OLD VandyMania.com (ARCHIVE)

Good:
1. Wright is a playmaker
2. Ball security
3. Generally good play calling
4. Very few penalties
5. Defensive line on short yardage stands
6. Several freshman
7. Most of the game against Hawaii

Bad:
1. Secondary second half against Elon
2. Punt coverage on long punts (out-kicking coverage several times)

Ugly:
1. Most of the second half against Elon

thoughts?

I think your 2 "Bads" are both coaching mistakes, as #1 Bad was mentioned by CCL in his post-game comments.

I think that #1 Ugly had some to do with residual fatigue and jet lag from Hawai'i and some offensive limitations related to the changes in the OL and short depth at RB and WR.

Also, while Elon is NOT an SEC team, they are better than Hawai'i, at lest for Week 2.

I would add, at least apparently, lack of conditioning.

I think injuries can be added to the Bad list, too, unfortunately.

I think this is a little overblown.
Yeah, the defense got sloppy and let Elon hang in the game and be pesky. I thought they were going to be pesky. They're a pretty solid program in their league and they've consistently had good passing efficiency under this coaching staff.

I am surprised that "finding things the team needs to improve on AFTER A 2-0 START" didn't make your list.
Last year, after a lot of games, we were asking "did anyone see anything positive we might be able to build on?"
I'd say looking for things to improve on after winning two games in a row is far more pleasant.

I think our lack of pressure on the QB was a factor. Only 1 sack and few hurries. Puts a lot of pressure on the secondary.

It seemed to me that the Elon passer was quite capable, had good protection, put the ball where he had to.
And his mobility was a plus. His credentials apparently are genuine based on what the announcers said. Their other QB played well also.

Overall the Elon team seemed well coached, though their tendency toward cheap shots on Wright was pretty disappointing.

I think they took what we let them have in the second quarter and second half. I suspect they win a fair share of their games this year.

I'm not sure we hit the panic button yet.

jpmando wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:19 pm
Overall the Elon team seemed well coached, though their tendency toward cheap shots on Wright was pretty disappointing.

Speaking of that there was a late hit on Wright followed on the next play by I think an unnecessary roughness also at Wrights expense. Now I may have misheard during the game but I thought they said it was the same Elon player both hits. Maybe someone a bit more familiar with the rule book could explain, but I thought 2 personals was an ejection? But there was no ejection, they also reviewed it for targeting and decided it wasn’t, so perhaps they just missed it because of the time spent focused on potentially ejecting him for targeting?

commadore wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:13 pm I would add, at least apparently, lack of conditioning.

These guys are 18-22 and play or work out 12 months a year. How can conditioning be a factor? If it is, then we need a new strength and conditioning coach(and assistants). JMO

goodtimes05 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:16 pm I think our lack of pressure on the QB was a factor. Only 1 sack and few hurries. Puts a lot of pressure on the secondary.

I agree....no pressure on their QB. Numerous times we rushed only 3 with 8 being back in coverage. The 8 still couldn't cover especially with Elon's QB(who was good) had all day back there. RUSH at least 4!!! Put some pressure!!

Nashmann wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:59 pm

commadore wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:13 pm I would add, at least apparently, lack of conditioning.

These guys are 18-22 and play or work out 12 months a year. How can conditioning be a factor? If it is, then we need a new strength and conditioning coach(and assistants). JMO

Lack of depth often looks like a conditioning problem.
If you can rotate fresh players to spell your starters, then magically, the starters' conditioning looks so much better in the 4th quarter.

It would help a lot if we could get some of our injured DL back. Davieon Davis is probably our best big DL and hasn't played since last year. Brayden Babst, Devin Lee, and Yilanan Outtara are all solid players with size and strength. Incoming freshman Miles Capers tagged as the most explosive DL in camp and was expected to start on the edge. That's a lot of injured players from a unit that started out a pretty thin. The "good" (ish) news is that Capers is the only one who is expected to miss the whole season. The other guys are expected back at some time or other. We will need them as the competition gets stiffer.

Nashmann wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:59 pm

commadore wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:13 pm I would add, at least apparently, lack of conditioning.

These guys are 18-22 and play or work out 12 months a year. How can conditioning be a factor? If it is, then we need a new strength and conditioning coach(and assistants). JMO

Based on (1) the announcers kept saying we looked gassed and (2) the fact that their receivers kept running past us i. The later part of the third quarter and all of the fourth, yes, I would say we were not conditioned.

commadore wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:32 pm

Nashmann wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:59 pm

commadore wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:13 pm I would add, at least apparently, lack of conditioning.

These guys are 18-22 and play or work out 12 months a year. How can conditioning be a factor? If it is, then we need a new strength and conditioning coach(and assistants). JMO

Based on (1) the announcers kept saying we looked gassed and (2) the fact that their receivers kept running past us i. The later part of the third quarter and all of the fourth, yes, I would say we were not conditioned.

Like I said...we then need a new strength and conditioning coach. Our substituting needs to be better. If they are tired against Elon we are in for some big blowout losses

Nashmann wrote: ↑Tue Sep 06, 2022 11:40 am

commadore wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:32 pm

Nashmann wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:59 pm

These guys are 18-22 and play or work out 12 months a year. How can conditioning be a factor? If it is, then we need a new strength and conditioning coach(and assistants). JMO

Based on (1) the announcers kept saying we looked gassed and (2) the fact that their receivers kept running past us i. The later part of the third quarter and all of the fourth, yes, I would say we were not conditioned.

Like I said...we then need a new strength and conditioning coach. Our substituting needs to be better. If they are tired against Elon we are in for some big blowout losses

I see 150 points during the Bama, Bears, Dawgs threesome.

In terms of the 10-step process to making Vanderbilt a legitimate 'Division 1' football program, I feel CCL has definitely made some progress in his short time at the helm. At least we aren't hoping for a miracle to win our OOC games (but maybe that is just the state of this season's schedule).

And, since it will still be a good while before we can truly stand helmet-to-helmet with the top tier SEC programs, our focus should be squarely on the mid-level conference opponents (Ole Miss, Mizzou, USCe and UK). I would like to hear from some of you who might have caught some of those other teams' early games, and let us know if we can expect some competitive games against these rivals, or if the coaching staff still has some growth and development to do before we can look forward to notching some league wins on a regular basis. Note that I don't mention UTe here, because they literally are the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde of our existence, and you can never tell from year to year, which one will show up. So, it is the others we need to catch up to , if we want any chance of reaching the post-season promised land.

What say ye?

Until we have more data, I'm willing to chalk up the second half conditioning issues to the Hawaii trip.

The Ugly:

Per the new AP Poll 7 of the remaining 10 VU games are against Top 25-ranked opponents -- including Nos. 1 & 2 on the road.