Vandy had two turnovers. Turnovers are part of the game. They mean you did something right usually unless a guy just smooth puts one on the ground untouched.
We did give up 426 yards, but we put almost 500 yards (over 200 rushing) and we well against the Vandy run.
Getting Mathers back healthy will go a long way in helping our run game, which lacked a bigger back last night.
We aren't world beaters right now. Our CBs are pretty terrible, but we should get Golson back to 100% soon. Sawyer is still hurting too. They won't make us good there, but we'll be better there than last night. Still, teams will pass for a lot of yards on us again this season. Getting CJ back fully healthy should help our DBs.
Our offensive guards looked pretty terrible. Morris, who rehabbed most of the summer, showed up for fall camp way overweight and out of shape. It showed last night.
We missed two FGs. One of them was excusable and neither were chip shots, but we have to correct that. Otherwise, we could drop a game due to a missed FG opportunity. I'm not sold on Ritter as placekicker yet. Noble and Pappanastos might be better options inside of 45 yards.
Nkemdiche is going to be pretty good once he gets his technique down, learns to use his hands, learns some moves, and quits relying on the bull rush. I think he and Chris Jones will look an awful lot alike in their freshman seasons. Channing Ward on special teams is scary. He may not be very bright. He may struggle with a playbook. But he brings the wood.
Despite the wishes of a group not to be named, it appears that Bo Wallace's arm has healed. He didn't looked polished. And his arm strength may not be 100%, but he played pretty well and wasn't afraid to run.
Our freshman, Tunsil, Ingram, Conner, Nkemdiche, and Treadwell, are as advertised. In fact, they were better than I anticipated. I expected a lot of freshmen growing pains, but other than a Conner facemask, there weren't many big mistakes. Gholson did struggle on the interior offensive line, but offensive line is a tough position for a freshman in their first game. All in all, coming out on top in an adverse situation on the road in the SEC will help that group of freshman mature quickly.
Vandy is a solid middle of the road SEC team. I still expect them to get to 6 wins, but it got a little tougher after last night. We were fortunate to get out of there with a win last night. History hasn't been kind to Thursday night road teams.
Jordan Matthews is a winner. I'm glad we won, but hate that Matthews had to be the guy on the tipped INT.
I expect Auburn to be much improved. Playing them in Jordan-Hare will be tough. If we can win that game, stay healthy at key positions, and get to 3-2 headed into the A&M game, we have a good chance to bowl and possibly get to 7 or 8 wins. Another bowl season coupled with the true freshmen getting TV time will do wonders for our recruiting this year if we maintain.
We are very young. Look out in 2014. That will be our year assuming everyone is healthy.
After watching the SC game and our game, its apparent that the uptempo offense is tough to deal with even when you prepare for it. SC, though the much better squad, got very tired in the second half. Same for Vandy. The uptempo created an advantage for us in the second half. It will be interesting to see how you guys deal with it against Ok State's tempo.
