Commodore Commentary

Thoughts on Duke loss

I originally posted this on Vandymania but I wanted to post it here as well.

It was a slow painful drive home today. Thoughts of previous losses ran through my mind. The 24 point comeback that Rutgers pulled on us in the 2nd half, MTSU in 2005, MTSU in 2002, UGA last year, UT last year. But this is different. Yesterday I talked my wife into going to Lexington in November for the Kentucky game. I just told her we aren't going and I may not go to another game the rest of the year. I kept thinking about how fitting my screen name truly is.

My first memories of being a Vandy fan start when I was 5 or 6. My parents went to Knoxville for a game and brought me back a foam finger that said Volunteers #1. I pulled all the letters off and wrote Vandy on it. I don't know what inspired it but that's what I remember being the birth of a Vandy fan. I started buying season tickets when I was 16. I even started my own Vandy site VandyPride.com to give back to other Vandy fans like me.

I'm not the oldest guy on the board and I only really started following it religiously in the mid-80's. I endured many, ruthless beatings from the hands of the Volunteers and other SEC heavyweights. My first non-conference road trip was to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech game which was a 45-3 beating. Talk about a long car ride home. I can remember a South Carolina game Cutler's sophomore or junior year where were supposed to be turning the corner because we returned 20 starters. We got beat by 30-something points.

Gradually the program has made some strides but we seem to be our own worst enemy. I've been leading the charge on this board for Cain's firing but Coach Johnson seems to be content not passing the ball until the 3rd quarter or when we are down two scores, whichever comes first. We don't play to win. The UT game last year is proof of that. We got the lead and had 3 straight drives where it was run, run, pass, punt.

In 2005 we started out 4-0 and seemed to be on our way to win number 5 with MTSU and their losing record coming to town. Nickson took snaps at QB and Cutler lined up at receiver and we lost. Had we had took it to them early we would have won that game by 20 points but our coaches wanted to get cute and we found out the hard way what happens when we try to get cute on West End. What happens when a speedy runner lines up at QB and our QB goes to a WR? You saw it today with DJ Moore. The defense stacks the line and it's little to no gain. The loss to MTSU stung worse than any other loss I have ever experienced including today.

But today it didn't hurt, it didn't sting. Yes I got mad but it's kind of an acceptance that kicked in. It's like someone who is getting divorced and they have to accept it's over and it's never going to work out or be like it used to. The breaking point for me today was on the drive home and Joe Fisher asked Coach Johnson what the biggest problem today was and he said the defense didn't tackle. Well zippy-doo-dah. The defense is the only reason we didn't get blown out by Duke, the doormat from the ACC. The problem today was our stubborn coaches and playcalling. It's been our problem all year. Does anyone in here honestly think we have a shot at beating Florida with the same offense we ran today? Our defense may hold them under 40 points but we'll be lucky to get a field goal.

Three weeks ago we talking SEC championship and rightfully so. Had we went with Mac at Miss. St. we possibly could be leading the SEC but not now, not anymore. Nickson has been hurt but the coaches left him into rot against Miss. St until it was just about too late. I have zero faith in this coaching staff with the excepetion of our defensive coordinator who if he's smart should jump at the first job offer he should receive after the year is over.

Did any of you ever think that ESPN Gameday would be broadcasting from Vanderbilt? Did any of you think we wouldn't beat Spurrier two years in a row? This should have been the year. This was going to be the year. And it's possible we beat Kentucky or UT and get 6 wins but I don't see it happening. If we only get 6 wins we shouldn't get invited to a bowl let alone accept an invitation. Joe Fisher said that the Rose Bowl had sent scouts to the game today. I think we should all chip in and send them an apology card from Hallmark for wasting their time.

I know this is long but I don't really have anyone else that understands what it feels like you except for my brethern on the board.  We deserve better than this. Vandy fans don't have the sense of entitlement like those at Bama or UT but we don't deserve to have the rug jerked out from underneath again. We shouldn't be teased or taunted or led to believe that this is going to be the year or have to hear wait until next year.

I may be back after the week off I don't know but for now I got to get away.

 

 

 

Trey Holloway

Vanderbilt Center 2002-2005

 

 

 

 

 

Vanderbilt loses a multitude of key senior players from the previous year’s squad which was expected to break the squad’s long standing streak of seasons without a bowl but failed to do so.  But the team rallies and finds a way to start 4-0.  The student body is buzzing and hopes are high on West End.  National media even hops on the bandwagon and USA Today comes to town and puts a picture of Herdley Harrison on its front page. 

What?  Herdley Harrison?

That’s right.  I wasn’t talking about 2008 my friends.  I was talking about 2005.  Unless you just became a Vanderbilt fan you remember that season all too well.  Four straight wins to start the season followed by six straight losses with a season ending win over UT-Knoxville.

Reflecting on that season makes a long suffering Vanderbilt fan wonder to themselves and probably aloud to fellow fans.  Am I letting myself get too attached again?  Am I setting myself up for a big letdown?  After the past few years of close calls and seasons of losing 5 games by a total of 19 points (2004 in case you forgot), this is a legitimate concern.  But I’m here to tell you, this year’s edition of the Commodores football team is different.  Like this group, I believe past teams had the tools to complete the task but this year’s squad has something different that gives them an edge over teams in previous seasons.

This difference does not make their task in the SEC any easier.  But it does make it easier to envision this year’s team reaching the promised land and in some ways even makes it expected.  There are 31 players on this year’s team that were on the 2005 squad.  They too were swept into the euphoria of a 4-0 start.  They experienced how much fun a fast start of this nature can be.  They also experienced how quickly a team’s fortunes can turn.  I believe those players, who were true freshmen and redshirt freshmen that year and are now the team’s leaders, learned from that experience.  They’ve also learned from the program’s big victories over the last four seasons.  Don’t forget that 8 of the 10 coaches were also coaching the 2005 squad and no doubt they learned from during that 2005 season. 

Together this group of veteran players and coaches have not only the tools to finish this season in the right way, but also the prior experience to understand how to handle a season that starts in this fashion.  No longer is it a surprise to anyone around this program to win big games.  This group has been here before and they know that this isn’t far enough.  There is still business to handle.  So Auburn should beware that this year’s Commodores will be ready when they visit Vanderbilt Stadium on Saturday evening.

 

 

Julian Terrell on plane ride to Oxford

Here is a story about our plane trips, however I must warn that if flying is questionable to anyone, I'd stop reading right about now.

Anyway, typically when we would fly to games at Ole Miss we would take plane trips the day of the game. So on this one particular trip, there was a little bit too much going on that no one will ever forget.

I'll start the story off by telling that on our way to the airport, Mario Moore decides to drink a full bottle of grape juice because this will come into play later. As we are pulling up to the airplane from our bus we see this nice big plane that we normally take so obviously no one is having any issues. Well at the last moment our bus decides to take a sharp right and we drive up to two small propeller planes that can probably hold around 15 people each, including pilots. Well this is already a joke because we are having issues with deciding how we are going to split the planes up and who will fly where. So as a good decision we decide to put all the players and Coach Stalls on one plane, and all the other coaches, managers, and other team personnel that flies on the other.

decide to grab the front seat behind the pilots (I am secretly fascinated with airplanes) where my knees are actually in the cockpit and Mario sits behind me. As we are all boarded up and ready to go, Coach begins to tell us stories of flying when he was a player to ease some of the minds on the plane. Not to name names, but we had a couple players visibly shaken all the way down to a player we put his hood over his head completely so he could see nothing going on. To speed the story up, we basically have two small planes following each other on this short hour ride to Mississippi.

During the trip, as anyone who has been on small planes knows, wind is not your friend which means we were all over the place and the weather is not great so it doesnt help to not be able to see anything. As we approach the airport to land, I decide, "hey I am going to watch them land the plane". So as we're approaching, my head in the cockpit, I hear one of the pilots ask the other, "Do you see it?" The other pilot replies, "Not at all" which is also met with him leaning over the dashboard with two hands looking as hard as possible. (Picture yourself being to short to look over a wall and barely being able to pull yourself up and peep over). This means nothing to me other than I can't see what is in front of us anyway. So as we are preparing to land going lower and lower, I look out the window and notice that about 100ft. below the flying plane, there are other planes (PLURAL) parked.

Next thing I know I am hearing the pilots scream "Pull Up, Pull Up". The planes then starts to take a sharp incline and this is when it happens. Mario sitting behind me literally stands up out of his seat, grabs a doggy bag, and completely fills it up with grape juice. It would have been OK, but he decided to do it on top of my head which obviously made me start screaming "unconsciously" at him to sit down. Then as the plane is headed back up, the plane then begins to sound like a frat house with all kinds of noise and loud talking, however you don't understand one word that is being said. The plane makes it all the way back up safely and then it becomes a common matter of the common phrase, "Get me off this D--- plane".

As we begin to circle back around apparently FAA regulations state that the other plane can't land until we do I guess for the fact we are first in line. So the next time around, its the same exact scenario. We are flying in for the landing and the pilots now are whispering to each other trying to find out where the runway is again. This time as we are preparing to land, the pilot again says, "Do you see it?" This time the other pilot pauses for about five seconds then says, "OVER THERE" while pointing almost perpendicular to the airplane himself. So they decide its going to happen and we take a sharp decline and almost turn completely sideways to get to this runway and once we finally touchdown the drama is not over yet. We have to stop!

We are going down the runway and I can only remember the plane hydroplaning as we are trying to come to a stop. We stop safely and get to the area where are plane has to wait for the other plane to land. At this point there is no keeping us on the plane so everyone decides to jump out of the plane and run around frantically trying to collect themselves. Then we watch as its so foggy we can only hear the other plane. Then out of nowhere this plane comes flying through seemingly at full speed, but does in fact land. Needless to say, we can laugh about it now, but that day, we vowed (even though we have no choice of what planes we can take) to never fly on that type of plane again.

Oh by the way, Matt Freije did break the scoring record that day! HAAHAHA

Julian Terrell on the 2005 NIT run

Ok, the 2005 NIT run. It was a great time because this was the second post season play I was a part of, and although it wasn't the NCAA, it was still a tournament and just more time we would be able to travel and see more places.

Starting with The NCAA selection night I think we all pretty much knew the loss to Auburn was the loss that was going to hurt us so we pretty much just waited around to get the call for the NIT. When we found out we were going to Indiana there wasn't much time to prepare for them, especially with not playing them that year.

We played at IU my freshmen year and at home against them my Sophmore year. So going there my Junior year would just be another experience against them. That game I believe Coach used a different approach at playing against them. Although we had a very fundamentally sound team, If I remember correctly this would be a time throughout my college career we used a more "Athletic" five. Not taking anything away from JWerd because we all know he is VERY athletic. We went with Mario, Shan, Demarre, Corey, and myself. Also going in there with nothing to lose, we knew we could just experiment and see what happens. I think Corey (fittingly as the only senior) led us to that victory. I think he scored somewhere close to 30 and pretty much held us down. This also was during my Junior to Senior transition because I knew the next loss meant it would become time for me to "take over".

Coming home playing Witchita St. would be one, if not the, most memorable game of my career. Our team knew we would have to play a tough game against them because I think they were also a young team playing in the same situation as us. Nothing to lose and on the road in a place that have never been. Mario carried us scoring this game and I was relentless on the boards. It was a very fun game because I see this one as the game were many of our players somewhat "let loose" and just played ball. We obviously followed the system, but if we were to break away from it, it was not completely out of line.

I remember ESPN doing a part on all of our players having something written on our shoes in memory to the late Kwane "DOT" Doster. I myself also had almost a complete poem written on my shoes which revolved around my mother. I could remember sitting on the bus on the trip to Memphis watching the part, and how they had to pretty much pause the camera just so you could have enough time to read what I wrote.

Anyway, the ending to the Wichita State game was crazy. I can remember being at the free throw line and only needing one box out to win the game. Now, because I am me, I will blame this on Corey, and if you ask him, he will blame it on me. Anyway, the player ON COREY's side managed to get all the way around him and catch the rebound and put the ball back. I can take some blame because my guy did LUCKILY tip the ball to him, but it was an accident. Anyway, after going to the huddle we all thought they could possibly have the momentum in overtime because of what just happened. So Coach drew up the play. We go out to run it and I remember watching as Corey caught the ball and scored. In his words, "I was so open, I almost missed the shot". Then the dog pile came and a road trip to Memphis.

I remember going into Memphis and watching them warm up before the actual warmups. You look down and see all these huge ass guys trying to break the rim with their dunks and I'm thinking to myself, "hhhhhh... here we go again". Knowing throughout my career, not being a real 5, I've had to go up against a lot of guys that are a lot stronger than I am, although I definitely not about to back down. Anyway we get this game started and got off to a crazy start.

I think we opened up with almost a 10 point lead in the first 4 minutes. The reason I say 4 if people don't know is because TV timeouts are every 4 minutes which means an automatic break. Well then they come back and their crowd goes nuts and gets back behind them. They ended up winning, however I thought we played a very good game. In the locker room after the game, this is when I had to switch into my "Senior" mentality. I knew I only had one more year. The next day when we got back to Vandy I began working out for the next year.

In all, the NIT run was great because we got to see what we didn't see all year from people and it was once again another fun time being around the same guys you've been with 4 or more years of my life.

First Road Trip

I can proudly say I was there for Bobby Johnson and Jay Cutler's first game. Cutler was a redshirt freshman who I had heard very little about. I heard he won the job and was compared to Greg Zolman. My buddy Mike and I decided we would drive to Atlanta see them take on Georgia Tech. Tech was coming off a 7-5 year with a bowl win over Stanford. I was not exactly expecting us to win but I thought we'd keep it close.

One thing I've learned over the years as a Commodore fan is that when you think that we have an excellent shot at competing we get blown out. And when you think we have no shot we stay in the game until the fourth quarter until we do something really stupid to blow it.

It was a beautiful day in Atlanta. We left Nashville around 6 AM and got to Atlanta around 10. We went to the Varsity and had lunch then found a place to park that wasn't too expensive. We sat around and talked about how we had heard how Bobby Johnson took Furman from 3-8 all the way to the championship game in Division 2.

We sat in the corner of the endzone close to some VU studnets and we were pretty optimistic. We ended the 1st quarter 0-0. I felt pretty good about our chances going into the 2nd quarter. 31 points later it was halftime. We didn't even cross the 50 until the 4th quarter.

We stayed late into the 4th quarter and finally I had had enough. Down 45-0 I was pretty ticked off I drove 8 hours round trip to see a chainsaw fight a marshmallow. When we got the car Vandy drove down the field and Greg Johnson kicked a field goal to get on the board. I remember my buddy saying "Well at least they didn't get shut out." I wanted to choke him.

It was a long ride home. I remember playing Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" in my CD player. It was on that ride home that I came up with my Commodore anthem that my friends and I still sing to this day.

I'm a Commodore, on a losing streak I ride
Wanted 6 and 5.

Vandy Pride

I've been a Vandy fan all of my life. It's been a tough, winding road with some peaks and many, many valleys. The earliest memory I have of going to a Vandy game was when my Grandfather took me to see Vandy play Kentucky back in 1987. It was my first trip to Dudley field and I was excited. We lost of course but I was hooked. Alot of my friends in school were Alabama or UT fans but I couldn't fathom how someone could not pull for the hometown team.

As I got older I learned why. I'm not saying I have ever stopped rooting for my beloved Commodores but there have been times when I have wanted to pull my hair out or run onto the field and ask Bobby Johnson what in the hell was he thinking. My mom always liked Vandy. My dad was indifferent. He would go to the games with me but he didn't get upset if we lost. I took it personally. It ruined my week if we lost on Saturday or in Basketball it ruined the next three days until we played again. When we lost, I mean had victory stolen from us against Georgetown last year I moped around for a week.

There have been too many disappointments to list here but I'll go ahead and list a few. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when they happened;

1997 <!--google_ad_section_start-->LSU<!--google_ad_section_end-->- I had season tickets that year but I had to work. It was a big game because former coach Gerry DiNardo came back to Nashville and LSU was ranked number 14 in the country. I got off early and came home to listen to the 2nd half. LSU went up 7-0 in the 3rd qtr. Then QB Damian Allan hit Tavarus Hogans for a TD with less than a minute to go in the 4th qtr. Instead of kicking the extra point coach Woody Widenhofer wanted to go for two and the win. They lined up to go for two and got a delay of game penalty. They lined up to go for two again and got an illegal procedure called and then attempted a 30 yard extra point which was blocked. Game over We lose 7-6.

2001 MTSU- This was just the first in a long line of heartbreaking losses to the Blue Raiders. I worked in Murfreesboro at the time and I had talked a lot, and I mean a lot of smack. I had ran my mouth to anyone and everyone in the Boro about how the Commodores were going to kill the Blue Raiders. I even made a bet that I would grow my hair out for 6 months without a haircut if we lost. I just knew that Greg Zolman was the next Joe Montana and we would win by 3 touchdowns. I took my seat in the endzone around all the obnoxious Blue Raider fans and perpared all the things I was going to say to everyone at work the next day. Man, I was screwed.

Dwone Hicks looked like Eric Dickerson that night. He ran over everyone. MTSU jumped on us early with two unanswered TDs. We came back and took the lead into halftime 28-24. We didn't score again. In the 4th qtr Nezih Hasanoglu dropped a sure touchdown and after a fumbled snap on the field goal try we were doomed. It would have given us the lead. We had another drive that was stopped on 4th down with a few minutes left and that was it. MTSU scored another TD just to piss me off with a few seconds left and that was that. I remember the slow lonley walk to the car. My buddy Mike who was with me asked me if I wanted to talk about it and I said no. I just sat in my car and listened to Woody in his post game interview waiting for him to apologize to me personally but it never came. I returned to the Boro the next day a very humble man.

I just wanted to start a blog to chronicle my journey as a Vandy fan and in a few years it will be fun to look back and see what I thought about how we did. I look forward to writing about many, many victories but I won't be suprised if it's a bunch of incoherent curse words about how much I hate UT and how the refs screwed us. It's going to be fun.

I'll be back in a few days to post a little more on my beloved Commodores.