tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20559458.post1226558807618107147..comments2023-12-28T17:21:26.528-05:00Comments on The Joe Cribbs Car Wash: SECond look, Week 3Jerry Hinnenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097537044668238939noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20559458.post-36989564711643139402008-09-26T00:43:00.000-04:002008-09-26T00:43:00.000-04:00How 'bout USC's loss to Oregon State? Okl...How 'bout USC's loss to Oregon State? Oklahoma & Georgia - especially Georgia - are salivating over that #1 spot as I type!<BR/>But AU better take it a week at a time or we'll all be crying in our beer again.<BR/>GO TIGERS - BEAT TENNESSEE!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20559458.post-50486918528160798422008-09-18T12:50:00.000-04:002008-09-18T12:50:00.000-04:00Will: I make of it that you don't think much of Te...Will: I make of it that you don't think much of Tennessee. I dunno--coming off of the LSU game, I think that's still the tougher game even at home.<BR/><BR/>Philip: No question that VU's special teams are excellent and will help them pull out any games that might be statistically tight. (As seen already in the Miami and Rice games.) The question is how tight Vandy's going to be against teams that are equal/better to Carolina--running a 100-yard deficit and home and pulling out a win isn't going to happen very often no matter how good the special teams are.<BR/><BR/>As for the bowls, I would sorta think a bowl might take Vandy for the storyline if it was close enough geographically that all the Vandy fans in the SE could make it. (Over, say, Arkansas.) But if VU gets shut out of B'ham and Shreveport, I think it's going to be a tough sales pitch to any further-flung bowls.Jerry Hinnenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15097537044668238939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20559458.post-33272759501490026062008-09-18T12:24:00.000-04:002008-09-18T12:24:00.000-04:00Jerry, I'd been meaning to ask you what you th...Jerry, <BR/><BR/>I'd been meaning to ask you what you thought of our statistical profile anyway, so I'm glad you picked up on that note and saved me asking you.<BR/><BR/>As I recall, last basketball season you (and I to an extent, but not as much as you) were taking a similar line with respect to our basketball team. Pomeroy's numbers suggested we just weren't as good as our W-L. But making that argument on a message board is just asking for trouble, because everyone wants so badly to believe that it's just toughness and grit that pull out close games as opposed to lucky breaks. I don't blame them a bit. Sports is about narrative, and sometimes it's a lot of fun to construct a narrative even though it's really just explaining statistical noise.<BR/><BR/>That said -- our special teams *are* quite a bit better, and the SC game *did* have the feel of so many games that Vanderbilt has blown in the past, and perhaps psychology had a part in not blowing it this time. So I think there may be real reasons why our "luck" is better than in years past. I just don't think it's rational to expect it to hold up, so I'd rather we found a passing game to supplement it.<BR/><BR/>Regarding the bowls -- I've wondered if making it for the first time in > 25 years would offset the small size of our fanbase. Pretty much every VU alum with even the tiniest interest in football would try to make it, whereas Alabama or Tennessee probably isn't going to get tons of folks to Shreveport again. Just a thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20559458.post-91307449000778845992008-09-18T08:19:00.000-04:002008-09-18T08:19:00.000-04:00I'm a lot more worried about Vanderbilt right now ...I'm a lot more worried about Vanderbilt right now than I am about Tennessee. Make of that what you will...Will Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15125312209711458722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20559458.post-12853049585999945242008-09-17T13:42:00.000-04:002008-09-17T13:42:00.000-04:00Actually, I'd like to point out that Vanderbilt on...Actually, I'd like to point out that Vanderbilt only needs six wins if there is an SEC bowl tie-in available. Only when there is an open slot for a bowl game will the 7-5 teams be slotted first. With the addition of the papajohns bowl as the possible tenth bowl tie-in for the SEC, it seems likely that six wins will be enough for Vandy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com