Your Georgia-Vanderbilt game day thread

It’s another lather, rinse, repeat story today, isn’t it?  Another opponent over-matched on paper that embarrassed the Dawgs at home the last time they faced off in Athens sounds a lot like the Tennessee meeting.

And don’t take my word on being embarrassed.

A piece of paper is taped to the window panes of Georgia’s weight room.

“2016: ‘Embarrassment in Sanford!,’ ” it reads, along with a photo of former Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham making a tackle. Cunningham had the game’s key tackle as Georgia was stopped on a fourth-down toss sweep play and lost to the Commodores 17-16 after a noon kickoff.

It was one of five losses in Georgia’s first season under head coach Kirby Smart. The wins were close, but the losses were aplenty, and this loss to a would-be 6-6 Vanderbilt team was one of the most scathing.

Sanford Stadium was lifeless, shocked and dejected as a subdued crowd watched Georgia lose to Vanderbilt — the second-to-last team in the SEC East that season.

You know, for a guy who claims he doesn’t use stuff like that for motivational purposes during the week leading up to a game, Kirby sure doesn’t seem to know what’s going on in the weight room.  But I digress.

On paper, it’s not pretty if you’re Vanderbilt.

 

2018 NCAA RANKINGS

 

Vanderbilt	Category RANK	Georgia
83rd	Rush Yds Game	16th
72nd	Rush TD	27th
45th	Rush Avg	9th
52nd	Pass Yd Game	79th
63rd	Pass Yd Att	10th
65th	Pass Rating	6th
60th	Pass Completion	2nd
60th	Pass Int Percent	41st
72nd	Pass Int	33rd
60th	Pass TD	37th

The Commodores are also giving up close to a yard more per play on defense than Georgia has.

Common opponents?  Georgia beat Middle Tennessee by a wider margin and crushed a South Carolina team that handled Vandy in Nashville.

Momentum?  Vanderbilt’s lost two of its last three, the only win being a narrow squeaker over Tennessee State.  The worst we can say about Georgia is that the 5-0 Dawgs haven’t been winning big enough to suit some observers.  (Hey, they can become bowl-eligible with a win today!)

So, yeah, that whole paper thing isn’t a good look for the visitors.  But it usually isn’t and, as already noted, that didn’t prevent them from leaving town with a W the last time they were here.  Here’s Kirby’s mea culpa for that:

“The guys were tired and physically beat-up because it was after the South Carolina Sunday game (after Hurricane Matthew). A lot of those guys didn’t get recovery, and we tried to practice that Monday, which was probably an error on my part, but we don’t look backwards right now.”

They may not look backwards, but I would be shocked if Smart didn’t learn from the experience.  Whatever else may transpire, I doubt this team will look the same way tonight.  Barring a turnover barrage, I think Georgia covers.

Your thoughts and observations, as always, are welcomed in the comments.  I’ll be heading up to Athens in a few minutes, so enjoy the rest of the day.  It’s another college football Saturday, so, really, how bad could it be?