Change coming for Vanderbilt?
In the words of Derek Mason, things went well for about “a quarter and 12 minutes” in Vanderbilt’s 41-13 loss at No. 12 Georgia.
Vanderbilt trailed just 7-3 midway through the second quarter, but the Bulldogs tacked on two more touchdowns, while the Commodores couldn’t covert a key fourth-and-1 at the UGA 14, turning what was otherwise an evenly contested half of football into a 21-6 halftime lead for Georgia. The Commodores had 230 first-half yards against one of college football’s more talented defenses.
Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, it got a lot worse from there. Vandy’s only other points came on Josh Crawford’s touchdown with two seconds to play.
The Commodores plan to build on the positives, and use the rest as a learning experience.
“We’re so close,” starting offensive lineman Bruno Reagan said. “We’re unbelievably close. It’s just about playing better. We’re right there. We saw that in the UGA game. We were driving up and down the field against a really good team.
One problem area was penalties. The Commodores had nine of them for 69 yards, four on its offense for illegal procedure, in a tightly-officiated game in which Georgia was flagged 13 times for 115 yards.
“Nine penalties is too much for me,” coach Derek Mason said. “We had some of those penalties happen on consecutive drives… You say to yourself, where is this coming from?”
Mason spoke vaguely potential changes in personnel.
“(The) best players are going to play,” Mason said. “Other guys are going to get their touches intermittently. What we have to do is make sure we get the ball to our best players.”
That could affect Ke’Shawn Vaughn, whose 6.8 yards per carry is by far the best on the team. His 43-yard run against Georgia was VU’s only play over 22 yards. Vaughn has just 65 carries in six games, but on Tuesday. Mason referred to him as the “bell cow” among the team’s runners.
VU has had offensive line issues between the tackles. The Commodores’ depth chart lists either Egidio DellaRipa or Bruno Reagan at center, though Mason hinted Reagan would start against Florida. The Commodores would then go with Saige Young at Reagan’s vacated right guard spot, and Cole Clemens at left guard, a combination VU showed some against Georgia.
The Commodores will also get preseason second-team All-SEC linebacker Charles Wright back Saturday. Wright was held out with an injury last week.