Rumblin'! Bumblin'! Stumblin'! Scorin'! Winnin'! A.J. Ogilvy leads Vanderbilt to upset in Baton Rouge

Wow. Vanderbilt just upset LSU 75-67 in Baton Rouge. It's only the Tigers' second conference loss of the season.

How in the world did the Commodores do it?

FAST START:

Vanderbilt trailed only once in the game, 2-0, then raced out to a 22-8 lead in the first half, led 37-26 at halftime, then held on for dear life.

A.J. GUTS IT OUT:

A.J. Ogilvy scored 33 points and had 10 rebounds against LSU's long, athletic defense. He'd have scored even more if not for five turnovers and clanking the front or back end of four or five sets of free throws. But in the waning minutes he was 4-4 from the charity stripe.

BIG SHOTS DOWN THE STRETCH:

How many times have we seen the Commodores go cold in the last five minutes of a half or a game? Not tonight. Case in point:

• After the Tigers shot a three to cut the VU lead to 56-54 with 8:26 remaining, A.J. scored a layup to stretch the lead to 58-54.

• After the Tigers nailed another three to cut it to 58-57, freshman Steve Tchiengang hit a pair of free throws to make it 60-57.

• After Marcus Thornton converted an old-fashioned three to tie the game at 60-60, Tchiengang hit the back end of a pair of charity shots to make it 61-60 VU, then freshman Brad Tinsley gunned in a three-pointer to make it 64-60 VU with 4:43 remaining.

• At the 2:15 mark, the Tigers hit yet another three-pointer to narrow the lead to 66-64, but then Jermaine Beal nailed a jumper to make it 68-64.

• After a pair of Tiger free throws cut the Vandy lead to two with a minute remaining, Brad Tinsley hit another big three, then hit a pair of free throws to make it 73-66 with 23 seconds left.

CLUTCH FREE THROWS:

Though shooting under 70 percent from the free throw line for the game, Vanderbilt was 9-10 in the final seven minutes, and a perfect 6-6 in the final 3:30.

DOLLA CONTINUES TO BE MONEY:

Jermaine was the only other Commodore in double digits, with 17 points.



So we're 18-11 and 7-8 in the SEC. If we can take care of business at home against Arkansas, we can finish 19-11 and 8-8 with some nice momentum going into the conference tournament next weekend in St. Pete.

Oh, and that loss to Georgia in Athens doesn't look so bad anymore. The Dawgs just beat Kentucky in Rupp.

Vanderbilt basketball team not exactly road warriors

This season, Vanderbilt's 1-6 on the road in league play, with the only win coming against Auburn. And those six road losses weren't even close. Even counting the 4-point loss to lowly Georgia in Athens, the Commodores have lost on the road by an average of 11 points.

And tonight they play LSU in Baton Rouge. The Bayou Bengals have lost only one conference game all season and are easily the league's most dangerous team.

The game's at 8 pm Eastern time. Thankfully, it's not scheduled to be televised nationally.

Jamie Winborn released by Denver Broncos

While Matt Stewart returns from a one-year hiatus from the NFL to be signed by the Dallas Cowboys, his former Vanderbilt teammate and fellow linebacker Jamie Winborn is looking for work.

Winborn, who led the Broncos in tackles last season, didn't have the best of relationships with his former San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Nolan. So guess who's the Broncos' new defensive coordinator?

Nolan. Whoops.

Unlike his former Commodores and Broncos teammate Jay Cutler, Winborn showed a lot of class, telling the Denver Post that he understands it's a business and he believes he just didn't fit into Nolan's new system.

I've always liked Winborn, except for that time he and future NFL player Jimmy Williams got suspended from the season opener against Miami-Ohio but they were allowed on the field in Nashville and they were taunting the Redhawks' pudgy little quarterback, Mike Bath, who had been planning to attend Vanderbilt but had his scholarship rescinded. And of course Bath soaked the Commodores for two touchdowns in the final minutes of the game to pull off a 33-30 upset. (Way to go, Woody.)

But when he was suited up, Winborn always played hard. In his final game, against Tennessee, he singlehandedly kept the Commodores in the game. You could see his lateral speed. I remember thinking he was one of the best players on the field.

Best wishes, Jamie. Somebody should pick you up.

Add Matt Stewart back to the list of NFL players from Vanderbilt

Today, as I was blogging about Jovan Haye signing with the Titans and listing all the Vanderbilt players in the NFL, Matt Stewart was signing a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys. So add him to the list, too.

Stewart had been out of football for a year, having been cut by the Cardinals at the start of the 2008 season. He was drafted by the Falcons in the fourth round of the 2001 draft, played four seasons in Atlanta, then signed a nice contract with the Browns and played three seasons in Cleveland.

Stewart played for Woody Widenhofer at Vandy and was part of the 1999 team that dang near had a winning record and went to a bowl... but didn't.

My favorite memory of Stewart was in 2000, when Steve Spurrier substituted superfreshman Brock Berlin, who would later transfer to Miami-Fla, for future Super Bowl loser Rex Grossman and future Bachelor Jesse Palmer. Stewart picked off Berlin's first pass and took it to the house. Alas, the Commodores lost 43-20, but it was an impressive play against one of the top teams in the nation, and Stewart was hence an NFL prospect.

Jovan Haye gets the bling — and a return trip to Nashville, where he played for Vanderbilt

Now Jovan Haye can buy a diamond necklace that spells his whole name and not just his initials. The former Vanderbilt Commodore signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Titans and is headed back to Nashville.

You may remember that Haye, who played on Bobby Johnson's awful 2-9 team of 2004 — as well as his awful 2-10 teams of 2002 and 2003 — thought he'd be a first or second rounder and came out early for the draft. But he went in the sixth round to the Carolina Panthers, playing only two games and then getting cut the following season. Meanwhile, Johnson's persistence started paying off and the Commodores won five games behind Jay Cutler and the high-flying offense and beat Tennessee for the first time in a million years. What would Vanderbilt have done that season with a dominating D-lineman like Haye? Maybe, I don't know, beaten MTSU? How high would Haye have gone in the draft if he'd stuck around, raised his stock and helped the Commodores go to a bowl?

Instead, he did it the hard way, playing only two games in his first two seasons. But he persevered, became a bona-fide NFL player for the Panthers and then the Buccaneers, and now he's making the big bucks with the Titans. Way to go, Jovan.

Here's a quick rundown of other Commodores in the NFL:

• Corey Chavous, safety, 11 seasons, Rams
• Jamie Winborn, linebacker, 9 seasons, Broncos
• Todd Yoder, tight end, 9 seasons, Redskins
• Hunter Hillenmeyer, linebacker, 6 seasons, Bears
• Justin Geisinger, offensive tackle, 4 seasons, Redskins
• Jay Cutler, quarterback, 3 seasons, Broncos
• Chris Williams, offensive tackle, 1 season, Bears
• Earl Bennett, wide receiver, 1 season, Bears
• Jonathan Goff, linebacker, 1 season, Giants
• Marcus Buggs, linebacker, 1 season, Bills
• Curtis Gatewood, linebacker, 1 season, Chiefs

A whopping five players off the 2007 team that went 5-7 — and beat South Carolina and scared the you-know-what out of Georgia and Tennessee and Kentucky — played in the NFL last season.

This year, expect to see D.J. Moore and Reshard Langford playing on Sundays — Moore as a first day pick and Langford perhaps as a free agent, the path Buggs and Gatewood took. I really think Langford's going to crack some team's roster.

Other players who might get a shot in NFL camps include wide receivers Sean Walker and George Smith and maybe even kicker Bryant Hahnfeldt. And what about Chris Nickson as an athlete? I always wanted to see him try another position besides quarterback. But all those guys are long-shots.

Angry Bronco fans rally ’round Jay Cutler — who's smart because he went to Vanderbilt

Can you imagine what last year's Vanderbilt football team would have done with Jay Cutler at the helm?

Well, right now Denver Broncos fans are imagining what life might be like without Jay Cutler at the helm. And they're not happy.

In case you missed it, the Broncos were approached by Tampa Bay about a three-way trade with the Patriots that would have sent Matt Cassell to Denver and Cutler to the Buccaneers. Josh McDaniels, as you may recall, was selected to replace fired Denver head coach Mike Shanahan in large part because of the performance of perennial backup Cassell after Tom Brady went down for the season.

You know, McDaniels was going to implement the Patriots system so why not bring the Patriots quarterback to Denver with him? Of course, Cassell is now headed for Kansas City and the Broncos office is now saying that Tampa Bay approached them first and they've never had any intentions of trading Cutler.

Come on. Why didn't Tampa Bay approach, say, the Colts and ask for Peyton Manning? Because they didn't have a chance. But they thought they'd have a chance with the Broncos franchise quarterback. And why is that?

Cutler, who has a reputation for being cocky and outspoken (after all, he is a multimillionaire NFL quarterback who's been on "South Park"; see above photo) is understandably livid and quickly unloaded on a Denver Post reporter.

In the story, Cutler wonders if McDaniels thinks he's not smart enough to run the complicated new offense. Then the reporter mentions that Cutler graduated from Vanderbilt. I can tell you it works — I graduated from Vanderbilt and let's just say that people think I'm smarter than I really am.

Anyway, when the story broke, Denver fans went crazy posting in defense of Cutler. My favorite comment: "If we trade Cutler, I'll shoot myself."

Now there's even a site dedicated to saving Jay Cutler.

Mmmm, gimme some of that deep-fried Gamecock — Vanderbilt whips South Carolina in Nashville

On Friday I was in Columbia, S.C., where everybody was talking about what a great coach Darrin Horn is, and pretty much taking for granted that the Gamecocks would roll all over Vanderbilt last night in Nashville. (Well, everybody but my brother-in-law, who thought SC was playing Tennessee, but then again my sister had just had their third baby and maybe he was thinking how much college tuition's gonna cost in 2027.)

Anyway, the Commodores looked as sharp as they've looked all season, racing out to a huge lead before winning 96-83. And the crowd was great even though most of the Memorial Maniacs were on spring break. (Pretty early spring break, huh?)

AJ Ogilvy and Jermaine Beal each rang up career highs in scoring with 28 and 27 points respectively. (The above photo's by the Tennessean's George Walker IV.) In fact, Vanderbilt's top four scorers — Ogilvy, Beal, Jeff Taylor and Brad Tinsley — scored 88 points on only 41 field goal attempts. By contrast, the Gamecocks' top four scorers scored 72 points but took 68 field goal attempts to do it.

Like Meeks a couple of weeks ago, Devan Downey got his twenty and change but had to take about a thousand shots to get it.

The encouraging thing, to me, was that our young guys are now winning every time they play in Memorial Gym. The loss in Athens hasn't freaked me out like it has some Vandy fans. We always lose to a weaker team on the road late in the season, and everybody else does too.

If we'd visited Florida and Tennessee this season before hosting them, I think we'd have split with them and we'd be 8-6 right now instead of 6-8. Our young guys had to get used to playing at home, as crazy as that sounds. Remember how Stallings said he couldn't believe how nervous the young guys were before playing at home and then playing on TV and then playing on TV at home?

Sure, it would have been nice to sneak into the big dance this year. But I've got no problems with the job Stallings is doing and the way this team is coming together.

How about you?