Georgia Football: Breaking down Vanderbilt

Georgia football’s season is a little over a week away, and the first opponent the Dawgs faceoff with is Vanderbilt. Here is a breakdown of the matchup and history of these two teams.

Georgia football heads to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt for its first game of the 2019 season. The Dawgs have been quite successful in Nashville over this series’ history going 26-12-2.

This meeting will be the 80th between Georgia and Vanderbilt.

Opponent Breakdown: Vanderbilt

Head Coach: Derek Mason

2018 Record: 6-7

2018 Conference Record: 3-5

2018 Pts/G: 28.5

2018 Opp Pts/G: 26.6

Vanderbilt has three of the top-100 players in the 2020 draft, according to Tony Pauline. These players are tight end Jared Pinkney, running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, and wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb.

Pinkney, Vaughn, and Lipscomb also made the 2019 SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC team. So, the Commodores do have some talent on the offensive side of the board.

On the defensive side Vanderbilt has 2019 SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC defensive lineman Dayo Odeyingbo.

In 12 games last year, Odeyingbo accrued 28 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss, six quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and one forced fumble. He also had two fumble returns, including one for a touchdown.

Vanderbilt also has a former 4-star recruit, inside linebacker Alston Orji. He played in 11 games last year totaling four tackles.

This year, according to Ourlads, Orji will be starting for the Commodores. He carries on a legacy of quality linebackers who have played at Vanderbilt recently. From Zach Cunningham to Oren Burks and now Orji.

As you can see, Vanderbilt is nowhere near as talented as Georgia which explains why the Dawgs lead this series by a total of 57-20-2.

Over the last ten meetings, Georgia has won eight of them. Kirby is 2-1 in the series, winning by an average score of 43-14.

For the first time in a long time, Georgia starts their season against an SEC opponent, but it might as well be another FCS cupcake.

Vanderbilt is ranked No. 86 by USA Today. The Commodores are one of the lowest-ranked teams in the SEC. The only teams on Georgia’s schedule that are ranked lower than Vanderbilt are Murray State and Georgia Tech.

Georgia should win this game easily. My predicition is Georgia 35 and Vanderbilt 17.

The Dawgs should win this game handily because of the massive talent gap between the two. Georgia’s just the overall better team and shouldn’t have any trouble with this Vandy team. However, the Dawgs better not overlook the Commodores, or it could be a close one.