2011-2012 Football Previews – SEC – Vanderbilt Commodores
Frankly, Franklin steps into a mess. The new Vandy head coach inherits a 2-10 team on the bottom rung of the Southeastern Conference.
SEC 2011-12 Football Previews: Vanderbilt Commodores
Coach: James Franklin
2010 Record: 2-10
Vanderbilt Gambling Odds from JustBet.com to win BCS: +5000
Vandy Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2011 Schedule –>
The Commodores had current Chicago Bears – QB Jay Cutler and WR Earl Bennett – in the middle of the last decade, but that’s where the effusive praise for Vandy football ends.
This program is not much to write home about.
Team Strengths
The Commodores have a couple individual players up and down the roster who are talented. Linebacker Chris Marve is excellent. Tight end Brandon Barden is also one of the better ones at his position in the SEC. He returns and will be the lone bright spot on offense.
Vanderbilt actually has a half-decent defensive secondary, highlighted by CB Casey Hayward and SS Sean Richardson. Vandy loses only one player from that unit in 2011 and it should be much improved.
Expect the special teams unit to also see improvement, by way of having all its key contributors back for 2011.
Team Weaknesses
Senior pivot Larry Smith, last year’s starter, was so bad in ’10 that his hold on the starting job is by no means guaranteed. The silver lining is that new coach Franklin’s specialty is developing QBs (he groomed QB Danny O’Brien at Maryland last year) so whether it is Smith or junior college player or an underclassmen, it really can’t get any worse. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Neither a pass-catcher nor a runner had more than 500 yards from scrimmage in 2010. Ugh.
The linebacker corps replaces two of its starting three from last season, and someone desperately needs to assert themselves on the defensive line.
Hopefully that job can fall to DT Rob Lohr, who had 35 tackles and four sacks as a sophomore a year ago.
On the offensive line, tackle Wesley Johnson has talent – he was a Freshman All-American in 2010 – but the rest of the unit needs to play better in order to get any yield from the offense as a whole. I feel bad that the “Weaknesses” section is quite longer than the “Strengths”, but this is a 2-10 ballclub, after all.
2011-12 Vanderbilt Football Prediction: 2-10
The simple fact is, in a conference as strong and as populated as the SEC, there must be haves and have-nots. Vanderbilt is – and likely will stay – on the bottom of that food chain.
They have a laudable academic standing and I’m sure it is a fine place to attend college; they just aren’t very good at football in Nashville.
Vanderbilt has two pushover non-conference opponents in Army and FCS Elon. Beyond that, however, I don’t see the Commodores improving on last year’s efforts.
2011 Vanderbilt Commodores Schedule
9/3/11 12:00 PM ET ELON
9/10/11 12:00 PM ET CONN
9/17/11 12:00 PM ET MISS
9/24/11 12:00 PM ET @SOCAR
10/8/11 12:00 PM ET @ALAB
10/15/11 12:00 PM ET GEO
10/22/11 12:00 PM ET ARMY
10/29/11 12:00 PM ET ARK
11/5/11 12:00 PM ET @FLA
11/12/11 12:00 PM ET KENTY
11/19/11 12:00 PM ET @TENN
11/26/11 12:00 PM ET @WFRST