SEC 2010 // Could Vanderbilt Go Winless?
by cocknfire on May 13, 2010 1:01 PM EDT
in SEC Football
Email
PrintOVERVIEW
No SEC team has gone winless since South Carolina did so in 1999. In that case, South Carolina's main problem was that it was a terrible football team. But the Gamecocks also had the misfortune of playing no sub-.500 team in nonconference play -- the out of league slate consisting of 6-6 N.C. State, and bowl-bound teams in East Carolina (9-3) and Clemson (6-6).
 |
|
| Earlier this week | |
| Monday | Vanderbilt Hopes to Wake Up from the Nightmare |
| Tuesday | Vanderbilt Returns a Ton of Starters. That's Good, Right?; Three Things We Do and Don't Know |
| Wednesday | Vanderbilt Actually Plays a Schedule |
Vanderbilt has some of the same problems this year. The Commodores are not as bad as South Carolina was 11 years ago; injuries probably made the team look a bit worse than it actually was last year. But Vanderbilt has just 11 returning starters this year, and they face a nonconference schedule that might be at least as difficult as the '99 Gamecocks': Northwestern, at Connecticut and Wake Forest. Thanks to the 12-game schedule, the Commodores do have one game against an easier opponent in Eastern Michigan, but Vanderbilt wasn't much better statistically (if they were at all) than EMU.
So could Vanderbilt win zero games this year? It's possible, if not exactly probably. There are a few winnable games on the schedule in addition to Eastern Michigan -- Wake Forest and perhaps Kentucky could fit the bill. Even if the Commodores can't wax EMU, they're still a huge favorite in that game, and in other cases Vanderbilt will use its infamous smoke and mirrors routine to keep things close enough to take a win here or there. Not that it will be a good season, but it probably won't be historically bad.
SEASON RESULTS
Place: Last in the SEC East
Record: 1-11, 0-8 SEC
Could be: 0-12 to 4-8
Best chance for an upset: at Georgia
Bowl: NA
GAME-BY-GAME
9.4.10 | NORTHWESTERN | POSSIBLE LOSS
9.11.10 | LSU | LIKELY LOSS
9.18.10 | at MISSISSIPPI | PROBABLE LOSS
10.2.10 | at CONNECTICUT | LIKELY LOSS
10.9.10 | EASTERN MICHIGAN | LIKELY WIN
10.16.10 | at GEORGIA | LIKELY LOSS
10.23.10 | SOUTH CAROLINA | PROBABLE LOSS
10.30.10 | at ARKANSAS | LIKELY LOSS
11.6.10 | FLORIDA | LOSS
11.13.10 | at KENTUCKY | POSSIBLE LOSS
11.20.10 | TENNESSEE | PROBABLE LOSS
11.27.10 | WAKE FOREST | POSSIBLE LOSS
6 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
if that guy who said notre dame would turn down the sec b/c their have their own brand and tv contract.
The real reason is b/c they could go winless or go about 2-10 or 3-9 every other year. vandy won’t lose to eastern michigan. their are in the bottom five of fbs football. 116-120.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood". Hell is just a word, the reality is much much worse." Event Horizon". Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean, I mean plumb, mad dog mean. cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live or win. That's just the way it is. "The Outlaw Josey Wales". "And that's just what these hustlers look for. They cruise from casino to casino looking for weak dealers the way lions look for weak antelope". Ace Rothstein, The Movie "Casino" 1995.
by wolfmanshowlforever on May 13, 2010 2:36 PM EDT reply actions
Eastern Michigan played Northwestern very close last year, losing on a 49-yard FG with 6 seconds left
I think it’s fair to say Vandy is favored to beat EMU, but I don’t know that they should be a huge favorite, and by the time the game comes around it might be reversed. Looking at the schedules, it’s not too hard to imagine EMU 3-2 or 2-3 at that point (wins over Army, Miami University, and possibly either Central Michigan or Ohio) and Vandy 0-4. In that case, I think it’s probably a toss up at best, or even a slight lean toward Eastern Michigan.
Eastern Michigan has a lot of unknowns this year. They’ll probably end the season with 2 or 3 wins, but it wouldn’t be too surprising if they managed as many as 5 wins.
With Georgia's strengths/weaknesses, I find that hard to believe
I would think that with their defensive prowess, you would rather pick an offensively challenged team for Vandy’s likely upset. Georgia will return 10 of 11 on the offensive side of the ball, and at worst will be playing a lot of shoot outs this season. Vandy doesn’t have any firepower on that side of the ball. Pick a South Carolina, Kentucky or Tennessee for Vandy’s upset, it makes more sense in terms of strength and weaknesses.
Well, there's a couple of months before we get to this yet
But I’m not entirely sold on the Georgia offense. It’s not going to be awful, but I don’t know if it’s going to be great either.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
Great?
I’m not saying they’ll be great, just that with 10 starters returning, they should be miles and away better than Vanderbilt. What was the old Doc-Saturday meme about strength on the offensive and defensive lines being the true key to determining a season’s success ahead of time? The Dogs finally have a 2 deep with skill AND experience along the O-line (D-line is another matter entirely). To imagine the offensively challenged vandy team keeping up with Georgia point-wise is hard.
I’m not saying they’ll run through the conference, just that of the teams Vandy faces, they match up horribly against the most likely strengths of Georgia.
Well, considering Georgia returns one of the top 2 O-lines and RB tandems in the conference and boasts the league’s best TE corps and best WR, they are great in comparison to other SEC squads. I don’t see anyone else in the conference other than Bama, Ark, and Florida coming close to UGA offensive output this year.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
