ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by BrentVU »

Coach Stallings used to say: "Nothing is more fun than winning on the road." For those of you who tuned out early-- and I don't blame you-- Vanderbilt overcame adversity TWICE last night: Once after falling behind 14-0 (rearing ghosts from the previous week); and once after CSU came back to tie the game with three minutes left. It certainly wasn't pretty, and the opponent wasn't first-rate, but Vandy still showed some major moxie in coming back to win on the road like that. It ended an 11-game losing streak, and gave Coach Lea his first win. It put the embarrassing ETSU loss in the rearview. More than anything, it demonstrated the players are buying into what the staff is selling.

Before I return to a normal altitude, a few thoughts:

- Fort Collins is a lovely town in the "rural" part of northern Colorado, but also in the shadow of the Rockies. CSU's spanking new stadium is a delight, and I ended up with great seats. They take pride in their history as an "Ag school." With about 34,000 students, it appeared half of the lower bowl was filled with rowdy students and the other half with alumni/donors. But once Vandy tied it up, fans started trickling out, seemingly resigned to their fate. Like us, they've seen a lot of lousy football over the years. But I'd say it's a great place to visit and a great choice for a road game.
- For about a quarter and a half, Vandy made blunder after blunder and fell behind 14-0. I thought the undersung play that changed the game was Allan George's partial punt block; their All-American punter had been pinning us deep, but that punt skittered out of bounds and gave us good field position. Seals finally got the offense going, and we went into halftime with some hope, relieved to be down 14-7. Jesse Minter made some good adjustments to stop the bleeding on defense.
- The game changed once Vandy stopped going for the home run ball-- Seals never quite put one on target-- and went to the quicker, shorter throw, at which he excels. Vandy's tackles just couldn't handle CSU's pass rush long enough for long passes to develop, and Seals was getting flushed. The short pass game is going to have to become a mainstay for this offense, with an O-line that is still mistake-prone, to have success. We didn't see much of it last week.
- With Ben Bresnahan out, Vandy didn't throw to the tight end at all; having him out takes away a major part of the attack. I did see 32-year-old Tommy Smith in there on one play, and he knocked his man back 5 yards! The one new injury I saw was center Michael Warden; his lower leg injury didn't look good.
- How did Vandy handle the altitude? With liberal substitution at almost every position except QB and OL. Rocko Griffin spelled Ray Davis as the No. 2 RB. Defensive linemen shuffled in and out all night. Coach had said Mike Wright would play, so why didn't he? After falling behind 14-0 is no time to insert your running QB; and after you've gone up 21-14, you don't pull Ken Seals.
- Give Justin Lustig credit: despite one early blunder on a kickoff return, Vandy's special teams are the best they've been in years. Coverage teams have been solid. Harrison Smith deserves a game ball (both teams' punters were their MVPs). And of course, Joseph Bulovas never flinched; too bad we only get him for one year.
- How great to see Vandy execute a three-minute drill, a task so many recent Vandy teams have failed at! Seals said after the game that probably no team in the country practices endgame situations as much as this one.
- For those of you who think Lea should show more "fire" on the sidelines: sorry, that's just not going to happen. It's not Lea's personality. Whether he's ahead or behind, he stalks the sidelines calmly, with very little emotion, letting his assistants do the hands-on work. But that doesn't mean no one's "firing up" the players. A.J. Blazek was giving the linemen a royal chewing when things were going bad. Coach Lynch did plenty of that too. Daevion Davis is a real sparkplug for the whole team. As for Lea... he gave Chase Lloyd a huge, lengthy, loving hug and encouragement after Lloyd came off the field injured. Kind of touching, really, his way of building them up. That's the Lea way, and fans should let him be who he is.
- You know how Memorial Gym's balconies are known as "the balconies that Lee built"? Maybe one day when Vandy's new stadium is christened "The House that Lea Built", and Lea retires as the winningest coach in Vandy's storied history, I'll be able to say, "I was there for his first win!"... OK, now you know what I've been smoking; it is legal here.


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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by Vandy_Law07 »

Great summation. Thankful for all that effort to get out there you guys got to see a “W”- and an historic one (streak breaker, CCLs first win, CCLs first road win, etc.) at that.

Agreed on CCLs persona too. Anyone ever heard of Tom Landry? Let CCL be CCL. Far more important that he’s authentic.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by dore74 »

Thanks Brent
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by Troubadore »

Excellent summary Brent - right on, and glad you got to enjoy the game in person in such a beautiful area. So happy for the team. We have gaps and work to do, but there are quality pieces, and we suddenly appear to have defensive size that we've lacked for so long. The 3-4 never worked, we need beef on the DL.

Re Lea, there's an intensity there - one on one - several times he embraced guys and delivered through the earhole, supportively. You can see he's all in. And it was great to see the team having fun. That's half the battle - no matter what you're doing, you'll do it better when you're relaxed and having fun.

We're watchable again. Thank you CCL and team. Congrats on the win!
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by 3rdFloorDyer »

Brent, any other thoughts on the stadium? I always thought that would be a nice model for us to emulate.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by Albert_Camus »

Great that you and Auric pulled the trigger on making the road trip. Sometimes an act of pure blind faith is required.

That game was enormously significant for the fans of this program. It gave us tangible evidence that this coaching staff knows what it is doing. Interestingly, once the team reversed the momentum, all of the classic SOV self-sabotage like fumbles, turnovers and missed kicks were nowhere to be seen. Those first 5 quarters of the season were unbelievably disheartening, and overcoming them took enormous intestinal fortitude. To have done it once is to know you can do it again.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by JWCommodore »

Brent, your post game observations are the main reasons I still visit this board. Thanks ;)
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by VU1970 »

Thanks, Brent. I’m glad Tommy Smith got in the game. He played some on special teams, too, right?
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by Johnmn555 »

CSU gifted us much in this game (including half the yards on winning drive), but how many times have we refused such gifts? Hence the W is well deserved. It also demonstrates the imperative of getting as easy an OOC schedule as possible. This was a crucial win for this team that now feels good about itself and is ready to take a step forward. We would not have any of that if we had played a somewhat better OOC opponent last night and lost.

The short passing game is obviously going to be the bread and butter of this team. Note that when we became over reliant on it, CSU eventually shut it down. The key will be mixing in a better running game. Our running plays developed incredibly slowly; some looked like a walk through. That should be the first thing they work on this week.

I loved CCL's happy but restrained demeanor when interviewed on the field after the game, in sharp contrast to CDM's "I'M THE MAN!" blather after our last win over an FCS opponent.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by FayetteDore »

I had thought, during the week of criticism of CCL's sideline demeanor following the ETSU game, that having a calm, collected, cerebral HC was more of a plus than a minus -- but was too timid to post it. Glad to see my feelings confirmed by one of the board's three leading experts.

Let CCL be CCL.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by katmai »

Halfway through the second quarter, I thought Lea's tenure was on life support. I think they are building some momentum in recruiting, but you have to have some results on the field to really sell recruits on your vision. They looked about as bad as you could: special teams mistakes, poor defensive play, bad o-line play, poor offensive play calling. They were able to adjust to the game, and made significant strides. While no one will mistake CSU for Alabama, it is a significant step to compete and win the games where you match up well. Hopefully they will continue to grow.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by roanoke »

Well-said, Brent.

I will add that I felt several plays were game-altering… and a couple of others “almost” were huge. And I will mention a few of them…

I can’t argue with the George kick deflection being the catalyst for the comeback… It was a big play. On special teams, our punter unleashed a monster punt that bounced off the Rams’ returner into the end zone. We let him get back to the 20 - but that could have been a really big play (there was a block in the back on our gunner that could have been called a safety, but wasn’t- more on the refs later.) Smith had a real nice game punting - and Bulovas again came through nicely.

The remarkable one handed catch by Pierce was also a game-changer - especially since no PI was called even though the defender did everything but pants Pierce. Great catch. Great TD to him also.

The key to the game was ending the slow developing, deep drop plays. Just like the ETSU debacle, we came out trying to do that again. It did not work and CSU’s pass rush seemed all-American. The short quick stuff neutralized this - and Seals is good at it. But to start the second half we went back to two runs up the middle for 0 and a third and ten slow developing sideline route. It should have been a pick-6 but somehow the defender missed it. It would have been game over. That was a big anti-play. Sometimes you need to be lucky. It was us dropping pics versus ETSU.

I think Lynch decided right then to go with what was working and not with the desired longball game. It was a wise decision - one that never came in CDM’s first year.

On d, two other plays stand out for me - Mahoney’s INT changed everything. We capitalized quickly - game changing play. And as the o improved, the d grew more stout (we won time of possession by a wide margin in the second half.)

On a key third and 11 for CSU in the midst of our third quarter run, their qb broke loose and was going to gain a ton (plus a first down.) Harris came from nowhere and, in the open field, dropped him a yard shy of the marker. They punted - three and out again. And the series of three and outs really disrupted their rhythm which was quite good in the first half…

We did not get any sacks - but wow we knocked down a lot of balls. Davis and Barr turned in very nice games on d. The d looked ragged early - our staff righted the ship.

I will add that the officiating was important in this one. CSU made a first half field goal that was wiped off the board by a false start. A big play in a 3-point game. In the first half, PI was ignored. In the second half it was called - and the calls were good & correct, but we can’t always count on that. CSU did have 115 yards in penalties. 30 on that last key drive. They held in the secondary a lot.

The irony of the early season is that good SEC defenses will try to sit on the short stuff and still get to the qb. That could be very dicey if we don’t incorporate more misdirection and screens into the playbook to punish aggressiveness. But in our first two games, opponents gave us the short stuff and we didn’t want to take it. Once we decided to take it, we looked pretty good.

It is still going to be a trial at times this season. But the flexibility and spirit shown on Saturday night (and Sunday morning where I live) was encouraging. We all needed some encouragement.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by Johnmn555 »

I thought of Roanoke when we in fact ran our one misdirection play of the game (which went for 12-13 yards).
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

BrentVU wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:00 am Coach Stallings used to say: "Nothing is more fun than winning on the road." For those of you who tuned out early-- and I don't blame you-- Vanderbilt overcame adversity TWICE last night: Once after falling behind 14-0 (rearing ghosts from the previous week); and once after CSU came back to tie the game with three minutes left. It certainly wasn't pretty, and the opponent wasn't first-rate, but Vandy still showed some major moxie in coming back to win on the road like that. It ended an 11-game losing streak, and gave Coach Lea his first win. It put the embarrassing ETSU loss in the rearview. More than anything, it demonstrated the players are buying into what the staff is selling.

Before I return to a normal altitude, a few thoughts:

- Fort Collins is a lovely town in the "rural" part of northern Colorado, but also in the shadow of the Rockies. CSU's spanking new stadium is a delight, and I ended up with great seats.
First, I am sorry that I did not have a chance to meet you on Saturday night, Brent. But why weren't you with the rest of us peasants in the worst seats in the house in section 275? ;) (We had a rowdy couple of hundred people up there.)

I agree about Fort Collins. It's a nice town, very walkable, with lots of good bars, and a train track running down the middle of downtown. Reminded me a lot of Boulder, and it's a relatively easy drive from the Denver airport. My wife and I spent a terrific day exploring Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday--it's only 70 minutes away. VU will be back in Fort Collins in 2026.

The (relatively new) Rams' stadium is very nice. It's not fancy, and not large--about the same size as Vandy's (41,000). But it does a good job of making those in attendance sound loud. Good sight lines, relatively easy access to seats, and well-lit.

As you said, I thought the partial block of the punt was key, as was Jaylen Mahoney's interception. It seems like it's been forever since we had a takeaway. That really changed the momentum of the game. I thought we might put it away on the 4th down when the Rams/Aggies tied it, but we had two DBs bite on the QB and left the TE wide open on the short TD toss.

The two big negatives I observed is that (1) we are a really slow team, especially on defense, and (2) the number of false start penalties has to be cleaned up. They are killing us through two games.

But Seals looked really good after the first quarter and a half. He had lots of time to throw after the first quarter, which made a huge difference. We're still having issues with timing between Seals and his receivers--I was frustrated that Cam Johnson and Seals misfired twice in a row on 3rd down and short pass plays that should have been completions both times. But Chris Pierce made some incredible catches that really saved our bacon. He's a really underrated WR.

Heled out by two huge penalties, Seals and the entire team were clutch on the final drive. That was a crisp, well-executed drive that showed a lot of confidence in the kicking game and left precious little time on the clock for CSU. And the game-winning Joseph Bulovas FG was helped by the fact that the very strong north wind that Harrison Smith used to uncork his 78-yard punt earlier in the game had died by the end of the contest.

All in all it was a fun night and I am glad I went out to Colorado. It was the first time in the history of the program that VU had won a game west of Texas.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

Two other things:

Ethan Barr and Elijah McAllister were beasts on Saturday night.

The hug shared between CCL and AD Lee as the team left the field was genuine and wonderful.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by Showingold »

Thanks Brent. That was a great weed —- I mean read
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by coachinwaiting »

AuricGoldfinger wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:41 pm
BrentVU wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:00 am Coach Stallings used to say: "Nothing is more fun than winning on the road." For those of you who tuned out early-- and I don't blame you-- Vanderbilt overcame adversity TWICE last night: Once after falling behind 14-0 (rearing ghosts from the previous week); and once after CSU came back to tie the game with three minutes left. It certainly wasn't pretty, and the opponent wasn't first-rate, but Vandy still showed some major moxie in coming back to win on the road like that. It ended an 11-game losing streak, and gave Coach Lea his first win. It put the embarrassing ETSU loss in the rearview. More than anything, it demonstrated the players are buying into what the staff is selling.

Before I return to a normal altitude, a few thoughts:

- Fort Collins is a lovely town in the "rural" part of northern Colorado, but also in the shadow of the Rockies. CSU's spanking new stadium is a delight, and I ended up with great seats.
First, I am sorry that I did not have a chance to meet you on Saturday night, Brent. But why weren't you with the rest of us peasants in the worst seats in the house in section 275? ;) (We had a rowdy couple of hundred people up there.)

I agree about Fort Collins. It's a nice town, very walkable, with lots of good bars, and a train track running down the middle of downtown. Reminded me a lot of Boulder, and it's a relatively easy drive from the Denver airport. My wife and I spent a terrific day exploring Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday--it's only 70 minutes away. VU will be back in Fort Collins in 2026.

The (relatively new) Rams' stadium is very nice. It's not fancy, and not large--about the same size as Vandy's (41,000). But it does a good job of making those in attendance sound loud. Good sight lines, relatively easy access to seats, and well-lit.

As you said, I thought the partial block of the punt was key, as was Jaylen Mahoney's interception. It seems like it's been forever since we had a takeaway. That really changed the momentum of the game. I thought we might put it away on the 4th down when the Rams/Aggies tied it, but we had two DBs bite on the QB and left the TE wide open on the short TD toss.

The two big negatives I observed is that (1) we are a really slow team, especially on defense, and (2) the number of false start penalties has to be cleaned up. They are killing us through two games.

But Seals looked really good after the first quarter and a half. He had lots of time to throw after the first quarter, which made a huge difference. We're still having issues with timing between Seals and his receivers--I was frustrated that Cam Johnson and Seals misfired twice in a row on 3rd down and short pass plays that should have been completions both times. But Chris Pierce made some incredible catches that really saved our bacon. He's a really underrated WR.

Heled out by two huge penalties, Seals and the entire team were clutch on the final drive. That was a crisp, well-executed drive that showed a lot of confidence in the kicking game and left precious little time on the clock for CSU. And the game-winning Joseph Bulovas FG was helped by the fact that the very strong north wind that Harrison Smith used to uncork his 78-yard punt earlier in the game had died by the end of the contest.

All in all it was a fun night and I am glad I went out to Colorado. It was the first time in the history of the program that VU had won a game west of Texas.
Excellent reads from both BrentVU and Auric on their trip to Ft. Collins. I've never been there, but you both confirmed the great things I've heard about the town and the area around it. It sounds like a great destination and a good spot for a weekend surrounding a college football game. Maybe it should become a fixture on the VU schedule as a home-and-home series. The early part of the schedule is probably the most desirable time from the Vanderbilt perspective, before the Colorado snow flies.
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Re: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Observations on Vandy's 24-21 comeback WIN over CSU

Post by BrentVU »

AuricGoldfinger wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:41 pm First, I am sorry that I did not have a chance to meet you on Saturday night, Brent. But why weren't you with the rest of us peasants in the worst seats in the house in section 275? ;) (We had a rowdy couple of hundred people up there.)

I agree about Fort Collins. It's a nice town, very walkable, with lots of good bars, and a train track running down the middle of downtown. Reminded me a lot of Boulder, and it's a relatively easy drive from the Denver airport. My wife and I spent a terrific day exploring Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday--it's only 70 minutes away. VU will be back in Fort Collins in 2026.
Sorry I missed you as well! Didn't know you were going. I don't always sit in the Vandy section, because they're usually stuffed into a corner with bad sightlines. I got tickets online and was on the 45 right behind the Vandy bench, upper deck, fourth row. Met some player grandparents and a few local alums up there as well.

I also did some spectacular hiking, and squeezed in a Rockies baseball game and the A&M-CU game at Mile High, before racing up I-25 to Fort Collins. Interestingly, the road team won all three games.

Never seen so many coeds in cowboy boots in all my life as I saw at the A&M-CU game!
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