Vanderbilt vs. Florida Football: 10 Things You Need to Know About Vanderbilt

Four wins in a row. Bliss. Momentum. Swagger. Florida had it all. 

Fast forward one month: 

Four losses in a row. Injuries. Embarrassment. Frustration. Florida has it all.

What’s the perfect remedy you ask? Homecoming. They are 63-22-1 all-time on the big party weekend and had a 21-game homecoming win streak snapped last season against Mississippi State. They will be in good spirits: Brantley is back once again and with ninth-ranked South Carolina looming next week, this is a must-win. 

Vanderbilt is also in a must-win situation, something the program is not used to. They have games left against Kentucky, Tennessee and Wake Forest and are two wins away from eclipsing bowl eligibility, so yes, this is a must-win. The sooner they get to six wins the better. They have a lot of weapons people don’t know about, and I’m here to give you the rundown. 

Vanderbilt Is Due

The Vanderbilt Commodores have not beaten the Florida Gators since 1988. They have gone an unbelievable 0-20 in that stretch and have only come within single digits four times. Florida is struggling; there is no way around it. John Brantley came back and they still couldn’t win. They are very vulnerable and now is the time to pounce on them. This is another accolade James Franklin can add to his resume if they pull it off and like they always say, “The 21^st time is the charm.”

Homecoming Blues

Last season, Florida lost to Mississippi State on their homecoming weekend for the first time in 21 years. Jeff Driskel wasn’t even born when that streak started and now they are out for revenge. Florida’s on a terrible losing streak and a homecoming game is the perfect remedy. Vanderbilt has been Florida’s opponent on Homecoming 10 times already and have gone an ugly 1-8-1, so history is not on their side. 

They Have Fight

I mentioned last week when the Gators were playing Georgia not to mess with their defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. This week, I’ll say the same about James Franklin. We saw the two go face-to-face several weeks ago and Franklin’s intensity will only be higher after his team blew a win last week against Arkansas. 

Franklin said about the incident, "I went to find coach Richt and didn't find him, so I found one of his assistant coaches and it didn't go well." 

Will Muschamp, hide your assistants. 

James Franklin Can Coach

In his first season as head coach at Vanderbilt, James Franklin has already doubled last year's win total. They have scored 202 points so far, two shy of all of 2010 and they are two wins short of going to just their second bowl game since 1982. They should already be at the 6-win plateau and bowl eligible by now, but they blew late-game opportunities against Georgia and Arkansas. 

Among many other things, he’s already brought in what critics have said is Vanderbilt’s best recruiting class in years, has molded Zac Stacy into a true running back and has given the Commodores their first 3-0 start since World War II, all at a school with strict admission requirements and no true athletic director. 

He’s given Vanderbilt exactly what it needed—motivation. Since their spring game, he’s shown exuberance on the sideline and confidence in his players. He’s poised to have a long, successful coaching career, and that is a giant leap in the right direction for the Commodores. 

Jordan Rodgers

The guy's got good genes. Very good genes and were not talking about the blue kind.

Jordan is the younger brother of Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and he’s taking this offense by storm. He’s been riddled with injuries throughout his college career and is finally capable of showing us what he’s got. He’s a dual-threat quarterback that can get you with his arm and legs.

Since he started to take on a bigger role in the Alabama game, he’s rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for another 577 yards and two touchdowns. He was thrown onto the field unexpectedly when Larry Smith went down with a lower leg injury, and like Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel, he faced arguably the nation's best defense. Since that game, he has increased his productivity and may give the Florida defense some problems. 

Zac Stacy Is OK

Zac Stacy is on a tear. He’s a small, lightning-quick running back that is making a name for himself and only three teams have stopped the Alabama native so far this season: 

• Elon in a sloppy, opening-week game in which he only had eight carries and the rushing game saw eight additional Commodores carry the ball. 
• South Carolina. They had their chances. Stephen Garcia threw four interceptions, but Vandy was playing catch-up the whole game and could never get the running game started. Stacy ran the ball only seven times for 18 yards and Vanderbilt as a team only accrued four yards on the ground. Yikes. 
• Alabama. Four carries for four yards. Three receptions for negative four yards. Zero yards on the day. Yea, Alabama is that good. No one’s scored over 14 points on them this season and Stacy joined the “I Couldn’t Do Anything Against Alabama” Club, along with the rest of the country. 

Take those three games away and Zac Stacy is having an excellent season. Take those three games away and he’s averaging 130 yards per game on the ground and has scored six touchdowns. It’s also proven that if you can stop him, you seriously slow down the offense. In games that he has rushed for more than 90 yards, Vandy is averaging 35 points per game; in the others, 18. 

Stop the Run, Stop the Commodores

As I previously mentioned, this is a running team. Jordan Rodgers is better under center than Larry Smith, but the team as a whole is still lacking in the air attack. They rank 105^th in the FBS in passing offense, averaging 152.6 yards per game and before last week’s 240-yard performance against Arkansas, they maxed out at 186 as a high for the season. 

James Franklin played quarterback in college, he was the quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator from 2006-07 at Kansas State where he mentored the current Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman and fathered an offense that became the first team in school history to feature a 3,000-yard passer, 1,500-yard receiver, and 1,000-yard rusher in the same season. So the clock is ticking, and with every minute, this offense will get better under Franklin, but until they stop putting up mediocre numbers, you can beat them by stuffing the run all game. 

They Are a Tricky Bunch

One great adjective that has been used in describing Vanderbilt’s offense this season is unpredictable, and in football, that’s a great thing. How can you prepare for a team if you don’t know what they will do? 

So far this season, running back Zac Stacy has attempted four halfback passes, one of which resulted in a 43-yard touchdown. Defensive back Casey Hayward has rushed the ball four times this season, three of which have gone for reverses and when he reverses, he averages 19.0 yards. They have gone for it on fourth down 11 times this season, succeeding on eight of them, one of which came last week against Arkansas from their own 28-yard line! 

Defensively, they will come at you with loads of different packages. They have totaled 15 interceptions, 17 sacks and 58 tackles for a loss this season and they still have four games left. 

Don’t Throw to Casey Hayward

Vanderbilt defensive back Casey Hayward was recently named a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist. The award goes out every year to the nation's best defensive back and Hayward deserves to be on this list. He’s tied for fourth nationally with five interceptions this season and is two shy of tying Leonard Coleman for the school-record with 15 in his career. He’s also the SEC’s active career leader in interceptions. That should tell you how good he is considering his competition down south. He’s a shut-down corner and it will be very interesting to see how he will be used against a Florida offense that is chock full of weapons. 

Watch out for Fugger

I’m sure this guy’s heard it all when it comes to nicknames, but when you get down to the nitty-gritty, Tim Fugger’s a real player. Of his 24 tackles this season, 11 of them have come for a loss and five of them were sacks. He’s forced two fumbles, recovered one and will be after John Brantley all day. He needs to be on their radar at all times. 

The defense as a whole has had a total facelift. They have held four teams including Arkansas to less than 100 rush yards and rank sixth in the SEC in total defense. They have returned interceptions for scores in three straight games—only twice since World War II has that happened. This is not the same team Florida has faced in the past and a win for Vandy is definitely possible.