Vandy Highlights

Here's the highlights for the game. Before anyone asks, the song is Machine Gun by The Commodores.

Vandy Highlights

Sorry for the delay. Enjoy!

Vandy Recap

It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win is a win. Considering the season thus far, and the six straight SEC East losses coming into the game, this was also a very big win. To recap, I'm just going to comment on how we fared with my Keys to the Game.

Image from OnlineAthens.com.

On Offense
1. Knocking Vanderbilt back on offense coming off the ball.
We didn't knock Vandy off the ball when run blocking, but the defensive line wasn't having a party in the backfield like Tennessee did either. While there weren't always holes, Knowshon at least had space to change direction when needed.

2. A steady, and productive, dose of Knowshon Moreno and Kregg Lumpkin out of the backfield.
Well, due to Lumpkin's injury, we got half of this. There was a steady dose of Knowshon indeed. With 28 carries for 157 yards, Knowshon had the most carries by a Georgia back since Musa Smith in 2002.

3. Enough protection to allow Stafford to step into his throws.
I was very, very pleased with this. The majority of the time, Stafford had plenty of time to throw. Against Vandy, Stafford's problem was not throwing off of his back foot. Instead, he was a little hesitant, waiting too long to make the throw. On multiple occasions, the ball got to wide open receivers way too late. Thus they were no longer wide open by the time the ball got there.

On Defense
1. The defensive line putting pressure on the quarterback.
With three sacks and multiple hurries, the Dawgs got plenty of pressure on the passer. On a side note here, I love Marcus Howard's leg kick celebration after a sack.

2. The linebackers shedding blocks and making tackles.
The linebacker play was much improved from the Tennessee game in my opinion. However, I could have done without the huge chunks of yardage on QB draws and reverses.

3. All defenders taking the proper angles on plays.
Again, the angles taken were better than against UT, but I could have done without the huge chunks of yardage on QB draws and reverses. I don't think those were the result of bad angles though.

On Special Teams
1. Kick off deep.
The kickoffs were fine, but our kick coverage continues to be shaky.

2. Block for the punter.
Mimbs had plenty of time to kick, although there were a couple poor snaps.

3. Thomas Flowers stepping in admirably for Mikey Henderson at punt returner.
This wasn't much of a factor in the game, good or bad. Neither Flowers or Asher Allen had any punts that were very returnable.

With this being an off week, I've got some more specific thoughts on the game that I'll share as the week goes on. Also, I'll have the highlight video up in a day or two.

Keys to the Game

The main thing this week is that we need to look like Georgia, and we need to make them look like Vanderbilt.

Brandon Miller, Marcus Washington and Thomas Brown are out, and Mikey Henderson is questionable. Depth could be an issue, so we're going to need to come out strong.

If we see the following things, I think we'll win today.

On Offense
1. Knocking Vanderbilt back on offense coming off the ball.
2. A steady, and productive, dose of Knowshon Moreno and Kregg Lumpkin out of the backfield.
3. Enough protection to allow Stafford to step into his throws.

On Defense
1. The defensive line putting pressure on the quarterback.
2. The linebackers shedding blocks and making tackles.
3. All defenders taking the proper angles on plays.

On Special Teams
1. Kick off deep.
2. Block for the punter.
3. Thomas Flowers (above) stepping in admirably for Mikey Henderson at punt returner.

If we can't do these things, we could be in for a long night. See Vandy last year...