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Thursday, October 23, 2008
Vanderbilt valiant, but Dogs dazzle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — It isn’t easy being Vanderbilt. They call you the Commodores, which in some quarters is considered sort of snobbish. Everybody seems to want a date with your football team on homecoming day. Georgia is no exception. And it seems the Bulldogs have been having the Commodores more often than you might think. I have no book on it, but here they were again. I can’t say how many times it has happened, but I know that in the past 20 years, Vandy has beaten Georgia only three times, and two times the Commodores were the Bulldogs’ homecoming guests.
Two years ago audacious Vandy beat the Bulldogs here in Sanford Stadium, and last year were on the verge of making a streak of it, heading for the end zone when a rather careless Commodores ball-carrier lost the ball, the Bulldogs recovered and kicked a field goal and won in Nashville. “Carrying the ball like a loaf of bread,” a disgruntled Vandy alum said yesterday. I don’t remember the player’s name, but I do remember that it was hyphenated, which made it even worse.
Vanderbilt came into Athens this time with high hopes. I wouldn’t say the soothsayers offered the Commodores much encouragement. The Bulldogs were favored by two touchdowns, and they were close. The score was 24-14, Georgia won, and you can throw out the last three points. It bears out the fact that the Commodores didn’t come here to be homecoming bait. Georgia had been nesting on a 21-14 lead since early in the third quarter. With little time left and still down by a touchdown, the Commodores conceded nothing, and backed up to their own 26-yard line they had scoring on their mind, and in the process gave up the ball deep in their own territory.
All this did was allow Blair Walsh, Georgia’s placekicker, a chance to save face. He had missed twice inside the 40-yard line, quite unlike him, but this time he was straight and true from the 40. Thus, the saving of face.
It had been a rather close game through the first half, made even closer just before intermission, when McKenzi Adams, the Vandy quarterback, lofted a high floater that Jamie Graham fielded in the end zone on the end of an 18-yard touchdown pass. So, naturally, the Commodores went in for their respite feeling quite prosperous. Then, the Bulldogs came right back out and did what they have done so impressively this season.
Matthew Stafford began feeding the ball to Knowshon Moreno, the hottest name in college football delivery this season, then wafted a pass to this incredible freshman, A.J. Green from Summerville, S.C., for 33 yards, then pitched out to Moreno, who finished off a heartbreaking — for Vandy types — sweep for Georgia’s third touchdown, and a 21-7 lead. These are two names that are being etched into Georgia’s marble memories, and they’re only in the developing stage. It’s early yet to establish them on the same level as Charley Trippi and Frank Sinkwich, for they play in an altogether different age, but be assured that though the game has changed, the prescription for greatness hasn’t.
Though this was another homecoming date for Vandy, the Commodores were oblivious to all the worshipful old-grad combustion that accompanies such an event. Right now, the Nashville institution is considerably more concerned with retaining the services of their coach, Bobby Johnson, said to be leading Clemson’s coach-shopping list. He played football at Clemson, was an all-conference academic student, then had a most successful career as head coach at neighboring Furman University. While he is considered a Clemson man — he also did one year as an assistant there — by football credentials there are those who consider him a Furman man. But on this day, he was just another victim of another Georgia homecoming game.
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