Vanderbilt lives in a very weird place after five games. It is not necessarily an unfamiliar place or even an unexpected place — it is merely weird.
Vanderbilt’s best performance this year might have been in a loss — at Notre Dame.
By Matt Zemek
Vanderbilt’s worst performance was definitely in a victory this past Saturday, against Tennessee State.
Vanderbilt’s game against South Carolina didn’t figure to be a win, but it also didn’t seem to be a missed opportunity, either. It kinda feels that way after the Gamecocks looked like a second-rate team against Kentucky.
The Tennessee State game felt like a loss — barely beating an FCS team at home should feel that way — and yet the simple act of winning the game puts Vanderbilt right on schedule in terms of its goal of making a bowl game.
Through five games, Vanderbilt figured to be 3-2. It figured to have won the games it has won and to have lost the game it has lost. That journey would suggest a straightforward progression, but as you can already see, that path to 3-2 — while entirely in line with expected win-or-loss outcomes — has not been a smooth, linear journey in terms of quality of performance and nearness of unexpected joy (Notre Dame) or unmitigated disaster (Tennessee State).
Now — in this year of weird places — Vanderbilt moves to the next opponent on the schedule: the Georgia Bulldogs. This game also invites weirdness for Derek Mason’s team on a fundamental level.
Realize this about the Georgia game: Vanderbilt could play better than it did against Tennessee State — orders of magnitude better — and yet have nothing in the win column to show for it. Vanderbilt could evolve by leaps and bounds and yet go from 3-2 to 3-3. The Commodores could clean up their bad habits, weed out their mistakes, and show Mason they can play a complete game — something they are still trying to do this year, at least against a Power 5 conference team — and still lose, maybe even by 17 points. The team still has to grow, and still has to work to cultivate the right habits, but in terms of wins and losses and making a bowl, the Commodores’ performance might not translate to outcomes this week. This game in Athens is more about the process and the inner battle than the scoreboard.
It is true that over the course of 12 regular season games, teams simply won’t play the same over all 12 weeks. There is something to be said for playing a sloppy game against an opponent which won’t punish such a performance. Vanderbilt learned, however, that a poor performance was almost enough for Tennessee State to take advantage. Nevertheless, VU is little different from virtually every other team in terms of generating the same level of performance each week. We have seen Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State struggle at times this season. Only Alabama has truly stood above the rest of the crowd in college football.
Yes, even Georgia has not been razor-sharp. To be more precise, it hasn’t been close to its best self for most of the season. The second half against South Carolina was authoritative, but SEC games against Missouri and Tennessee have been riddled with mistakes and wayward moments.
Vanderbilt can look at Georgia and see an opponent which might potentially be vulnerable if it continues to lack focus. Yet, that is less noteworthy for VU in terms of winning Saturday’s game — UGA has big boys in the trenches and VU does not. Winning, if we are being brutally honest with ourselves and each other, is not a particularly attainable goal. Pointing out Georgia’s lack of consistent play this year is MORE noteworthy in this respect: Vanderbilt should look at how many teams in the country have a hard time bringing the same clarity to each game they play. VU needs to use this game for what it can most likely become: not a win, but a teaching tool.
VU is not likely to get to 4-2 against Georgia, but it can get to a point in its development where it learns how to polish its habits and do something which has rarely happened under Mason: stack together high-level offensive performances. This is partly on Mason; partly on offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig; partly on Kyle Shurmur; and partly on a struggling offensive line to put right. Better habits; more creativity; more precise throws under pressure; and line play which meshes with a quarterback’s — and an offense’s — limitations are all ingredients Vanderbilt needs as this season continues. Georgia isn’t likely to enable Vanderbilt’s offense to thrive on game day, but UGA could be the opponent which most centrally shows VU how to move forward in the second half of the season, which begins against Florida on October 13 and then continues against Kentucky on October 20.
Let’s go back to Vanderbilt’s record and its prospects for 2018: As poor as the Tennessee State performance in fact was — yes, it was hard to watch — Vanderbilt is not behind schedule in terms of wins and losses. The outlook in terms of getting to six wins — the roadmap for claiming a bowl bid — was always this: Find a way to get four wins through the first 10 games, setting up the same Ole Miss-Tennessee homestand at the end of the season which Vanderbilt swept in 2016 to reach a bowl game at 6-6.
If anything has changed for Vanderbilt relative to the start of the season, it is this: Arkansas is now a more realistic win opportunity than Kentucky. That point aside, it remains that if VU can pick off one win in the four weeks after Georgia — Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri — it will have at least four wins entering the Ole Miss-Tennessee homestand. Given how much the Rebels and Vols have struggled, those are great win chances.
Are you discouraged by the Tennessee State and South Carolina games? I wouldn’t blame you if you are — you have ample reason to feel that way.
Yet, in the aftermath of those two subpar performances, Vanderbilt still has time and opportunity to start fresh. This Georgia contest isn’t likely to generate a win, but it could generate a change in habits and attitudes. It needs to… and if it DOES, this season — as hard as it has been to watch and absorb in recent weeks — could still reach its goals.
Did I say Vanderbilt inhabited a weird place?
“Weird” does not necessarily mean “bad.” It is up to VU coaches and players to create a happy weirdness as the autumn of 2018 unfolds.
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