Kyle Shurmur, 21-of-34 for 416 yards and two TDs, superb performance by our young quarterback. The future is here. Ralph Webb, what else can you say about the ultimate Vanderbilt man. Playing on an ankle that has been bothering him for the past month and a half, the junior warrior from Gainesville, FL. rushed for 114 yards on 21 carries with two TDs, with the last one a 28 yard scamper in which he ran over the Tennessee defensive back and plowed into the end zone. RW now has the all time VU rushing record set by legendary Zac Stacy. Ralph has now rushed for 3,231 yards and counting heading into our bowl game. Ralph set the freshman single season rushing record with 907 yards in 2014, the sophomore rushing record in 2015 with 1,152 yards, and is second on the junior single season rushing record with 1,173 yards. Zac set the junior record with 1,193 yards in 2011. Zac’s career mark in an epic career on the West End was 3,143 yards from 2009-12. Ralph is a legend in Vanderbilt football and there is a bowl game and a possible senior year from Ralph if he decides he wants to keep it going and play on a team in 2017 with huge goals. 

Trent Sherfield, one of the hardest working players in college football, caught 9 passes for 184 yards. Caleb Scott, the acrobatic, superior wide out, caught 4 passes for 117 yards. Our 45 points in our 45-34 victory was the most points we’ve scored since 1971. Wow. And the amazing Zach Cunningham. I don’t know what else to say about this ultimate stud, as he just keeps on amazing the VU nation. Zach added 9 tackles and a fumble recovery, as usual. Ryan White, our superb leader at safety, led the team in tackles with 10. And our offensive line, led by fifth year senior center Barrett Gouger and fifth year senior left tackle Will Holden, dominated the line of scrimmage once again. You can’t give those guys and their coach, Cameron Norcross, enough credit for the job they’ve done this year. It’s been a spectacular display of line play. Dominance by an all star unit.

Just so proud for Coach Mason, Coach Ludwig and the staff. Coach Ludwig has our offense churning out the yards and the 7’s. It’s remarkable to watch. The job Coach Mason has done is nothing short of amazing. The ability to keep his team motivated through the tough times earlier this season and to have them believing they can be the football team he envisioned from the start of the season, is nothing short of spectacular. This football team is as good as any team in the SEC East. I would say that us and Kentucky are the best two teams in the SEC East right now. I’d love to get another shot at them. It’s thrilling to be a part of this.

A couple of things. Zach deserves SEC defensive player of the year and the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker. Kyle deserves SEC offensive player of the week. We had some young players like conerbacks Joejuan Williams and  Donovan Sheffield and inside linebacker Josh Smith get very meaningful snaps, and three of our starting offensive linemen are sophomores and redshirt freshmen with plenty of backups who are young. C.J, Duncan made a huge catch and run on a third down deep in our own territory. We’ve got superb seniors, 26 of them, who deserve this so much for their work ethic and perseverance. Strength Coach James Dobson deserves a lot of credit. Our assistance, Coaches Ludwig, Norcross, Chris Marve, Osai Lewis, Cortez Hankton, Gerry Gdowski, Jeff Genuyk and Marc Mattioli were exceptional in the resurgence of Vanderbilt football. It was a collective effort by a group that believed they could go from good to great from the middle to the end of the season.

The bowls are interesting. I think Coach Mason and the players would go to Moscow to play in a a bowl game. I’d try to jump on the charter flight with them. Right now the options are the Birmingham Bowl, the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, the Advocare Texas Bowl in Houston, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Just tell us where to go, we’ll be there. The bowls will make their selections this Sunday afternoon, so we’ll know then.

Just proud of our head coach, our assistants, and our players. Vanderbilt football is stellar and will be for a long time under Derek Mason. 

Kam Pettway is good to go with his 1,106 yards and 7 touchdowns, a huge boost to the Auburn offense as he’ll team up with Kerryon Johnson, who has battled some injuries this season, but looks close to 100% and rushed for 823 yards and 11, sevens. Sean White is up in the air. It may be Jeremy Johnson under center with stuff for John Franklin III. The Crimson Tide looks good to go for the most part. Don’t know of any serious injuries, though there have been some injury issues on the offensive line. Should be another classic. Rivalry games abound throughout the country with conference championship and playoff implications all on the line. Should be quite a Thanksgiving weekend of college football. Here’s a look at the action with predictions enclosed.

Last week: 19-9

Overall: 186-83, 69%

 

The 81st Iron Bowl

No. 13 Auburn (8-3, 5-2) @ No. 1 Alabama (11-0, 7-0)

Bryant-Denny Stadium, T-town, 101, 821

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

CBS 

Verne, Gary, Allie

The Crimson Tide struggled some in the first half against Chattanooga last Saturday, but the Mocs had a good defense. Jalen Hurts and the offense got it together in the second half with Jalen completing 15 of 21 passes for 136 yards and three, 7’s for the game. He also ran for 68 yards. Damien Harris played well, running for 91 yards and a 7. Alabama holds a 44-25-1 advantage over Auburn, and this one is in Tuscaloosa, so it’s a major advantage for the Crimson Tide. But Kirk Herbstreit said before the season that Auburn’s defense would keep them in every football game and it has. Kam Pettway has developed into an outstanding running back and Kerryon Johnson is one of my favorite players in the SEC. I love his effort and energy. The Crimson Tide’s defense is as good as S has ever had and that’s an extremely high bar. But I’m expecting a good, competitive football game. Jeremy Johnson could get the call for the Tigers with Sean White questionable. I like the Crimson Tide like everybody else, but the Tigers’ defense will keep it close, and give Auburn a shot. They’ll have to figure out how to run the ball and move it against the best defense in the country in the last several years, but if they do, they’ll give themselves a chance.. 

Bama 24, AU 13

 

The Game

No. 3 Michigan (10-1, 7-1)  @ No.2 Ohio State (10-1, 7-1)

Ohio Stadium, Columbus, 104,944

11 AM CT/Noon ET

ABC

Chris, Herbie, Sam

Stellar matchup between two teams in the thick of things for the college football playoff. Jim Harbaugh’s starting quarterback, Wilton Speights, has a broken collarbone, but Jim wants him to play if at all possible. It’ll be hard, so he’ll probably have to go with John O’Korn, who struggled last week against Indiana at the Big House. But Michigan’s defense will keep them in it. Ohio State plays good defense as well, and the quarterback and skilled players edge goes to J.T. Barrett, redshirt freshman running back Mike Weber, who has rushed for 1,046 yards and eight TDs, and  junior tailback Curtis Samuel, who has rushed for 650 yards and 7 TDs. I like this to be a hard fought, highly physical, defensive contest, with the Buckeys a few more plays than the Wolverines. If Ohio State wins and Penn State loses to Michigan State, Ohio State will go to Big Ten Championship game. If Michigan wins, they go to Indianapolis the following Saturday to play Wisconsin or Nebraska. If Wisconsin beats Minnesota, they’ll be the west representative. If Nebraska wins and Wisconsin loses, they’ll go. I expect a backyard brawl in Columbus Saturday. 

Ohio State 14, Michigan 10

 

No. 15 Florida (8-2) @ No. 17 Florida State (8-3)

Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, 82, 300 

7 PM CT/8 PM ET

ABC

Tess, Todd, Holly

Coach Jim McElwain and his Gators went into Baton Rouge last Saturday as a double digit underdog and upset LSU improbably. It was poetic justice as LSU athletic director Joe Alleva had jerked Florida around about the game. The game was supposed to be at Florida originally, but the Hurricane postponed it and LSU wouldn’t play it unless it was at their stadium. The Gators got the last laugh though. They only play 11 regular season games this season because, like LSU, they had to cancel another regularly scheduled game, Florida against Presbyterian and LSU against South Alabama. Glad they did. That was an epic last Saturday. Now they get to play the LSU game in Gainesville the next two years, so it really worked out well for the Gators. Coach Mac can be a little uncomfortable to listen to in interviews, but I like him a lot and he’s a really good football coach. I like the 7 1/2 point underdog Gators to get it done over the Noles Saturday Night. 

Florida 24, FSU 21

 

“Clean, Old Fashioned Hate”

Georgia Tech (7-4) @ Georgia (7-4)

Sanford Stadium, Athens, 92,746

11 AM CT/Noon ET

SEC Network

Dave Neal, Stinch, Olivia Harlan

This should be quite a football game between the Hedges on Saturday. I’m going with the upset here.

Tech 35, Georgia 31

 

The Palmetto Bowl

South Carolina (6-5) @ No. 4 Clemson (10-1)

Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC, “Death Valley”, 81,500

6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET

ESPN

Dave Pasch, Greg, Lugues

This game has major playoff implications for the Tigers, and means a ton to the Gamecocks, who, under first year coach Will Muschamp, are going bowling. Will has needed to change the culture of the program that really floundered at the end of the Steve Spurrier regime. I see Will getting it done in Columbia in the upcoming years, but I like the Tigers of Clemson to get the job done on Saturday Night and survive and advance.

Clemson 31, South Carolina 17

 

No. 17 Tennessee (8-3, 4-3) @ Vanderbilt (5-6,2-5)

Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, 39, 790

6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET

SEC Network

Tom Hart, Andre, Cole 

I love what Derek Mason is doing at VU. Huge victory last Saturday over Ole Miss, 38-17. I’m going with my Dores to pull off the upset.

Vandy 31, UT 28

 

The Egg Bowl

Mississippi State (4-7, 2-5) @ Ole Miss (5-6, 2-5)

Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, 64, 038

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

SEC Network

Brent, Jess, Kaylee

The Rebs looked like they had it together two weeks ago when super freshman Shea Patterson led them to an electric victory over A&M at College Station with an amazing fourth quarter comeback. But last week, the Vandy defense had Shea running all over the field and his receivers dropped a massive number of passes. But I like the home team here. State’s had a tough year, but I like their program. They will be back, but it’ll be interesting to see if Dan Mullen stays or leaves for what he’d consider a greener pasture, though I think he’s lucky to have the job in Starkville.

Ole Miss 38, Mississippi State 31

 

Thursday

LSU (6-4, 4-3) @ Texas A&M (8-3, 4-3)

Kyle Field, College Station, TX., 102, 733

6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET

ESPN

Dave Flemming, Jess, Laura Rutledge

I’m not sure what to think about this game. Two teams pretty much reeling. I’ll take the favorite here.

LSU 24, A&M 14

 

The Governor’s Cup

Kentucky (6-5) @ No. 11 Louisville (9-2)

Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, Louisville, KY 55, 000

11 AM CT/Noon ET

ESPN

Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Dr. Jerry Punch

The Cardinals looked to me like an elite team heading into the Houston game last Thursday Night, but the Cougars blasted them and dispelled the belief that they are elite and that Bobby Petrino is an elite coach. He’s a good coach, but not a great coach. He’s not on S’s, Urb’s, or Jim’s level, And many others for that matter. He’s also a pretty lousy guy. He’ll win here because he’s a better coach than Mike Stoops and his team is better.

Louisville 48, Kentucky 21

 

Friday

Arkansas (7-4, 3-4) @ Missouri (3-8, 1-6)

Faurot Field, Columbia, MO., 71,004

1:30 PM CT/2:30 PM ET

CBS

Brett Bielema’s team has confused me with their inconsistency. I’ve picked them to beat Auburn and LSU and they’ve gotten blasted. And then I pick against them at State last Saturday, and they blast State. They’re a confusing team. I do like their team though. They blasted Florida at home and had a really good victory earlier in the season at TCU, which, at the time, looked very good. Brett does a good job in Fayetteville. To make Arkansas elite is a challenge, but he’s doing a really good job there overall.

Hogs 38, Missouri 28

 

Other key games

Saturday

No. 9 Colorado 34, No. 22 Utah 31

6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET

FOX

Should be a hard fought, physical football game. These two teams play like SEC schools. These two along with Washington and USC, are SEC-like football teams.

 

Friday

The Apple Cup

No. 5 Washington 38, Washington State 30

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

Fox Sports 1

Like the Huskies to win here in a good, hard fought game and advance to the Pac-12 Championship game a week from Friday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Cali and keep their hopes alive for getting in the playoff. They have a good shot.  

 

Saturday

No. 6 Wisconsin 28, Minnesota 24

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

Big Ten Network

The Badgers keep their hopes alive to get in the playoff. It’ll take a victory Saturday, a victory in the Big Ten Championship game and they’re right there. 

 

No.7 Penn State 24, Michigan State 21

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

ESPN

The Nittany Lions keep their hopes alive for the playoff. If they win out, this week, and next Saturday in the Big Ten Championship game, and the committee is impressed, they’ve got a legitimate shot. I don’t see them as a top four team, but they could get in by winning out. 

Friday

No. 19 Boise State 38, Air Force 35 

2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

CBS Sports Network

The interesting thing about this game is that the Broncos need to win and need Wyoming to lose, so they can be the west representative in the Mountain West Conference Championship game. Wyoming plays at New Mexico, a pretty good team. If Boise State wins, but Wyoming wins, Boise would probably be out of the New Year’s Six bowl.  The highest Group of 5 team at the end of the season in the playoff top 25 rankings goes to the Cotton Bowl. The “Group of Five” is composed of the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West, and the Sun Belt. if Boise loses they would be overtaken by either No. 20 Houston, No. 21 Western Michigan or No. 25 Navy, pending their respective outcomes Saturday. I’m a believer in Houston, but Navy beat them. They’re both better than Western Michigan in my opinion. Navy is the wild card if they win Saturday at SMU, which has become a pretty tough out under Chad Morris, and then beats Army soundly in the Army-Navy game a week from Saturday. I like the Academy to be the Group of 5 rep in the Cotton Bowl if that happens.

 

Friday

Toledo 35, Western Michigan 31

4 PM CT/5 PM ET

ESPN2

Going with the upset here knocking Western Michigan out of the New Year’s Six Bowl.

 

Saturday

No. 25 Navy 42, SMU 38

2:30 PM CT/ 3:30 PM ET

ESPNU

Like the Midshipmen to play well offensively like they always do and survive an explosive offensive team in SMU under Chad Morris. 

 

No. 20 Houston 48, Memphis 24

Friday, 11 AM CT/Noon ET

ABC
 

The Cougars are still a really good football team. Texas is after Tom Herman according to many, but he needs to concentrate on his team. He’s got a good situation with players who are counting on him. 

 

Arizona 42, Arizona State 38

Friday, 8:30 PM CT/ 9:30 PM ET

ESPN

Like Rich Rod to pull off the slight upset at home. 

 

Wyoming 35, New Mexico 31

9:15 PM CT/10:15 PM ET

ESPN2

May be worth staying up later to watch this one. I watched the end of the Wyoming-San Diego State game last Saturday, and it was a classic with Wyoming winning 34-33 after San Diego State scored a touchdown with no time left on the clock, but went for two and didn’t get it as Wyoming knocked the throw back pass down in the end zone to preserve the victory. Craig Bohl, in his second year, has Wyoming at 8-3 and 6-1 in the Mountain West, and with a victory, they earn a trip to the Mountain West Championship game a week from Saturday. But New Mexico is 5-2 in the Mountain Division and 7-4 overall, and a pretty good team under Bob Davie. New Mexico lost to Boise State, so if New Mexico wins, Boise State would host San Diego State in the MWC Championship game. If Wyoming wins, they would host the Mountain West Championship game versus San Diego State, which will win the west. Wyoming could make a case for a New Year’s Six bowl by winning out. So some classic stuff going on in college football this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the games. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our football team played their best game to date under Derek Mason in a tremendous victory over the Ole Miss Rebels, 38-17, before 27,763 at Vanderbilt Stadium Saturday Night. It was spectacular.

Game balls go to the entire team and, of course, Coach Mason and the staff. It’s hard to single out a particular player because the whole team was so dominant in this football game. Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson put on a superb performance against A&M the week before in College Station and everyone, including me, picked Ole Miss to win. I was wrong and I couldn’t have been happier. I believe in this football team, this staff, and I got away from my belief last week. I apologize to Coach Mason and the team. That won’t happen again.

I’ll start with the offensive line. From left tackle to right tackle, respectively, Will Holden, Ean Pfeifer, Barrett Gouger, Bruno Reagan and Justin Skule were dominant, and just out-physicaled the Ole Miss defense. Our skilled players were tremendous, but it all started with how seniors Holden and Gouger and the younger three guys opened holes for Ralph, protected Kyle and  dominated the line of scrimmage. More than terrific effort by this group once again. Coach Cameron Norcross has brought a toughness and physicality to our offensive line. He’s been fantastic. Love this line. 

Ralph was typical Ralph. He’s been bothered by a sore ankle the past month but has been toughing it out and playing through it. But Saturday he was back to being Ralph Webb, rushing for 123 yards on 20 carries with three TDs. Ralph is something like 25 yards from breaking Zac Stacy’s all time rushing mark at VU. He’s also a redshirt junior, so we have another year of Ralph, along with a ton of other guys. Sophomore quarterback Kyle Shurmur was off the charts good as well. Kyle was 17 of 30 for 273 yards and 2 TDs, one to junior Trent Sherfield, and the other to freshman Bailey McElwain. Superb effort by Kyle and the receivers. Trent and Bailey did some super things, and  wrs C.J. Duncan, Caleb Scott and tight endJared Pinkney were awesome. Darrius Sims made his presence known again. Darrius had 10 carries for 50 yards as we are using him more and more in the running game and he caught 2 passes for 53 yards. He’s just been a phenomenal player for us. What a super football player Darrius is. He made a beautiful catch over the middle and ran it for 39 yards on a perfect Kyle pass. Love the Darrius explosive play factor. This offense under Coach Andy Ludwig has blossomed and there is another game and very hopefully two more to get even more explosive and use that toughness that we have running the ball with our dominant offensive line and Ralph, Khari, Dallas Rivers and Josh Crawford.

And our defense just wore out Shea Patterson. He was running for his life all night with our defense putting massive pressure on him and putting lick after lick on him. Zach made a huge fumble recovery. It was a beautiful scoop pickup off a lost ball by Ole Miss tailback Akeem Judd. Nickel back Taurean Ferguson posted eight tackles, linebacker Jordan Griffin added six, Oren Burks also finished with 6 and played with superb leadership like Oren always does, and Zach posted five. But it was a collective effort by our defense. Adam Butler, Jonathan Wynn and our d line were constantly getting the heat on Patterson. Zach and others were playing the role of a spy on Patterson and never let him break one off. Our secondary, Taurean, Torren McGaster, LaDarius Wiley and Arnold Tarpley were superior. We put pressure on their receivers all night, causing their really good receivers to drop balls.

Coach Mason did another spectacular job with the defense. This may have been his best work in three years and that’s a pretty high bar. I just loved the way our defense and our entire football team played Saturday Night.

We’ve got a chance to make a bowl with 5 wins because of our off the charts APR numbers. Our kids do so well in school and there may not be enough six win teams to fill the bowl slots, so our APR numbers will get us in even if we don’t get 6 victories. And that is a distinct possibility.

But we don’t want that. We want six wins and we want it against our rival from some other place. Coach Mason embraces this rivalry. We want this game. We want our seniors to go out with 6 wins and a 7 with a bowl win. We want to get the extra 20 days of  practice for a bowl game to prepare for next season and win a bowl game again for our super seniors, and it is huge for recruiting to go to a bowl game. I’ve got something on recruiting coming up in a moment. 

So we want to take care of business Saturday Night in Vanderbilt Stadium at 6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET on the SEC Network. They have a good quarterback in Joshua Dobbs, a really good running back in Alvin Kamara and some good skilled players. Their defense is talented. They’re big and physical. So we have to have a super week of practice to get ready for this hugely important game Saturday Night. I like what I’m seeing out of this football team. If we play like we played against Ole Miss we’re going to like the result Saturday Night and beat this intense rival.

Commit

We got a stellar commit  yesterday from 6’4″, 205 pound solid three star safety Nico Bolden. Nico is our 13th commit for the 2017 class. I watched Nico’s film and he took two kicks back to house for 90+ yards, he is a super punt returner and  Nico is a superior hitter as a safety and an explosive player at wide out and on jet sweeps. Nico is out of St. Paul, Minnesota, Woodbury Senior High School. He joins solid three star corners Randall Haynie, 6’0″, 178 and Adam Sparks, 6’0″, 170, and safety Tae Daley, 5’11”, 175, as our secondary commits. Coach Mason loves his secondary and these are superb additions to a loaded group for 2017. I love this class and there are more to come. 

Zach Cunningham

Zach was named a finalist for the Butkus Award, given to the best linebacker in the country. The Butkus Foundation will announce their 32nd Award winner on or before Tuesday, December 6th. Hopeful that our spectacular linebacker and first class young man wins this highly prestigious award. Zach is more than deserving. Zach leads all linebackers in the country with 16.5 tackles for loss. Zach also shares the conference lead with three fumble recoveries. He is the first Commodore to post back to back 100+ tackles since Jamie Winborn accomplished that in 1999-2000. His fourth and one stop of Isaiah McKenzie of Georgia won the game for us in Athens this season. Zach came out of nowhere to blast McKenzie and secure our tremendous victory. And his amazing jump over the center and block of Daniel Carlson’s field goal attempt was one for the ages in Vanderbilt lore and to me the best play of the college football season so far as he gave our team a chance to tie Auburn late in the game at Auburn in a game in which we were a double digit underdog.

Joining Zach as finalists are Kendall Beckwith of LSU, Jarrad Davis of Florida. Reuben Foster of Alabama and Josey Jewell of Iowa. All of these guys are deserving, but Zach’s work this season is so superb. Obviously I’m biased, but to me Zach’s resume is the best. Pulling hard for our stud from Pinson, Alabama. Zach has a very bright future in this game, and wants to go to a bowl game like the rest of our football team does. Let’s beat the Vols.

David Price 

Dave donated $2.5 million to the baseball facility which has completed the necessary funding for the project and it is all systems go now. Typical DP. One of the best pitchers in baseball, David has a special place in his heart for Corbs and Vanderbilt University. He’s been a superb ambassador for our program. Proud to have him represent us in the major leagues and looking forward to some more super years from DP. Excited for Dave and the Bosox in 2017. Dansby, Curt Casali and Mike “Yaz” Yastremski were in attendance for the press conference last Friday. What a representative of the best baseball program in the country. Ready for our team to get cranking in January of 2017. Also ready to see David, Dans, Sonny, Carson, Pedro, hopefully Mike, Curt, hopefully Yaz, who is with the Baltimore Orioles organization and played for the Triple A Norfolk Tides this season and has a shot to make the big squad in Baltimore next season, and many of our other guys compete in the major leagues. David is a dedicated Vanderbilt man. Proud to have him as one of our guys. Our baseball facility will be the crown jewel in college baseball. It’s going to be a masterpiece.

Basketball lost last night to Bucknell. We play Butler Thursday Night at 7 PM CT/8 PM ET in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fox Sports 1 will televise. Butler is outstanding, so it’ll be a major challenge. We have a lot of good players on our team led by Luke Kornet, Matthew Fisher- Davis and Riley LaChance, we just need to figure out our chemistry. it’s a work in progress, but we’ll get there by conference time. It’s a challenge against a very good Butler team Thursday Night, but I’m excited to see our guys compete again and keep getting better. We’re 2-2 right now. 

The women’s basketball team got a huge 77-73 victory over Duke Sunday Night at home. Duke has been to Final Fours recently and is one of the standard bearer programs of women’s  basketball. Super job by Coach Stephanie White and the girls. We have a chance to be pretty special. 

Coach Mason takes his team into Columbia, Missouri for a 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET kickoff against the Missouri Tigers. The game will be televised by the SEC Network. VU comes into the game at 4-5 overall, and 1-4 in the SEC. Missouri is 2-7 overall and 0-5 in the SEC, but came off a solid effort at South Carolina in a 31-21 loss. They’ve got talent and are dangerous. We are coming off a heroic effort at Auburn, losing 23-16, in a game which included a highly questionable overturn of a fumble call on the field with us leading 13-10. With that fumble caused by Zach in the third quarter and recovered by us, we would have really had the momentum. But the replay official didn’t see it that way, unfortunately. We still had a shot of winning at the end, after Zach made an amazing leap over the snapper and blocked Daniel Carlson’s field goal attempt. It was an epic moment in college football this season. Kyle and the offense moved us down the field, but we had an unfortunate interception at the end. Still super effort by Zach, Kyle, the offensive line, the wide receivers, the whole team. As Bill Belichick said after a Monday Night Patriots loss a couple of years ago, it’s “Onto Missouri.” The Patriots won the Super Bowl two years ago when Bill said that. 

And this is a colossal game for us. Coach Mason said in his press conference our goals are in front of us and they start with beating Missouri tomorrow. Continued good play by the offensive line, Kyle excelling in the passing game, great work by Ralph and Khari and maybe Josh, and superb work by Zach and the defense gets us over the top in Columbia.

Us 28, them 24

 

VU Basketball

The Bryce Drew era opens tonight in Annapolis, Maryland in the Veteran’s Classic as our basketball team opens its season up against the Marquette Golden Eagles at 5:30 CT/6:30 ET on CBS Sports Network.  

Talked to Bryce last Thursday and he’s pumped. We have only 10 scholarship players on our roster, so we need to stay healthy, but Coach Drew’s goal this season is to win every game and make a deep run in March. He’s going to be a special coach for us. We have Luke Kornet, our 7’1″, 250 pound senior center. leading the way along with Matthew Fisher-Davis, Riley LaChance, Jeff Roberson, Nolan Cressler, Joe Toye, Camron Justice, redshirt freshman Djerry Baptiste, 6’10”, 240, and freshman Payton Willis, a 6’4″ point guard, and 6’8″, 220 freshman power forward Clevon Brown. Will be an exciting team. Marquette finished 20-13 last year and have a good team returning. It’s a tough matchup for our guys, and will be a test right out of the gates.

Coach Drew signed three, 4-star players in the early signing period; 6’9″, 230 pound power forward-center Ejike Obinna from Ashburn, VA., 6’2″, 180 shooting guard Maxwell Evans from Houston Texas, and 6’1″, 175 pound point guard Saben Lee from Tempe, Arizona. Super recruiting by Coach Drew and the staff securing these talented players from the east coast and southwest. They all look like superb players.

But I’m excited for 2016-17, too. We’ve got good players and we can do some stellar work this season and continue that into March. It starts tonight.

VU 75, Marquette 72

Luke List

Luke shot 66 yesterday at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. He is at -5, five shots back of leader Gary Woodland, who is -10 today through 11 in his second round. Luke tees off at 10:40 AM CT today. Luke’s been playing super golf the past three weeks and is on the verge of breaking through. Will keep you posted over the weekend.

Jay, Andre, JMatt and Casey in action this Sunday. Will have a report on all four on Monday.

Huge game tonight and gigantic game tomorrow. Need to Anchor Down and get it done in Annapolis and Columbia tonight and tomorrow respectively. 

 

Have a super Veteran’s Day. Today is a day to honor our service men and women. Thank you very much Veterans for protecting our country. All Americans owe a great debt to you guys. 

Our NFL players had a superb weekend on Sunday and Monday. 

Casey Hayward had a pick six for the San Diego Chargers against the Denver Broncos though the Chargers lost a tough one at Mile High, 27-19, to the Broncos. Casey already has 34 tackles on the season and four ints. He’s come into his own in San Diego. The Chargers fell to 3-5 on the season, and the Broncos moved to 6-2, but I like this Chargers team. They are highly competitive and I expect them to keep playing well this season

Andre Hal had five tackles on Sunday in a Texans’ 20-13 victory over the Lions. The Texans moved to 5-3 on the season. Andre now has 26 tackles on the season and an int. Andre is having a super year at safety for Houston, like Casey is at corner for San Diego.

JMatt had an exceptional game for the Philly Eagles Sunday Night at Dallas catching 11 passes for 65 yards and a seven against the Cowboys in a 29-23 Cowboys’ overtime victory. Dak Prescott has been phenomenal for the Cowboys. Love that for Dak. He’s an awesome young man. JMatt has always been awesome. Jordan has 36 receptions for 419 yards and 3 TDs this season. The Eagles fell to 4-3 on the season, but have a very good team. They’ll be in the mix for the postseason for sure. Love where JMatt is. He, quarterback Carson Wentz and running back Darren Sproles just need some help from the other playmakers on offense. I see that happening. The defense is solid. Believe in JMatt, of course, and his football team.

Jay Cutler gave a passionate pre-game speech to his teammates Monday Night before the Bears game with the Minnesota Vikings then played a superior game against the Vikings as the Bears were victorious, 20-10, Monday Night. Jay had been out for five weeks with a sprained thumb, but really excelled against the No.1 defense in the National Football League. Jay was 20-of-31 for 252 yards with a 7, and the Bears ran it well and played like Urlacher and Lovie Smith defenses used to play. It was amazing how good the defense was. The Bears moved to 2-6 on the season, but even though the record isn’t good, that was a huge victory over the 5-2 Vikings. The Bears still believe they can make the postseason. I want Jay to finish strong this year and keep being a Bear. I love Jay in Chicago. The city fits his personality. Ready to see Jay shine the rest of this season. 

Our men’s golf team is the No.1 team in the country according to Golfstat.com , the premiere college golf ranking sitein my opinion. We’ve got a super team led by sophomores Will Gordon and Patrick Martin and senior Matthias Schwab. Coach Scott Limbaugh has built a powerhouse that has a shot to win it all in the spring. We’ve already won a tournament this fall and lost a tough match play event to defending national champion Oregon at East Lake in Atlanta. But I love where our program is headed under Scott. We’ve already arrived. I watched the matches yesterday. Just need to make a few more putts in the spring and we can win it all. We’ve certainly got the talent.

Luke List finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, MS. over the weekend. Luke finished in a tie for second with two other players at -16, four shots back of winner Cody Gribble, a 26 year old from the University of Texas, who was lightning clutch on the back side on Sunday. Luke shot 71-66-65-70, and earned $330,000 and moved to No. 15 in the Fed Ex Cup Standings. Super weekend for the 31 year old from Seattle, Washington. Luke has arrived. Luke and Jon Curran are playing in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open this weekend in Las Vegas. Maybe one of them can win. Like where both of them are and love where Brandt is with his game. Man, he was so good at the Ryder Cup. Expecting a big year from B in 2017. Brandt’s next tournament will be at Sea Island in The RSM Classic, Nov. 17-20th. I see guys like Matthias, Will and Patrick making the tour in the future. Fully expect that from them.

Zach Cunningham was named as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award given to the nation’s best linebacker, and also a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik award given to the best defensive player in the country. Zach is one of 12 players selected for the Butkus Award, and one of 18 players selected for the Bednarik Award. Super work by Zach. Couldn’t happen to a better guy. There are some really good linebackers and defensive players nationally, with many in the SEC, but I’d put Zach up there with the best of them. Hoping and praying that Zach has a good shot at one of these awards, but if he doesn’t, it’s still an incredible honor to be selected as a semifinalist to begin with. What a great guy and super player. 

Auburn’s tough, but I expect our guys to play really well Saturday @ Auburn @ 11 AM CT/ Noon ET  on ESPN. The Tigers are a really good football team, but I believe in our guys. We need to make some short, mid range, solid and explosive throws in the passing game, our o line needs to handle their front four, and Ralph, Khari and Josh need to have really good games running the football. Our defense will have to control the Auburn running game with Kam Pettway and Kerryon Johnson. Pettway is a load at 6’2″, 245, and he can run. Johnson went to Madison Academy in Huntsville, AL., like JMatt did, and he’s outstanding. They’ve got a solid quarterback in Sean White and have developed some good playmakers on the perimeter. Their defense is very good.

We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I really like where our football team is at. I really like our players, our head coach, and our assistants. Our goals are still in front of us. We can get to a bowl game for the seniors, win it and finish off a superb year in recruiting. It starts Saturday. Let’s go down to Auburn and shock the country.