awful, but Hawkins made up for a poor start with a great fourth quarter and Miller was making his first appearance in over a year and looked very tough, very promising. In retrospect, the grading was a little nit-picky on the linebackers, they did a good job stopping the run and should have gotten a higher mark.