Vanderbilt Spring Game - TL,DR - Defense dominated Offense

who the hell would want to watch that

Is attendance more than the number of players they got?

quote:

---

Vanderbilt fans.

---

Oh and Vandy's oline is getting whipped bad.

Did they have a mass exodus after Franklin left? I would have expected a little more talent. I know Cunningham left the program the other day.

quote:

---

Did they have a mass exodus after Franklin left? I would have expected a little more talent. I know Cunningham left the program the other day.

---

Yes but the thing is Franklin left knowing that he only had a bunch of inexperienced RS freshmen to work with if he stayed. He only had one decent recruiting class and he knew that if he stayed they were going to take a step back because there just wasn't anything there in terms of talent. He got out while the getting was good.

Most of the exodus though came from the recruiting class falling apart and later it seemed that Mason weeded out some players that he didn't feel had bought in (I think that was mistake because they were experienced players). But the roster problems were there for the next year no matter what.

Vanderbilt offense so far:

9 drives
6 punts
3 interceptions

Ouch

quote:

---

Thanks for the info. I wonder how long they will give Mason to turn it around?

I like the guy but it seemed like an odd hire from the get go. I would have gone more in the spread direction if I was them. It's hard enough to implement that type of offense at Arkansas but even we get considerably better talent on average than Vandy. I just don't see it working out there.

I'll be curious to see if Mason lets Ludwig open it up a bit more this year than he was able to do at Wisconsin.

---

My guess is that they'll at least give him three seasons unless he looks as lost as last year. Even if the W-L category doesn't improve, it's imperative the he and Vandy at least look better and that there's improvement in other areas. He absolutely can't look lost again, imo or even Vandy might axe him. At the same time, Vandy's not as prone to support football as they once were (the academic side has always been skeptical of it and Franklin and the incidents that happened embarrassed them) so they may feel more comfortable giving him plenty of time as long as he and his players don't embarrass them off the field. It's just hard to say because Vanderbilt worries more about maintaining a certain image than they do about having a winning football team.

Their bread and butter is their prestige image and they must maintain that public image at all costs. That's what keeps the tuition checks rolling in.

As for Ludwig opening it up... I don't know. I like Mason but I don't understand him. He was so all over the place last year it was crazy. I can't begin to predict what he will allow.

Pick #5 is another crazy one. Impressive that DL caught it in stride though.

The defense has played well. I wonder if Mason will be able to make a big turnaround there. Maybe him being focused on that will help settle him down a bit.