Vanderbilt has to be the masochist of the SEC. It’s not enough that the Commodores are shaping up to have the worst offense in the conference (and that by a wide margin). Check out these scheduling notes from Rivals:
… Vanderbilt is the only league school without an FCS foe. There are 16 non-conference games against “Big Six” opponents, an increase of two from last season. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are playing zero non-conference games against “Big Six” opponents, and Vanderbilt is playing three. Vandy and Miami are the only “Big Six” schools playing three non-conference games against other “Big Six” schools.
This is what comes of not having an athletic director, I suppose.
Get The Picture 
Could be a money thing. I can’t imagine that ‘buying a win’ is particularly high on the Dean of Student Activities’ (I think that’s who’s the de facto AD) to-do list. Also, those “Big Six” opponents are Northwestern, UConn, and Wake Forest. No wonder “Big Six” is in quotes.
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Anyway you want to look at those three, they still beat Idaho State.
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Apparently, you need someone to refresh your memory about UConn, Northwestern and Wake Forest. UConn dominated South Carolina in SEC territory in their bowl game last year. Northwestern lost to Auburn in OT in the Outback Bowl….and their kicker missing 2 FG’s and an extra point. Wake Forest was just in a BCS Bowl in 2007 and has an excellent coach in Grobe.
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I’m not saying they’re terrible teams, but it’s not like Vandy scheduled Texas, Oregon, and Ohio State or anything.
And, Senator, I would rather UGA played any of those teams than Idaho State or ULL. Sure, the chance for a loss is greater, but I don’t think there’s much the team can take away from a win over Idaho State than some padded stats.
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Good Lord, guys, enjoy an easy schedule in Athens every once in a while. Don’t you see what the last few years has done to us? We need some sleepers. We need games to rest starters, get freshmen acclimated, and hold out dinged up players. At the end of the day, Bama, FLA, and the rest of the SEC world are playing 3-4 cupcakes a year and we’re getting 2 at the most (only 1 last year). On top of all that, we never play our biggest division rival in our own stadium. UGA doesn’t need to schedule harder/BCS teams, we need to schedule easier teams. Beating Oklahoma St. and ASU and Colorado has done jack for our national image. However, Knowshon racking up 188 on the Gators and slapping Tebow around for 4 quarters did all we need to bolster our reputation in ’07. Win this league, beat Tech and we’ll have all the national respect we want.
Bama’s playing sleepers against Chattanooga, resting their Heisman winner the whole second half and are in the locker room by 4 p.m. We’re playing ASU in a night game the week before LSU with our MVP blocking FG’s and catching bombs in the closing minutes. Hmmm, and it didn’t look like our offense had much in the tank the first half against LSU. Wonder why? In the meantime, Bama is polishing their crystal football. But hey, we beat ASU two years in a row, baby. That’s something you can really hang your hat on. And I hear their really ashamed of playing Chattanooga in T-Town. Really. Ashamed. While they polish their crystal.
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+1.
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I think you’re missing the point. Vandy is gonna be historically awful this year, even by their own standards.
One thing they won’t have to contend with, though, is losing to a school in a far inferior conference or, god forbid, pulling a Maize and Blue and losing to an FCS school.
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Yes, but UConn, N’western, and Wake list Vandy as one of their non-conf FCS opponents!
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