Friday, August 6, 2010

Eight Vanderbilt opponents get votes in preseason USA Today football poll

The USA Today preseason football poll was released today, with six SEC teams making the Top 25.

Here's how our opponents fared in the poll:

Sept. 4: Northwestern, No. 47
Sept. 11: LSU, No. 16
Sept. 18: at Ole Miss, No. 30
Oct. 2: at Connecticut, No. 33
Oct. 9: Eastern Michigan, not receiving votes
Oct. 16: at Georgia, No. 21
Oct. 23: South Carolina, No. 35
Oct. 30: at Arkansas, No. 19
Nov. 6: Florida, No. 3
Nov. 13: at Kentucky, not receiving votes
Nov. 20: Tennessee, not receiving votes
Nov. 27: Wake Forest, not receiving votes

Alabama (No. 1), Auburn (No. 23) and Miss State (No. 44) are not on Vandy's schedule this year.

Let's presume for a moment that the voters know what they're talking about and that the teams are really ranked accurately. If so, here's one way Vandy could win six games and become bowl eligible:

1. Beat Northwestern at home to go 1-0.
2. Win one of the next three games — LSU at home or Ole Miss or UConn on the road — to go 2-2.
3. Beat Eastern Michigan at home to go 3-2.
4. Pull one upset in the next four games — on the road at Georgia and Arkansas or at home against South Carolina and Florida — to go 4-5.
5. Win two of the next three games — at Kentucky and at home against Tennessee and Wake Forest — to go 6-6.

Those last three games could be winnable, but Vandy has never finished strong with a bowl berth on the line.

What do you think?

2 comments:

Vandygal78 said...

You know, I think Vandy just might do well this year. Just read about the enthusiasm at the first practice and I really like this attitude. Might win six or seven! Go Dores.

DIMON KENDRICK-HOLMES said...

good to hear from you, Vandygal. yes, i like the attitude too. did you hear what T.J. Greenstone said? "A lot of people are not even giving us a chance, which I love. I've never been so excited to play football in my life."