It is still early and with a lot of teams playing cupcakes and non-conf games its hard to judge but things are taking shape. Vandy has played 1 - 1 - 1 Great team, terrible team, Avg team...
Thoughts on trends that will last or will wither away as we get deeper into the season. My thoughts:
- Vandy Defense: Seems like the real deal. The haters believed Georgia took it easy on us and coasted. Other haters said we gave up a million rushing yards so they couldnt be any good. Flip side is WKU and UGA have had no problems against everyone else moving and scoring. Very interested in how they do against Ole Miss. I do believe even good defenses when not supported well will have a couple of stinkers along the way so I dont believe Ole Miss will be the defining moment but fun to see what they can do. If VU D is real - the SC, UK, Mizzou, UF, ut games will be close.
- Vandy Offense moving the ball: There seems to be some revisionist history here. Vandy over the years oven when winning tended to be the king of 3 and out and getting stuffed at the LOS. This year between the 20's they seem to be able to get at least 1 first down and keep field position in check. Will they be able to continue to move the ball without an OL? Seems like JMac's mobility will be the key here.
- Vandy OL - I dont see them getting any better. I just see (and hope) that Ludwig continues to adapt down to the few things he can get away with. They do seem to be slightly better in pass block so we may continue to see a lot of swing passes, jet sweeps and WR screens as our defacto run game. I do not see Webb having any type of year that is worthy of mention. No runs over 20 yards even against AP.
- Red Zone - At some point that has to get better just out of luck but w/ the OL issues, its going to be harder to score close in bc of the lack of push and lack of space on the goal line. Pray we score from the 15 on out. I think the only way this gets better is JMac settling for FG's when people arent open and JMac using his feet to get into the endzone.
- TO's - for whatever reason, I dont see this changing. If you cant break out vs AP and get 2-3 TOs, not sure how you do it. It is ironic bc if the defense is legit, there are very few defenses that are good that dont create TOs. I think main reason in lack of pressure on QB. No forced hurried decisions. I think on the flip side Vandy will continue to eliminate TOs and do a better job via JMac. The Special teams TO's are bad and have to stop.
- DB's - have held up very consistently first 3 games. No TOs (see above) but better coverage than I imagined and working together. Safeties have to make more big plays and not just be the security blanket. Time for Burks to breakout. I think he will have a couple big games down the stretch.
Will be interesting to see what happens the next three games regarding these trends.
Thoughts on trends that will last or will wither away as we get deeper into the season. My thoughts:
- Vandy Defense: Seems like the real deal. The haters believed Georgia took it easy on us and coasted. Other haters said we gave up a million rushing yards so they couldnt be any good. Flip side is WKU and UGA have had no problems against everyone else moving and scoring. Very interested in how they do against Ole Miss. I do believe even good defenses when not supported well will have a couple of stinkers along the way so I dont believe Ole Miss will be the defining moment but fun to see what they can do. If VU D is real - the SC, UK, Mizzou, UF, ut games will be close.
- Vandy Offense moving the ball: There seems to be some revisionist history here. Vandy over the years oven when winning tended to be the king of 3 and out and getting stuffed at the LOS. This year between the 20's they seem to be able to get at least 1 first down and keep field position in check. Will they be able to continue to move the ball without an OL? Seems like JMac's mobility will be the key here.
- Vandy OL - I dont see them getting any better. I just see (and hope) that Ludwig continues to adapt down to the few things he can get away with. They do seem to be slightly better in pass block so we may continue to see a lot of swing passes, jet sweeps and WR screens as our defacto run game. I do not see Webb having any type of year that is worthy of mention. No runs over 20 yards even against AP.
- Red Zone - At some point that has to get better just out of luck but w/ the OL issues, its going to be harder to score close in bc of the lack of push and lack of space on the goal line. Pray we score from the 15 on out. I think the only way this gets better is JMac settling for FG's when people arent open and JMac using his feet to get into the endzone.
- TO's - for whatever reason, I dont see this changing. If you cant break out vs AP and get 2-3 TOs, not sure how you do it. It is ironic bc if the defense is legit, there are very few defenses that are good that dont create TOs. I think main reason in lack of pressure on QB. No forced hurried decisions. I think on the flip side Vandy will continue to eliminate TOs and do a better job via JMac. The Special teams TO's are bad and have to stop.
- DB's - have held up very consistently first 3 games. No TOs (see above) but better coverage than I imagined and working together. Safeties have to make more big plays and not just be the security blanket. Time for Burks to breakout. I think he will have a couple big games down the stretch.
Will be interesting to see what happens the next three games regarding these trends.
