What a difference a win makes

So we feel better about our football team this week, don't we? No mind that Rice is nowhere near as talented as LSU or Miss State. The important thing is that the Dores won a game they were supposed to win. Here are some specific things to feel good about:

• WARREN NORMAN: With fellow true freshman Zac Stacy still struggling with injury, Norman went bananas, touching the ball 14 times and picking up 175 total yards — two kick returns for 45 yards, an 11-yard reception and 11 rushes for 119 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown run.

• A 58-YARD TD RUN: When's the last time Vandy had a long touchdown run? Last season's longest scoring run was 27 yards by Jamie Graham...against Rice. The season before, it was Sean Walker for 15 yards against Georgia. John Cole's 31-yard TD run in the first quarter surpassed both of those. But isn't it nice to have a running touchdown by an actual running back?

• THERON KADRI: Glad he stuck with the team. He had a two sacks in the game, slightly ahead of Greg Billinger's 1.5 sacks.

• INTERCEPTIONS: Patrick Benoist had the first pick of his career, which was nice to see because he's done so much for Vandy in his four seasons. Myron Lewis had two big picks — bringing his career tally to eight — to kill a late drive, and freshman Eddie Foster recorded an interception as well.

• EDDIE FOSTER: The little speedster has been thrown into the fire at defensive back and he's been a revelation. After the game, Myron Lewis said of Foster, "He's an amazing player, man. He's young, physical and he's a ballhawk.

• BRENT TRICE: With Jamie Graham at home in Nashville and Sean Richardson injured, the team needed Trice, one of the few seniors on the team not to redshirt during his career, to move back to safety.

• THE LONG BALL: Don't forget that Larry can chunk it long, and Udom Umoh emerged Saturday as a deep threat. The two hooked up on a 54-yard completion to the 10-yard line. Johnson challenged because he said everybody on the sideline told him Umoh had stayed in bounds. He hadn't. Larry still needs to work on his short game. He missed on some screens and short throws. Oh, and by the way, where was Austin Monahan, who'd been practicing one-on-one with Larry this week? He didn't have a catch.

• 41 PASSES: We knew we could run on Rice, and so we did. But the offense needed to fine-tune the passing game. Glad to see Larry throw that many passes. In the end, we ran 43 times and passed 41. That's a good balance.