#67 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #156 R.P.I. Vanderbilt:

Today’s word of the day is… Vanderbilt!

[ van-der-bilt ] (proper) noun. Dutch.

1. Cornelius, 1794–1877, U.S. financier.
2. As one of the richest Americans in history and the wealthiest figures overall; Vanderbilt was the patriarch of the wealthy and influential Vanderbilt family. He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. According to historian H. Roger Grant: “Contemporaries, too, often hated or feared Vanderbilt or at least considered him an unmannered brute. While Vanderbilt could be a rascal, combative, and cunning, he was much more a builder than a wrecker […] being honorable, shrewd, and hard-working.
3. wowow!!!!
4. Harold Stir·ling [stur, -ling], 1884–1970, U.S. business executive.
5. Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873 A.D., it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1 million endowment in the hopes that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the American Civil War. (here-here!)
6. …the easily beaten; or, put up a punchy nooner fight come ~3 PM?

Vanderbilt Head Coach: Clark Lea: age=41, (9-27, .25 @Vandy and overall); has a rep’ for: BASSEBALL, no joke; fo’ being a cue-ball (Currly Neal) and Linebacking and D in general terms. That and discipline itself. This is a throwback salty guy. $3,189,744.oo

Clark Lea (born November 11, 1981 A.D.) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at Vanderbilt since 2o21. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Notre Dame from 2o18 to 2o2o. Lea began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2006 and went on to serve as an assistant coach at South Dakota State University, Bowling Green State University, Syracuse University, and Wake Forest University.

Lea.S.A.T. does keep 2 degrees; that never football.edu sacked. His football team courts a nearly unheard-of: 100 percent graduation rate! wow! Great on dat.                                                                           🎓

Daddy Lea has a wifey: Allison and Children: Sons – Clark III, and Jack; Daughter – Mara.

‘whispers’ say: he got some heat in his seat… Godspeed.

Vanderbilt 2023 record: 2 up against 1o down, o-8 SEC (7th in East). USE old stars tribute PICS

Foe‘rensics:

Vanderbilt Defense: (starters back=)

• ∑ (summary): returning D production=54% (87th); Cee-Jay Tayor, is your conflict defender here.
• Cb is a bit dingy coming outta camp so the vibes say… Godspeed.

Lea is taking over defensive coordinator duties himself. Which prolly don’t overall R&R aid-n-abet. Just ask ’23 Pry.

Safety1 C.J. Taylor is legit; mayhaps even very. Rangy guy who is not a soft-touch. He starts most places and Ilb1 Langston Patterson nearly starts them all. They very good. The rest are not so much.

xx oo

A nonexistent pass rush and timid Cb play have combined to make Vanderbilt’s pass defense a nightmare over the past three years (109th in yards per attempt allowed in 2o23). An increased emphasis on the transfer portal, however, could help there. Cornerbacks Marlon Jones Jr. and Kolbey Taylor figure to play major snaps, as will defensive linemen Khordae Sydnor and Zaylin Wood.

It starts with getting more out of the defensive front. Dt1 and Dt1a Devin Lee and Yilann Outtara are big bodies inside. Yet they must hold up better and allow the outside guys to play clean and put in work. Purdue De1 transfer Khordae Sydnor has the pressure to be the pass rusher the team was missing last year.

Middle linebacker Langston Patterson and safety CJ Taylor starred last season and will return, this time with more depth and talent around them.

The linebacking corps should be a relative strength. Leading tackler Langston Patterson is back in the middle after making 74 stops, and Prince Kollie should be a bit of an edge rusher from his spot on the outside. They’ll fill up the stat sheet, as will…

The safeties will make plenty of plays. CJ Taylor and De’Rickey Wright can get all over the field -they tied for the team lead with two picks each- however, it is TCU transfer Randon Fontenette and Eastern Washington corner Marlon Jones who need to bring a bit more pop.

The return of safety De’Rickey Wright from the portal was a huge post-spring development. TCU transfer linebacker/safety Randon Fontenette and true freshman safety Dontae Carter bring the type of coverage skills that the Commodores have lacked in the past, allowing Lea to be roll-aggressive. Fiddy-percent (5o%) of this dLine is portaled -and some say deep- both Cb’s and two other starters are from outside-in in halt-unit terms. i.e. even if this IS an upgrade? It will take a moment or three to gel and another moment or two to cook. (Or, more…).

Film-study1: Will scheme attack up-field a bit in rushing-heavy situations.

Recognizing this and punishing this play-action LONG could be deep Wr corps VicTory lucrative here.

Also… this has been a VERY 3rd-down available D under (non-General) Lea. 47% and counting available thus far.

Linus Zunk… dLineman… is; BIG!

film-study2: wants to be a run-1st D. Will take manning risks on the edge to fund this in rushing situations. With cover-1 or 2 behind that. Typically scores VERY high marks in zone D and in passing efficiency D. D will pass-blitz in passing situations. Plays the ‘ball not the man at any/all times. Is a base forty-three; tho’ will use multiples upfront at times. With a Will overshift. Tackled very textbook well @N.Dame. Will press/jam while spying Qb1. Look for this fo’ #1 Qb1, sure. Can however ’cause a break-in in OT-box contain when manning edges and dealing an extra guy or two if the opposing Qb1 gets north of the line-of-scrummage. i.e., Dixie Chicks… wide open spaces… Does have a susceptibility to a tertiary or safety valve everyone got ‘run-off’ on a latent or dump-off pass. As Cb’s will front and back-side reddog per what Carl Battershell once did. alike. Ralles to the ‘ball sharp enuff; will put a shoulder into you too. D does advance the ‘ball at all times and at all costs. A pump-fake might be nice, here.

Late sourcing says: Star-Lb and Cb are both a bit late camp dingy.

Vanderbilt Offense: (returning starters=)

• ∑ (summary): returning D production=65% (46th).
• 48% run:pass 42% mix. VERY basketball on grass logo-3-pointer era RUN heavy O. Wr4 Jordan Parker is your secret sauce offender here. Long is the only place he goes— wimminz species, rejoice!
• Catch-corps is a bit mo’ dingy coming outta camp so the vibes say. God Bless.

In comes New Mexico State offensive coordinator Tim Beck to run the offense. He very good and he brought his likewise (slickster, Pt.G1 dribbling wiz’ in another life) Qb1 with him.

And he brings with him a HIGHLY unusual scheme. It is really really good that we catch this in the 1-hole off of an entire Summer to break tape upon the same. Hence…

…transfer quarterback Diego Pavia will battle for the chance to lead an option-heavy attack as the Commodores try to revive their run game (3.3 yards per carry in 2023). In part with the goal of juicing that rushing attack, Vanderbilt will rotate its tackles and guards by denoting a “strong-side” and “weak-side” combination, So, that it can run behind its best duo regardless of where the ball is on the field. Theoretically, this could also leave Vandy’s less athletic tackles less exposed in pass protection. This approach is nearly unheard of in modern college football. Truly. This scheme is french’s and B.J.’s dazzle-words, spirit-fingers and stump you with modern-era lexicons dream-child 1o1. An orgy of terminology here they go…

Vanderbilt departed its top four receivers to the NCAA transfer portal. Will Sheppard to Colorado, London Humphreys to Georgia, and Jayden McGowan to Boston College. Yikes! Junior Sherrill and Quincy Skinner are still around, Texas Tech transfer Loic Fouonji will step into a starting role. Beck will need to get more out of the Commodores’ tight ends, led by the talented but oft-injured Cole Spence. If Vandy can coax improved play out of its offensive line, then its funky offense could irritate opponents. If not, it will be another long season.

The left side oLine will be fine with veterans, tho’ the front five needs to get big production right away from Mississippi State transfer Steven Losoya at center and UTEP’s Steven Hubbard at guard. Seems worse on pass-pro’ to me than on run-shapes. Tho’ both allowed penetrations, plural.

Pavia will add plenty to the running game, altho’ leading rusher Sedrick Alexander will handle the bulk of the work. He only ran 96 times for 371 yards and four scores— nevertheless, the claim that he is dangerous enough to do far more.

Jerry Kill, the one-year consigliere to Justin Fuente at Tech who joins Vandy as a chief consultant and offensive advisor after spending the last few years as New Mexico State’s head coach.

This O will go for 2’s on P.A.T.’s and they will go for it on 4th down in lieu of long-FGA’s or short-punts.

Sedrick Alexander, Rb1 is fast. VERY.

XX’s OO’s

Though spies say Vandy has had butterfingers on O this August camp. Fumbles, INT’s, drops, et al. Though they also say this is a “multiple” O. Wimminz species rejoice. As they are coming at you from all over the place. Go’on and expect a pinch of everything from their offense. Some extended triple option, RPO, PA passes, and some drop back with a buncha run concepts all crunched together. Good to get this in the bottom of the 1st… before it sorts itself out or learns how to hit its stride(s).

Film-study1: This is a QUICK, quicker, quickest hitting O. A runny-go O. With a slew o’ mesh point comings and goings. There are numerous variants of motion(s) here and there are even mo’ raw alignments/formations than that. This is everything the thick-ass Frank-n-Stiney unabridged Play-Book ever wanted to be.

This is one big, bigger, biggest ole Oline. Lightest dood=32o+. And they are very right-tailed on the Experience Curve itself.

Film-study2: Though you had better be bang-on-the-chin accurate in your initial read and you’d better flat-out get after it as tackling-Spock or 1st-contacts go. As it has a lotta line-of-scrmmage stretch and stress points alike; they do/will create a ‘seam’ or a ‘lane’ on any O intent misread by the D; or a missed initial stop by the same. They run all sorts of stacking(s), they get the ball out as humanly fast as you humanly can. They run the same play (pass) on both the back and front sides at the very same time. Wild. Very elastic O at 53.33 yards and Wr and seal/edge blocking is a MUST here. Quite a bit of play-action(s) when there is a ‘back and a lotta angular thingy(s) when there is not. They will pull Gap-over; they will force the short-side issue; and they will call the same play back-to-back or even Pete, repeat, threepeat if they really see something they match up like at times. In particular in the zone or on the goalline. Lottas short/quick to medium angular things here— nobody north of a screen waiting on the ball. All on the go. Rarefied Latino Qb1 (Diego Pavia) by way of n.Mex’.St. seems very comfortable under last-sec’, helter-skelter-looking Coach c.Mason heavy fire too. Throws a bit cockeyed or sidearm off his back foot with a stuck weight transfer. Which he gets away with on pure mettle south of having to throw long where this bleeds velocity away from him. (Eye saw several D’s pick him on late arrival defenders when his arm hangs one up). Tho’ he is an Acadamey (get it: Service-esque) Award-winning thespian on sleight-of-hand or prestidigitation. Very slick baller here sports fans.

Though; and nevertheless, a shiny Qb1.

Think of this a P.J. Hulk Hogan brain-game FLEXY version of a flex-bone and you are getting warmer. Tho’ not yet there, either.

Offensive letter-grade: Commodore Special Teams: (return) in Net Punting.

• P1 is a ‘the’ Oh.State retred tire who will prolly not be sorely missed. He is from down-under and came up under Coach p.Hogan and all dat. Men at Work. Foster’s, eh? Is experienced— is he anything north of that?
• K1 is untested. Pure lightweight. ≅156 lb. string-bean; and you’d have to like to see how he responds to getting his chin-checked if/when we can get close enuff. Tho’ the: SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll and the no.5 ranked K1 outta H.S. per 247 does seem tall enuff if only untested the same. Zilch, zero, zip D-1 kicking stats, exist.

Ohio State transfer Jesse Mirco gives Vanderbilt a rock-solid punter, but kicking could be a concern with sophomore Brock Taylor never having attempted a field goal or extra point at the college level.

Eight, ocho or (8) blocked kicks/punts last year in all directions. Both outgoing and incoming. Dull this ain’t.

FREE!!!:

Unit Rankings:

1. VT D.
2. VT O. (close though…)
3. New Mex’ O.
4. Irish D.

X-factor(s):

• motive: prolly Tech for pre-season fanfare hype(s). Tho’ Vandy is unbeaten (for now) and @home and you’d have to think this is as UP as they can be. EDGE=push.
• weather: Sat. says: WARMest (upper-90s), humid and it looks like the rain has been pushed back beyond the likely timeframe. That favors the better-conditioned team. And it prolly helps the whacky Vandy O and big’n oLine IF they begin to wear-n-tear on us a mite. EDGE=Vandy.
• health/off-field: VeeTee has been truly Blessed here… Vandy has at least two black-n-blue dingy spots coming outta August Camp. EDGE=VT.
• penalties: HUGE edge here for Vandy in yellow-laundry terms. Coach Lea teams are strict if nothing else. EDGE=Vandy.
• intangibles: …hard to say… no reason for either side to NOT be 1-hole totally up, right? EDGE=push.
• fatigue: N/A.

Lord Haw-Haw …or… Tokyo Rose? …inpowerHERment 1o1.

Whomever beats dis Tau Sigma Lamda DDoS azz?!?

 

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of  Commodores who could 64 @Tech=8 or 9.

the takeaway:

Vanderbilt University. Amazing academic institution, great location, fun city – you know, the stuff that actually matters – and …

No winning seasons in the last ten years, just three since 1982, a mere nine all-time bowl appearances, no ten-win seasons, and just four nine-win campaigns -two under James Franklin and two others in the early 1900s- and a settled role as the SEC’s bye week.

Fine, that’s the deal. Vanderbilt will never play in an SEC Championship, much less win one with Texas and Oklahoma coming in, so what do you do? Forget winning, how about merely being competitive?

***

The Commodores lost every SEC game last season by double-digits -by the way, to make this pity party even worse, there’s been a grand total of two winning seasons in the SEC since 1959- so, either you come up with a quirky service academy-like style of play that’s a weekly curve ball; or, you find the guys who know how to produce in impossible situations.

New Mexico State is one of those teams, and it was able to start winning under former headman Jerry Kill. Tim Beck was his offensive coordinator, and now he’s at Vandy.

Diego Pavia was a blast of an Aggie quarterback who made things happen, and now he’ll likely be running the attack. Eli Stowers went from Texas A&M to NMSU tight end, and now he should be a factor.

The transfer portal appears to have brought in a slew of those chip-on-shoulder types, the schedule is built for at least three wins, push for five with a few breaks, and believe that maybe, the right breaks will come.

---

xxx‘s & ooo‘s Now. The 1-hole.

The immediacy effect after several bonus days (or, a week if needed) to August Camp scheme is ’bout like catching an OPEN date prior to this funky O. This should help…

…though it is STILL a funky O… and if it ‘clicks’ in-game the bonus August Camping days are rendered ‘void’; or, maybe even worse than that. (And their n.Dame new D to a lesser mo’ traditional extent too).

As you do NOT wanna face this O on a normal or on a short work, week.

💯

formulae here favors

Best Qb1 on the field? Or, how ’bout ALL year?

Game Ball or mag·num o·pus: their Qb1??? …in their house with his O coaches his way… reminds us of this pic… As in… this one has an ever so slight (pic) connotation of a lookahead (to the rest of ’24 overall) trap game modest feel to it to we (4). Eye have scouted him already… pure gunslinger. A Doc Holiday Qb1. A “huckleberry“. He a firey cocksure ‘huckleberry’ to– and that O is the sworn enemy of pass-rushing. He gots ~1.5k rushing in 17 starting Qb1 contests to boot. Tons of give-n-go; play-action(s), trickeration, and he is a Roger dodger slickster on pump-fakes. He even pumps his (goal line) jump-pass. VERY quick accelerator. Like everything BAX ever wanted to be; tho’ a better/defter passer. Great pocket sense– eyes in the back of the head; 2o-2o downfield vision. (Which helps him ferret and get under contact). The Hollywood cat-slaying chiseled looks have never hurt any Qb1, either. Only wrestler1 gone Qb1 Eye’ve ever seen. Military fam’ to boot.

Fun kid to scout/see play… gamers always are. That and he has basically his whole posse/crew from New.Mex’.St. in tow. In extra particular he has Tim Beck riding shotgun (get the informational pun)? Who was a very creative offending mind for DII national champion Pittsburgh State. A pure Matrix Coach… “Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, ’cause Kansas is going bye-bye” indeed. Eye know… Eye know… before I type it out: “pot-stirrer”… as this Mexi Qb1 may just be the “G, L, O, R, I, AAAAAA” Qb1 on the field that day. Maybe the best we catch all, year.

i.e., better bust him early/often; as you do not want a gunslinger to find his in-game range.

Not ½-bad for the barely *** 70th ranked (in-state) kid. Not at all.

♥  ♣  ♦ ∪

P2 Polytrix:

Has *the* Don Trumped himself or is old-man Joe out-FOX’ed and plum Tuckered, out? BeRock O’biden his time? Kamala the non-Ugandan non-Giant?

Now that your fascist blood is big pumpin’… the polytrix of Fight Club here rate about… a 4-leaf clover, a rabbit’s foot, and a pinch of salt. Check it out…

As ’23 VeeTee was not lucky last year, ’23 VeeTee was VERY lucky last year.

Now, R.A.T.T., how will that ’24, hold???

WWI: “The Great War”…

Trench Warfare favors…

…hopefully, it favors the 100% back oLine as opposed to the 20% back oLine. Though the opposing dLine is said to be 8-deep. So, who will that 4Q favor? On the other side… we should be one of the better dLine’s they see all year. And that is P2 gone $.e.c. saying a little sompthin’-sompthin’. Although, there are also reports coming outta Nashville of the Commodore D being ahead of the Vandy O. So, maybe this one is a lower one that most seem to pre-season think? That, and there are also Tennesse reports that hint that Vandy has upped the physical ante for this ’24 Training Camp all the mo’. And, and, and, there was 1oo% ALL back… dis…

• 2023 pass blocking rank per PFF: 85th
• 2023 run blocking rank per PFF: 1o7th
• …you do the Crooked maths.

So, we are mo’ oLine vis-a-vis dLine curious here.

permutations:

1. Δ1=33.33% chance that this one is closer than almost any other authour thinks. As in… either/or… Either their pitch comes out hurling straight fire from the jump, and just plain keeps nipping at VeeTee’s heels for the duration. Or, Vandy leaves him in there for the duration and he bull-pens his way back into things vs. our travel-squad 2’s later on in the contest. Think of a 1.5-play game give/take.
2. Δ2=66.67% chance that VeeTee simply overpowers homecourt Vandy. The Hokies bring 220 industrial strength volts to the Commodore-64 11o domesticated party. Or, a lantern-battery to a 9v give/take. Think of a 3 to 4 full-play game. Maybe mo’ if our 2’s electrify them too.

#ChallangeA.c.c.epted… there are 1,440 minutes in a day and (hopefully) VeeTee need only submit about ≅4o to 45 minutes of 1’s reps to put this one away here. the optics… 4Q 15 to 10 remaining:

the skinny… Vandy sourcing sayin’…

“”When Vanderbilt’s top offensive and defensive options were in the game, the offense struggled to throw the ball downfield, instead moving the ball in smaller chunks on the more successful drives. Neither of the Commodores’ top options at quarterback, Pavia and Johnson, are traditional downfield passers. Vanderbilt also lost a lot of talent at receiver in the offseason. But whatever it is contributing to the trend, the Commodores may struggle against the top teams on their schedule if they can’t make big plays.“

the sportlight…

…here in the sportlight… we cogently realize that this is one of our very few cogent chances for serving up an O.G. Truman’crat mushroom cloud or vegan-savvy diet this year. We realize this ’cause Jerry ‘the logo’ West taught us this way way back when at: Traveling All-Stars Camp. Where Jerry logofied us with the 2 thingys that truly great teams do…

1. They beat the teams they are supposed to beat and they beat them, baddly.
2. They find a way to win when they do no play their, best.

This one would appear to be the 1st one to we… IF, Vah.Tech is truly all dat and a ’24, A.c.c. qualifying ‘snap’? ’cause if we are? @Vandy and Marshall and @O.d.u. should not be too much…

…and there are those who would have me type that they should be taken out behind the woodshed for a good spankin’. If not rode all nite and hung up…

💦

Vandy Projected S&P+: 81st. Vandy Projected S&P wins: 3.5 W’s.

-oOo-

The Call:

Tough to not call for a VicTory dance come say ~4 PM over in Nashville— where an urban legend says that one Franklin once went a s.Twain callin’.

However, it was illuminating that Vandy prep’ began on 14.Aug.24 this past camp. They must felt and/or saw something to begin running Commodore-64 plays a full fortnight out.

(as that’s typically not mo’ than code for 1.5 weeks out at opening game cupcake max’).

☀️🌡🥵️

UPDATES:

Sourcing says the following…

1. Vandy has a slew of ’25 (and beyond) recruits slated to attend this one. Ergo, therefore, to Whit… this one is a bigger deal for them than you may think.

2. This is a high-noon-1 or 11 AM tip’ in local time terms. i.e., short rest for the traveling Eastern Standard Time (zone) squadron (or: V.P.I.).

3. Vandy their ownselves says to expect a 10-year or decade HIGH. 97° (f) and a centenial+++ heat indice is in store for it.

4. Such… places an onus not only on incoming S&C and hydration… it also mandates calling Riley (aging Laker, K.A.J.) savvy timeouts to buy a blow or snag a breather here-n-there as sweating/suffering need(s) be.

5. This places a greater onus on DEPTH itself.

BONUS round: watch for thus… nearly 6.5 outta 1o of Drones passes last campaign were short, on the line-of-scrummage or behind the same. He was also dead last, that’s living in the 2-bit shed out back of Baltic Ave. on HR throws or long-balls. See where this one goes vs. a seemingly beatable Vandy whereby you prolly can get away with going out there and giving some things a play-book, try.

Also: Vandy says the North EZ should be open and yet the South EZ is closed until at least ’25.

🏟

The O.P.T. digits…

…ergo, therefore, to Whit… …we are gonna rock on Wayne-n-Garth and call for a medium to nice-sized Tech Triumph here. Though we phobia that this is not ≥a 7-win team.

VeeTee wins by something in the neighborhood of 3 to 4 full scores. Although the Qb1 of n.Mex gone Vandy may want an OK Corral gunslinging word with that or three…

…this one will be the early season one to tell you where our ’24 1’s on D truly, be❗️

🙏>>>🏈

upset Index=22% #JustSayKnow

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=39, Vanderbilt=13

“LETS GO!“

Please support the VT F.C.A.!

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**