Sept. 22, 2011
After watching game film of Vanderbilt’s 30-7 win over Ole Miss, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit gave his assessment of the undefeated Commodores during his appearance on the 104.5 Wake-Up Zone Wednesday morning:
 |
by Brandon Barca (Archive) Twitter updates @brandonbarca |
“The thing that I’d be excited if I were a Vanderbilt fan under first-year Head Coach James Franklin is that for a team that’s coming off a couple of two win seasons, they were able to capitalize on an opportunity in an SEC game. In the second quarter, they put that touchdown in by Larry Smith. Then they got a turnover and turned that into a touchdown. The next thing you know, it went from being, `Man, these teams are feeling each other out,’ to `It’s 21-0 at halftime.’
“And that to me, for Vanderbilt, is impressive. I don’t care if Ole Miss is making the mistakes or self-destructing or whatever it was. That’s an SEC opponent that Vanderbilt’s doing to what people are suppose to do to Vanderbilt. Their attitude impressed me. I think this team has some confidence right now. And that’s the best thing that can happen to a new head coach who brings in a new attitude and a new set of rules.
“You can say whatever you want about Elon, UConn and Ole Miss, but to me it’s more about what’s happening in (Vanderbilt’s) locker room and more about this team starting to believe.”
Herbstreit acknowledged that the Gamecock offense is full of weapons in quarterback Stephen Garcia and receiver Alshon Jeffery, but thought the key to stopping their attack was containing sophomore sensation Marcus Lattimore.
“(Lattimore) is the closest thing we have today to Herschel Walker. He is an absolute beast. He’ll carry the ball as many as 45 times in a game. Everything is set up around his ability to run the football, which is crazy to think about a Steve Spurrier offense, but that’s kind of where they are right now.
“They really believe that he’s the difference and that’s what makes their offense so dangerous. If you’re concerned about pressuring Garcia and double-teaming Jeffery, then you’re in for a long day because Lattimore is one of the premier backs in the entire country. He might start slow, but he just keeps pounding on you and by the second half, all of a sudden he starts to run through those arm tackles and comes up with 20 and 30-yard gains. The next thing you know he has over 200 yards on the day.
“If I’m Vandy this week, I’m very concerned defensively because this is the first premier back they’ve gone up against. If you spend too much time worrying about (Lattimore), that’s when Garcia and Jeffery can hurt you. They’ve got a great balanced attack. This will be the week that we kind of find out a little more about Vandy and James Franklin as they get ready to go on the road to Columbia.”
On the airwaves…
Vanderbilt fans can catch James Franklin on a pair of national radio shows Friday morning. Franklin will chat with Tim Brando on Yahoo! Sports Radio during the 11 a.m. CT hour, followed by an interview with Scott Van Pelt on ESPN Radio and ESPNews in the 12 p.m. hour.
Cock-a-doodle-doo…
Vanderbilt coaches have been making some noise during practice this week. To prepare for their first road trip of the season, Franklin brought in loud speakers to simulate the 80,000+ screaming fans at Williams-Brice Stadium. Even the Gamecocks’ popular rooster’s crow and 2001: A Space Odyssey were added to the practice playlist to distract the Commodores. Watch Paul Jones’ report on last night’s FOX17 newscast.
Around the Web…
- All about the Franklin (J.R. Lind, Nashville Scene)
- Shoop has Vandy ‘D’ right on schedule (Chris Low, ESPN.com)
- Playing time readies Vandy’s Rodgers (Jeff Lockridge, Tennessean)
- Wilson’s emergence helps VU secondary (Jerome Boettcher, The City Paper)
- Vandy-South Carolina is bigger than ever (Edward Aschoff, ESPN.com)
- Vanderbilt football is for real (Eric Single, InsideVandy.com)
- Spurrier calls out coaches, praises Franklin (Edward Aschoff, ESPN.com)
- Wilson causing headaches for defenses (Edward Aschoff, ESPN.com)
- Franklin has been in tough houses, but not like SEC’s (David Climer, Tennessean)
- Littlest Vanderbilt player makes big impression (Jeff Lockridge, Tennessean)
- Notes from the Football SID’s Desk (Larry Leathers, VUcommodores.com)
- Video: Franklin post-practice Wednesday (VUcommodores.com)
- Lattimore braces for Vandy defense (Peter Iacobelli, Associated Press)
- Video: Marcus Lattimore’s workload (Chris Low, ESPN.com)
