Headline on the Tennessean Web site: "Vandy football season tickets available."
Of course they're available.
Wouldn't it be news if Vandy football season tickets WEREN'T available?
But where else in the SEC can you buy a season ticket for $109? And unlike fans at places like Alabama and Georgia, you don't have to make a huge donation to earn the right to purchase season tickets.
Click here for more information on season tickets, which officially go on sale tomorrow.
It's a home good schedule too:
• Western Carolina, Sept. 5: This is the only so-called cupcake on the Vandy schedule. Hopefully we'll take the wraps off Larry Smith in this one. It'll be interesting to see which true freshmen get playing time. Best bets are defensive backs Eric Samuels and Trey Wilson, receiver Brady Brown and maybe one of the running backs (Zac Stacy, Wesley Tate, Warren Norman).
• Miss State, Sept. 19: Payback time. Last year we thought we'd need to beat the Bulldogs to have a winning season. We didn't, but it wasn't necessary. A victory over State in Nashville almost certainly will be necessary. And it's better we catch Dan Mullen's new offense early in the season.
• Ole Miss, Oct. 3: Nobody will expect us to beat the Rebels, which are in everybody's preseason Top 10. But don't underestimate the loss of first-round pick Michael Oher at left offensive tackle and first-round draft pick Peria Jerry at defensive tackle. Of course, with quarterback Jevan Snead and speedy receivers like Dexter McCluster, the Rebels will likely stay away from Myron Lewis and test our youth at the other corner.
• Georgia, Oct. 17: Ideally, you'd like to catch new starting quarterback Joe Cox earlier in the season, though if he slips and the Dawgs lose a couple of games early then Mark Richt might decide to break in a freshman quarterback, which is what happened when we beat Georgia and freshman Matthew Stafford in Athens in 2006. And our quarterback then was a redshirt sophomore from Alabama, Chris Nickson. This year it will likely be a redshirt sophomore from Alabama, Larry Smith.
• Georgia Tech, Oct. 31: This is a not the kind of non-conference game you want to play late in the season. We're capable of derailing the Yellow Jackets here or getting humiliated. Remember that Tech beat Miss State 35-7 the week before we lost to the Bulldogs in Starkville.
• Kentucky, No. 14: We haven't won a home finale since 2003, when we beat the Wildcats. This season's UK team has a tough D and a questionable O. Kind of like us. This is another game we likely must win to at least break .500 on the season.
4 comments:
I hate to bring this up especially on my first posting but Navy routinely beat Vandy when Paul Johnson was there running the option. He is running it now at GT with "better" personnel. At least Bobby J. has an idea about how to slow down the option from his days in the SOCON.
Love the blog!
Thanks for the great insight, Clayton. Yes, B. Johnson played Navy in his second and third seasons at Vanderbilt, losing at home 37-27 and in Annapolis 29-26. But who didn't Bobby lose to in his first three seasons, in which he won two games each year? By the way, did he ever face a Paul-coached Georgia Southern team while he was at Furman, and if so how did he do?
Thanks for the research project! Here is what I found out. The SOCON was option heavy with Furman, Wofford and Georgia Southern all running versions of it and being very successful. Paul J. was at GS from 97-01 winning over Furman in 97: 30-13 (making it to the national quarter finals), 98:45-17 (making it to the national champ game). In 99 B. Johnson had things rolling at Furman and lost to a GS National Champ team in Statesboro 41-38. In 2000 the GS folks will tell you they had the SOCON championship wrapped by the time they met Furman but got shelled at Furman 10-45. GS ended up fine by winning another national championship in 2000. In 2001, the last seasons for both Johnsons in the SOCON, Furman dropped the late season contest 10-20 to GS but knocked them off in the semi's 24-17 at Statesboro on their way to the national champ game. Eagle fans will remind you that Paul had one foot out the door to Navy at that point which Im sure served as a distraction to the GS squad. Furman's best teams were from 99-01 and the final stats say they were 2-2 against P. Johnson at GS and 3-0 (30-3, 27-18, 45-14)against Wofford's very capable option teams. That was a long time ago but interesting none the less. Bobby's history against that offense will definitely help the Doors in 09.
Wow. You get an A+. Thanks for the research. It's more encouraging than I thought it would be.
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