Georgia Football: What to Expect from Vanderbilt Commodores

The Georgia Football team takes on Vanderbilt this weekend and here is a bit of information about what to expect from the Commodores.

The Georgia Football team will take on SEC East opponent Vanderbilt in a night game at Sanford Stadium tomorrow.  It will be a homecoming for the Dawgs, and I’m sure we all know what happened last time they came to Athens.  The Commodores scored a stunning 17-16 victory. That was Kirby Smart’s first year so I believe the Dawgs are in much better shape tomorrow night. Let’s take a look at the 3-2 Vanderbilt Commodores.

Strengths:

Intelligence, experience at quarterback, weapons at wide receiver and running back. This is a decent Vandy team. They have beat all 3 of the “cupcake” teams they have faced this year and took college football playoff contender Notre Dame to the wire at the Fighting Irish’s place. It seems like quarterback Kyle Shumur has been there forever and a day. I think it’s a pretty obvious assessment that Vandy has a lot of really smart players on their squad as well,  considering the academics of the school. Shurmur’s veteran leadership at quarterback is their main strength.

Weaknesses:

lack of experience on defense, strict academic policies seem to handcuff them from getting a lot of elite players, lost their best player. This defense gave up 37 at home to South Carolina, a team who just got rolled by Kentucky and isn’t as good as I thought they were. The Commodores lost all but 4 starters from their 2017 defense and it’s simply tough for them to stop really great offensive players. They also lost the guy who I consider to be the best running back in their history, Ralph Webb. Webb was a production machine and it’s tough to replace a player like that, especially when you’re Vanderbilt.

Players to watch:

Kyle Shurmur,  quarterback. This senior came into Sanford Stadium and beat Georgia the last time he played here. He would love nothing more than to do that again in his final season.  It will take the game of his life to do so. He broke the Vanderbilt record for td passes last season and was second in the conference to only Missouri quarterback Drew Lock.

Keshawn Vaugh, running back. This is the guy who was given the tall task of filling Ralph Webb’s shoes. The Illinois transfer has quietly been having a pretty good 2018 season, and he sits 6th in the conference in rushing yards and has averaged over 6 yards a carry.

Kalija Lipscomb, wide receiver. This is Shurmur’s favorite target.  Lipscomb is the SEC leader right now in receiving yards. It will be fun to watch him and DeAndre Baker go at it tomorrow.

Jordan Griffin, linebacker. He leads the Commodore defense in tackles with 41. He will have his hands full tomorrow trying to bust through the stout UGA offensive line and cover the middle of the field as Georgia’s speedy receivers and backs try to meander through it.