2004 SEC Football Preview: Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt football helmets

Hopes are running high in season three for Bobby Johnson at Vanderbilt… the Commodores return a wealth of returning starters, including a seasoned, savvy quarterback in Jay Cutler. The final installment of our 2004 SEC Football preview takes a capsule look at the ‘Dores, and we make our annual season prediction.

By VandyMania Staff

COACHING

Head Coach: Bobby Johnson (Career Rec: 64-56-0)
Offensive Coordinator: Ted Cain
Defensive Coordinator: Bruce Fowler

2003 Record: 2-10 overall (1-7 SEC)

2003 NCAA STATS RANKINGS

Total Offense: 78th (352.1)
Rushing Offense: 67th (145.0)
Passing Offense: 69th (207.1)
Scoring Offense: 97th (19.6)
Total Defense:63rd (380.2)
Rushing Defense: 84th (180.8)
Pass Defense: 30th (199.4)
Scoring Defense: 82nd (29.8)

STARTERS RETURNING

Offense (9):

WR Brandon Smith (6-1, 185, Sr.)
WR Erik Davis (6-2, 185, Jr.)
*LT Justin Geisinger (6-4, 328, Sr.)
LG Brian Kovolisky (6-7, 288, Sr.)
RG Mac Pyle (6-4, 308, Jr.)
RT Brian Stamper (6-5, 285, So.)
*QB Jay Cutler (6-4, 218, Jr.)
TB Norval McKenzie (5-11, 202, Sr.)
FB Matthew Tant (5-11, 228, Jr.)

Defense (11):

*DE Jovan Haye (6-3, 280, Jr.)
DT Trey Holloway (6-2, 285, Jr.)
DT Matt Clay (6-2, 292, Sr.)
DE Chris Booker (6-4, 245, Jr.)
*WLB Moses Osemwegie (6-0, 220, Jr.)
MLB Otis Washington (5-11, 225, Jr.)
SLB Herdley Harrison (6-2, 235, Jr.)
CB Dominique Morris (6-1, 195, Jr.)
FS Kelechi Ohanaja (6-1, 192, Jr.)
SS Andrew Pace (6-1, 200, Jr.)
CB Bill Alford (5-9, 175, Sr.)
* All-Star Candidates

Roster

TEAM STRENGTHS

Quarterback, offensive line, defensive secondary.

TEAM QUESTION MARKS

Depth, kicking, center, defensive line.

KEY GAME

Sept. 4, South Carolina. Vandy can get off to a great start by ringing the Gamecocks necks in Nashville.

HEAD COACH’S COMMENTS

“Teams win because they’re used to winning. Losses in the past don’t doom you to lose in the future. Your players have got to buy into the fact that they’ve earned the right to win by working hard in practice and in the weight room. They’ve seen coaches get out on the road and recruit better talent for their team. They’ve got to earn that confidence. You can talk to them about winning all you want, but all the talk in the world is not going to get you to play well in the fourth quarter.”

“It’s about as difficult as I thought it would be. Todd Turner, when he was AD, was extremely honest with me. I knew we had a lot of work to do. A situation where we did not come in and say do this the first year, this the second and by this team win so many games. Just used our approach to coaching and recruiting, dug in and we’ll see how it all works out. But our coaching staff is not patient. We want to win. Put pressure on ourselves like all other staffs in country put pressure on themselves. Thought we made progress last year but didn’t show it in the record. We think about them (bowl games). I watched a few on TV last year. You ask your players to work hard, get in offseason program, obviously they are preparing for something besides 2-10, we’ve got goals, we want to play in a bowl game. Not saying we going to win 9 games and go to X bowl, we are trying to have general excellence in our football program so we can compete in this league, if we get it to that point, we’ll have our opportunities to go to a bowl game. We just have to have the record it takes to get in them.”

VandyMania Projection

2004 SCHEDULE AND GAME PREDICTIONS

Sept. 4 SOUTH CAROLINA, L 21-20
Sept. 18 at Ole Miss, L 35-31
Sept. 25 at Navy, W 27-21
Oct. 2 MISSISSIPPI STATE, W 30-27
Oct. 9 RUTGERS, W 31-28
Oct. 16 at Georgia, L 27-17
Oct. 23 EASTERN KENTUCKY, W 45-10
Oct. 30 at LSU, L 41-17
Nov. 6 FLORIDA, L 31-28
Nov. 13 at Kentucky, W 30-21
Nov. 20 TENNESSEE, W 28-26

VandyMania’s 2004 Vanderbilt prediction: 6-5, (3-5 SEC)

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