Posted on by eethomaswfnc
Early Saturday afternoon, the Dawgs host one of the program’s traditional Homecoming opponents between the hedges of Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium. Clark Lea has turned around the program from the disaster it had become under Derek Mason where the low point was the Commodores quitting on the pandemic season rather than taking the L that was coming to them in Athens in 2020. Go, Diego, Go Pavia is gone, and former Georgia commit Jared Curtis will get the start at quarterback. They are 3-1 against the murderers’ row schedule of Austin Peay, Delaware, NC State and Auburn. If Dave Doeren and CJ Bailey have a collective brain between them, Vandy would be 2-2 right now. Let’s get to the first look.
Series record / last meeting
Georgia leads the series 61-20-2 and is riding a 6 game winning streak in the series. In the last meeting in 2023, Georgia goes into Nashville and wins 37-20 in a game not nearly as close as the score indicates. 2nd half red zone woes turning potential touchdowns into field goals, and a near pick 6 make the score look respectable. The Dawgs generate over 550 yards of total offense while limiting Vanderbilt to 219 including a paltry 18 yards on the ground. The biggest story line of the game is the loss of Brock Bowers in the 1st half to a high ankle sprain, which limited 19’s effectiveness and availability for the remainder of the season.
Gambling degenerate facts
According to DraftKings, Georgia is -24.5 point favorite with a point total of 50.5 and are a -2800 money line favorite.
Interesting statistic: +0.55 (Vandy’s net yards per play)
Through 4 games, Vandy’s net yards per play statistic is mediocre especially considering their strength of schedule. They are averaging fewer than 4 yards per rushing attempt and 7.5 yards per passing attempt. Curtis is leading the team in rushing attempts at this point in the season … if that happens on Saturday, I’m not sure he’ll be able to finish the game. Not surprisingly, their defensive stats on a per play basis look very similar. One item of note is that NC State and Auburn both averaged over 4 yards per attempt on the ground against the Vanderbilt defense.
Early outlook
I think Kirby has had this game circled on the schedule since the schedule was announced. All indications are that Curtis burned every bridge with the Georgia coaching staff in the days leading up to his last minute flip to the hometown team especially given the Georgia staff’s assurance to his family that he was the only QB they were going to recruit actively. I’m guessing the defense has some special wrinkles in store for Curtis, and he’s going to be very sore on Sunday morning.
Vanderbilt doesn’t have the quantity and quality of athletes through the depth chart to keep up with a Georgia team that’s focused.
Georgia fans (and, especially, students), let’s show Curtis what he could have had behind him on Saturday afternoon. Let’s make Sanford a midday house of horrors and drop an anchor right the Commodore’s head. Dawgs win and cover.
What’s your thought right now for Saturday?
Given Vanderbilt’s academic reputation, what top flight academic school would you have considered going to if given the opportunity? My answer has to be Stanford. Great golf tradition, incredible school, beautiful location.
Let us know in the comments below.
Glad it’s an early kick. Truck’em hard. Play a lot of youngsters. 5-0. Get ready for Bama/Tuscaloosa. Make me a believer @ 6-0.
Speaking of trucks, Tex, why isn’t Mack the official truck of the Georgia Bulldawgs??
I remember playing with Mack truck toys with big trucks having a Bulldog stature on the front, Bulldog Mack. Unfortunately they are now made in South Carolina.
I’m not sure how Doeren takes the heat for that brainfart at NC State. Anyone with half a football brain knows you run out the back of the endzone and then kick it away.
Anyhoo…Dawgs roll. I’m sure Kirby was pissed at Curtis for a day but I doubt he’s thought of him since. However, the players know what Curtis did was pretty weak and will deal with it appropriately. I’m looking for an old school Dawgs-Vandy score, something like 55-7.
As for your last question, that never entered my mind when considering college. I thought I was being adventurous by going to Young Harris for 2 years before transferring to UGA for my final 5 years. 😁
If Doeren has any inkling that Bailey didn’t know exactly what to do and you have a timeout, you call it. That’s why I say he owns some of what happened.
A lot of NCSU fans wanted him gone before this and wanted him tarmaced at BNA after this.
NC State fans are perpetually hornery. I’d blame the coach, I guess, but some things should just be understood.
Dawgs open up a can on Vandy. For a team that shouldn’t matter they sure find ways to piss me off. Last question: I guess I’d have to say Columbia only because they sent me a letter asking my interest in playing football. No scholarship offered. They had contacted our coach and asked if there was anyone on the team who had half a brain and was decent at football. They were on a 40 game losing streak at the time.
Kirby never forgets.
Vandy and clark lea became “smart” once they hired the NEw Mex. St coach and he brought over some his mercenaries with him including the most respectable of douchebags mr pavia. they are on their way back to the bottom / bottom middle of the sec.
52-3…DL and LB continue to dominate.
enjoy your new tats curtis. to have chosen a “smart” school you sure are a dumbass, but not for choosing vandy but for having sweet baby diego as your consigliere. good luck with that.
Trinity college – Dublin
or
West Point
I just can’t see Curtis trying to play hero ball too much against the Georgia defense. I still think it will be George by a lot, but I also can definitely see Kirby pulling starters in the third quarter to rest up for Bama. Also, if you want to bet the Dawgs, you better do it now because that line is only going to go up. I’ll go with the back door cover from Vandy, 41–17. And we will definitely see the backup Qb for Vandy on Saturday.
Agree Austin. What is obviously rarely happens in College Football. Covering 4 in a row is rarified air for us. I will stick with my inner Munson/Dooley and be worried about their long snapper.
Perfect game for me would be to see Dawgs GATA early and often, especially reminding Mr. Curtis of our presence, run up a big league and hopefully get the 1’s out of there towards the end. Dawgs cover 5th game in a row…….
I wonder how long Lea leaves him out there to face the wrath of team mates scorned. My guess this is this one is personal for some of the players and coaches.
If Vandy breaks double-digits I’ll be disappointed.
I was headed to Emory but a warm spring afternoon drive down Milledge changed my mind in a hurry 😉
Dartmouth University.
Kirby hasn’t thought about Curtis once. Players will. Dawgs roll to focus on Bama. I expect a lot of vanilla after 2-3 scores upsetting some commentators.
Tried to get into Virginia for law career. They took very few out of state applicants that year (or so the rejection letter said 🤨). First games in Sanford among the coeds in sundresses and bourbon in hand soothed my mind. Then a first year law grad teaching a business 101 class and explaining how he had to spend Saturdays in the library ended my enthusiasm for that line of work! To think…I coulda been the Senator! But of course there will forever only be one.