Recalibrating the Vols after the Missouri Game
Here's what the Vols' former opponents did this weekend:
- Bowling Green lost to Toledo, 44-28. It's the Falcons' third loss of the season, but one was to the Vols, and the other two were to two other national surprises, Memphis and Toledo.
- Oklahoma beat #18 TCU, 30-29, one week after beating #6 Baylor, 44-34. These guys get another shot this week against #6 Oklahoma State. Let this be a lesson to us all: Don't decide anything about the Big 12 until the last three weeks of the season.
- Arkansas lost a 51-50 heartbreaker to Mississippi State in the final seconds on a blocked field goal that should have been easily made.
- Florida embarrassed themselves, us, and the SEC with an overtime win over Florida Atlantic. I don't even want to talk about it.
- Georgia embarrassed themselves, us, and the SEC with an overtime win over Georgia Southern. If you force me to talk, I'll spit out something about the end of the season being about endurance and survival. Seriously, though, doesn't it seem like things get wonkier the later into the season we get? Let this be a lesson to us this week as we prepare for Vandy.
- South Carolina embarrassed themselves, us, and the SEC with a one point loss to The Citadel. Sigh.
- Alabama used Nick Saban's experience to win a game against Charleston Southern on Wednesday that they didn't play until Saturday. No embarrassment or overtime for them.
- Kentucky beat Charlotte, 58-10.
- North Texas got beat by MTSU, 41-7.
So Oklahoma made Tennessee look good this week, but nearly everybody else soiled the Vols' resume. When everyone else finds ruin in the meteor shower, the only thing you can do is survive, and the Vols actually did a bit more than that, thriving in a tricky game against an emotional opponent with a terrific defense. And let me say this: A lackluster 24-0 win over North Texas is worlds better than anything that happened to Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina this weekend.
Recalibrating the Vols' final opponent
First, the chart. Details on Vandy are below.
PREDICTIONS | |||||||||||||
5-30 SCALE | PS | W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 |
5 | |||||||||||||
6 | |||||||||||||
7 | Alabama | Alabama | Georgia | Georgia | |||||||||
8 | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama | |||||||||
9 | Georgia (W; 38-31) | Alabama (L; 19-14) | |||||||||||
10 | Georgia | ||||||||||||
11 | Georgia | ||||||||||||
12 | Georgia | ||||||||||||
13 | Arkansas | ||||||||||||
14 | Oklahoma (L; 31-24 2OT) | ||||||||||||
15 | Arkansas | Missouri | |||||||||||
16 | Oklahoma | Florida | Missouri | ||||||||||
17 | Missouri | Florida | Florida (L; 28-27) | ||||||||||
18 | Arkansas | Missouri | |||||||||||
19 | South Carolina | South Carolina | Arkansas (L; 24-20) | Vanderbilt | |||||||||
20 | Florida | Kentucky | |||||||||||
21 | Arkansas | Kentucky | Missouri (W; 19-8) | Vanderbilt | |||||||||
22 | Kentucky | Kentucky | Kentucky | Kentucky | Vanderbilt | Missouri | Kentucky | Vanderbilt | |||||
23 | South Carolina | Vanderbilt | Missouri | Vanderbilt | Missouri | Kentucky | |||||||
24 | Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt | Vanderbilit | South Carolina | South Carolina | Vanderbilt | Missouri | Missouri | |||||
25 | Bowling Green (W; 59-30) | South Carolina | Vanderbilt | Missouri | |||||||||
26 | South Carolina | South Carolina (W; 27-24) | |||||||||||
27 | South Carolina | Vanderbilt | |||||||||||
28 | North Texas | North Texas | North Texas | North Texas | North Texas | ||||||||
29 | Western Carolina | Western Carolina |
Western Carolina |
North Texas | North Texas | North Texas | North Texas | North Texas | North Texas (W; 24-0) | ||||
30 |
11/28/15: Vanderbilt (4-7, 2-5 SEC, NR)
- W1: Lost to Western Kentucky, 14-12.
- W2: Lost to Georgia, 31-14.
- W3: Beat Austin Peay, 47-7.
- W4: Lost to #3 Ole Miss, 27-16.
- W5: Beat MTSU, 17-13.
- W6: Off
- W7: Lost to South Carolina, 19-10.
- W8: Beat Missouri, 10-3.
- W9: Lost to #18 Houston, 34-0.
- W10: Lost to Florida, 9-7.
- W11: Beat Kentucky, 21-17.
- W12: Lost to Texas A&M, 25-0.
Chances of a Vols win (on a scale from 5-30): I feel much better about this game, both because of the Vols' performance against Missouri that proved North Texas was just a breather and that they could flip the switch when they need to, and because Vanderbilt struggled so much this weekend against A&M. I don't think we'll blow them out, but I do think we'll be able to make it difficult for them to score, and I think the Vols can get 20 points or so.
PREDICTIONS - VANDERBILT | ||||||||||||
Preseason | W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 |
24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 27 | 22 | 19 | 21 |