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September 14, 2022


SEC Baseball Schedule Unveiled

SEC announces 2023 conference slate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Southeastern Conference portion of Vanderbilt’s 2023 baseball schedule is set, the league announced Wednesday. Each school will play 10 three-game weekend series.

The 30-game conference slate gets underway March 17–19 when the Commodores will travel to Mississippi State, marking first time since 2019 that Vanderbilt will open conference play on the road.

The Dores will return home for the next two weekends to welcome Georgia (March 24–26) and Ole Miss (March 31–April 2) before facing in-state foe Tennessee on the road (April 7–9).

The series with the Volunteers will be the first of four consecutive weekends against SEC East opponents as Vanderbilt will host South Carolina (April 14–16) before traveling to Missouri (April 21–23). The Commodores will welcome Kentucky (April 28–30) for the final weekend of April.

Vandy will be on the road for two of its final three SEC series, including back-to-back trips to Alabama (May 5–7) and Florida (May 12–14). The Dores will return home to host Arkansas (May 18–20) in the final weekend of the regular season.

The SEC slate is subject to change for television scheduling. The Commodores will release their nonconference schedule at a later date.

Vanderbilt plans to open fall training on Oct. 18. The Commodores’ fall schedule features a pair of exhibitions, including a home matchup against Samford (Oct. 22), and a neutral-site contest against Arizona State in Las Vegas. The team will conclude the fall with the annual Black and Gold Game tentatively scheduled for Nov. 13.

The Commodores welcome 13 newcomers this season, while returning consensus All-American Enrique Bradfield Jr. and a pair of Freshman All-America pitchers in Carter Holton and Devin Futrell.

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I'll try to answer these on Friday.

Comes out Sept 13th. We'll be up 1 spot to 13th from 14th.

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Vanderbilt didn't look great in its game with Wake Forest, setting up what Chris Lee and Will Perdue term a "must-win" game with Northern Illinois. Chris and Will discuss that, the Mike Wright/AJ Swann dynamic at quarterback, officiating issues from Saturday and a few humorous anecdotes from Will's life as a student at Vanderbilt.

He obviously had a terrible outing against Wake.

Wake took away his running lanes, and made Wright beat them with his arm. He went 8-15, for 35 yards, 1 int and 1 fumble. He got yanked for having a terrible day, and (I heard, didn't see) that he wasn't being a very good teammate after his benching.

So, where is his mindset at? Does he have a good attitude and bounce back? Does he continue sulking and look terrible? Does he man up, have a good attitude, but comes back in and struggles passing again and starts looking over his shoulder at the better passer on the sidelines standing next to Lea?

This game against NIU is big for Vanderbilt, Lea, and Wright. But, Vanderbilt doesn't really care, and Lea is in year 2 of a 10 year cushion. Wright has the most riding on his performance against NIU, does the pressure get to him?

It's should be an interesting game.

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Lmaooo what a poverty move by a poverty football program.

i tend to think vu often performs better on the road primarily because players can adopt an ‘us against them’ mentality in a hostile environment, which happens to not be their own stadium.
does any team in P5 football have less of a home field advantage than vu ? I certainly can’t name one.

for this reason, vu comes home with a W this weekend.

When will they announce the game time for homecoming?

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Please submit your questions in this thread.

For the ugliest football uniforms in football history. I just turned on MNF and saw the lime green monstrosities Seattle is wearing as their uniforms. The humanity! The humanity!

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Vandy is the first official visit for the 2024 guard out of Atlanta. Bilal picked up an offer from the Commodores back in December and also holds offers from Georgia State and Xavier.

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Did anyone have trouble downloading tickets to get into the game today? I heard from several people that the app crashed. Person at the gate said there many.

We win this game. Prove me wrong.

After reviewing film, what were some things you caught that you liked and didn’t that you didn’t catch live?
The story of the game was turnovers
He liked the competitive spirit; there were sparks in all three phases
Fourth-down stand early was a shot to grab momentum
They unraveled after the pick-6 and the fumble
They have to step into those moments; “things aren’t going our way so the next group goes on the field with the intention of swinging things. … That’s what winning teams do.”
They have to take control and exert their will in that moment to tip the game back in their favor
Defense held the line early, that gave them a shot going into the second half but they couldn’t capitalize
There were some guys who played well but they can’t inflict the damage they inflicted and come out of it

Devin Lee
He’s expected back this week
He’s coming off injury and the week dictates whether he can play
But they expect he will play
Whatever he gets this weekend, they’ll celebrate

Impressions of NIU
They’ve been at the top of the MAC for a while
Won over 70% of their home games the last decade
This weekend is a 10-year anniversary celebration of their Orange Bowl team
Thomas Hammock has rebuilt well; they were 0-6 in the Covid team and went 9-5 and won the MAC
He’s built culture and identity; they’re tough and physical
QB is a play-maker
The run game loosens their ability to make plays
They were down 24-7 and then led in the fourth quarter (before losing)
They’re a really good program
They’ll have to be at their best; that’s been the message to the team
NIU won at Georgia Tech last year
NIU has beaten eight Power Five teams since 2009

They won at Hawaii this year, at Colorado State last year, does that give them confidence?
Every game is a unique experience
They had a long time to prepare for Hawaii and were there for a week
They have to find grit to go on the road and play to their identity and they’re excited to do it

Are they planning to have Mike Wright start?
Yes
He’s had a number of special performances this season
But it’s an earn-it-everyday mindset for every position
He’s excited for Mike to come out and dial in to the challenges NIU presents
QB play is something that gets scrutiny but they look at and and ask where can they get better and be helpful to him

Will they try to get AJ Swann into the game?
They don’t want a 2-QB strategy
They want players to be able to play through mistakes and find rhythm

Freshmen like Mann and Outtara, what did he think of them?
They handled themselves well
There were flashes
He wants to see them go after more
Having freshmen this involved means you can draw a line of progress
There’s a point in time when they’ll hit the freshman wall
One of the joys of college coaching is to watch it when players are “drinking from a fire hose” early and then the game settles for them

Kane Patterson and Jeremy Lucien played well, will they be in the rotation more?
Both bring competitive experience
Kane made the tackle on the goal line
Said when he celebrated that with Kane he was fearful of getting a head butt
Kane still needs to clean up his game; there are chances to expand his role but he’s till learning the system
Lucien represented himself well after not playing much
They’re going to use him as much as they can

On Castillo and Hernandez at center
They were hopeful last week for Hernandez but he wasn’t responding to the level where they were confident playing him
He’s further along this week and they think he’ll be available; today went well for him
With Hernandez back, they can move Castillo but it’s about the confidence for Hernandez to sustain through the game
Blazek wants the best five on the field
It’s no sweat for Castillo to move back to guard, it’s just how Hernandez does

Skinner and Griffin health
Skinner’s up in the air
Griffin is making progress and is day to day, he’s “hopeful for him.”
Said Griffin was close last week but he and the staff weren’t comfortable playing him
He’s leveled off his load
They hope he’ll play Saturday; “it’s just a matter of time for him.”

How do they get more out of wide receiver?
The real question is how they get more out of the offense
The box has shrunk and they need to get the ball on the perimeter
They need to play in the rhythm of the game
They had shots on Saturday with both QBs and they couldn’t protect
They can’t miss opportunities because they miss on protection

How do they balance the shrinking box with a run-first identity?
They have to be able to counter-punch by throwing
They have a physical OL that creates separation
When the safeties are down and the apex players are monitoring the perimeter they have one one-on-one chances

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Was a freshman All-American at Colorado State and returned punts for CSU last year until Vandy knocked him out in the game. His old WR coach and OC are at Vandy now.

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Thanks to those of you who reached out, and there were a number of you. I could have either added about a dozen moderators (which seems excessive since I already had a couple active) or I could have picked a smaller number and went with that. So in this case I went with the first five to contact me, they are:

DustyOrleans
cmoore83
Showingold
glh4VU
Ingold

Thanks to everyone for your interest in participating and in our community.

Opens at VU -2.5(Ceasers via Vegas Insider)

He has 2 P5 wind in 2 years to Clark’s 0 at a program that maybe he thinks been lower than ours. Discuss.

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Definitely doesn’t hurt having these guys on your campus.

It's rare to get to make fun of Alabama, Texas A&M, and Notre Dame, especially in the same week.

The SEC shorts crew wasted little time.

Enjoy!!

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This is dependent on flawless in-the-moment spotting (which is difficult) but here's the participation report from last night. I'm guessing it could change based on film review.

1-McAllister, Elijah, 11-Harris, Justin, 12-Truesdell, Errington, 13-Taylor, CJ, 13-Swann, AJ, 15-Lloyd, Chase, 18-Kyle, Logan, 19-Patterson, Kane, 20-Barton, Jack, 22-Howse IV, John, 24-Griffin, Rocko, 25-Lucien, Jeremy, 28-Sannieniola, Steven, 3-Skinner Jr., Quincy, 31-Spencer, Michael, 34-Richard, Ja'Dais, 36- Bulovas, Joseph, 38-Ugochukwu, Jeffrey, 38-Faris, Will, 39-Lutz, Cooper, 40-Eckels, Tommy, 42-Patterson, Langston, 45-Hayball, Matt, 46-Gillespie, Chase, 47- Schelling, Wesley, 52-Weaver, Trent, 56-Ketschek, Jake, 58-Cecil, Myles, 6-Boddie, Devin, 66-Brammer, Jacob, 7-Sewell, Marlen, 71-Pitchford, Gage, 73-Clark, Charlie, 76-Morgan, Grayson, 77-Uzebu, Junior, 84-Ball, Justin, 85-DeCoursey, Joel, 92-Agu, Darren, 93-Diakite, BJ, 97-Wesley, Kevo