[WRAP-UP] Vandy wrap-up: While game was a surprise, results were not [by JessN]

[JessN]

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Vandy wrap-up: While game was a surprise, results were not
By Jess Nicholas
TideFans.com Editor-in-Chief
Sept. 8, 2007

The fact that Alabama won by 14 points over Vanderbilt in Nashville is not a surprise.

The fact that the game was largely a defensive struggle, however, was.

Neither Alabama nor Vanderbilt was thought to have a particularly tough defense. Both teams have able first units, but the second and third strings for both teams are green. In Vandy’s case, there may not even be a third string at some positions.

Yet, Alabama and Vanderbilt staged a game that would have been quite comfortable in the era of Gene Stallings.

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[rgw]

I agree. This game was uneven...but there are positives to take away from today.

[Crimson Surfer]

Thanks Jess for a good write-up. I was happy to see the defense do so well, they got after it. They have a ways to go but they looked pretty good to me. If they didn't show up ready to play, Bama may have lost today.

[crimsonbleeder]

GREAT wrap-up, Jess...it's amazing how a functional OL is such a thing of beauty. I used to take that Alabama would always have a good one for granted...never again!!!

[drownemtide]

I Was Very Impressed With The Run Game Today! (especially Watching Javier Arenas Return Kicks!)

[PDL]

	Quote:	JessN
	Alabama didn’t win this game the way most thought the Tide would. Instead, Alabama won it the way fans are accustomed to seeing successful Alabama teams win games – with defense, power running and grit.

That's my favorite kind of football too. It was great to see us winning that way. We wore there D-line out!

[TN TIDER]

Very well said, tough smash-mouth football that we have been missing.

[TIDE24]

Although I agree with you and I am happy with the victory, I have some real concerns after this game. I am not as quick to give the D too much credit. They did play well at times, but I felt Vandy was their own worst enemy today.

The PI call to start the game was questionable. If they go up 7-0 right off the bat, does this game change? The penalty on the punt return, had nothing to do with the return itself. Granted Vandy needed to overcome these things and they did not. Better teams on our schedule will.

Bama did what they needed to do to win today, but this team still has me concerned. We have to score TD's when we get inside the red zone. The running game was impressive, but we still had issues when we got inside the 20.

The D did shut down Bennett and Nickson, I hope they can do the same to McFadden next week.

[drjamesm]

The best way to sum up my feelings is Vandy is still Vandy. I really was not concerned with Vandy,and my concern was on how our D would play.The media tried to build up Vandy,but Bama still has much better players at the LOS and it showed today. IMO,it's a good thing b/c JPW did not play very well and was inconsistant at best with his passes.I have said all along that Arkie is the 1st real test Bama has,and I stand by it!I hope we continue to make progress on D and can slow down Arkies 2 great rb's.

[SidewalkBama]

"The fact that Alabama won by 14 points over Vanderbilt in Nashville is not a surprise."

I think a red hot qb and reciever corps would have us in a bad mood persoanally, something on any day but today Vanderbuilt will have. Jmho...life long Tide fan, these 18-19 y/o's got a way to go, no matter the coach. It is gonna be a while as I think we all knew. Nice win never the less..improvement hopefully shown week by week.

I did miss a good portion of the game, but not the critical mistakes that spelled Vandy's doom as Vandy destroyed any hope they had. Think how close we played better teams last year..only point is, we need seniors and juniors to be "all that". I am able to let the chips fall where they may without going nuts. Getting lots of practice.

By years end we know what we have. Take away the S&C program and same old same old. Not negative, just how i see it..I guess i reside in the 1980's, no man or woman on earth is worth millions a year, but i do shop wal-mart out of neccessaty

RTR. SB

[GrayTide]

Thanks Jess a very fair assessment. I had many doubts going into this game and they were founded on the belief that this was a new, better Vanderbilt team, goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you read. The OL and RBs for the most part looked very good, JPW was off and IMO the play calling, at least the passing plays, was atrocious. The intermediate routes were abandoned in favor of the deep routes which were mostly overthrown, the swing passes and screens looked encouraging. On the defensive side, the pass rush looked anemic, the secondary had its moments but overall needs improvement. I thought the run defense looked good, but it will get its real test against Arkansas. I still cringe when Tiffin comes on the field.
The good news it was a win, not a thing of beauty though, and it appeared on TV that the conditioning program paid dividends in the 4th quarter. The season is still young and these players should get better and they better because the next 3 Saturdays are going to get tougher. In the end it was the same old Vanderbilt and we beat them the same way, ugly no style points yesterday.

[drownemtide]

did anyone else notice that on alot of vandy's pass attempts our secondary would just stand their and watch the ball into the receiver's hands if they were covering vandy's receivers at all?

[Alanbama27]

While I'm not one to say I told you so; oh, who am I kidding yes I am! I TOLD YOU SO! My only regret is not having my comments from Jess's PREVIEW thread. I said it would be close at the half and Alabama would slowly and surely pull away using the ground game. That is exactly what we did. Some by choice and some by necessity due to JPW's off game.

John Parker is striding too short in his throws and they are all going well high. Then, when he badly missed wide open shots he began to aim the ball and that is NEVER a good idea.

I also said in that post that Vandy's "D" was way overrated and that they were a completely one-dimensional team, which again they were. If you slow down their passing game, they are done. Some of it had to do with their starting QB going down but frankly that isn't giving our defensive line and linebacking corp nearly enough credit. EVERYONE on this board and other media outlets said that Vandy's offensive line was just the test our defense needed. Well, if that was a test I would grade our defensive front 7 an A-.

Next up...Arkansas!