Vanderbilt Hotline: Monday Afternoon Quarterbacking

Give us a break, we've been busy all morning and the intern called in sick today (if I had to bet I'd say he made that call from the beach, but not to worry, no one's going Alberto Gonzalez on him just yet).

What's in the news? Maurice Patton asks five "burning" (although the more appropriate term may have been "obvious") questions about Vanderbilt's football team on which the success of the season may hinge. I especially agree that depth and question marks at cornerback will be two of the biggest issues defensively.

Patton's Sunday Tennessean article about 2006-7 being the most successful year in the history of Vanderbilt sports is definitely worth a read. The only thing he failed to mention is the undeniable fact that Commie sports success last year coincided perfectly with the rise of Vanderbilt Sports Line. The mainstream media's failure to recognize this fact for what it is and publicize it to the nation, while appreciated for giving us cover and not forcing us to explain how we caused it, represents a journalistic failure that we find somewhat disappointing.

Brett Hait alerts us to the fact that Larry Smith is, indeed, as sick of an athlete as we've all hoped. Anyone want to put yourself out there and make a "Larry Smith Heisman Candidate in 2010" prediction? Fine, I'll just have to do it myself...

In its Vanderbilt preview, the Savannah Morning News quoted Jonathan Goff as saying "we expect to win every game on our schedule." Love it.

Finally, is it any surprise that Bobby Johnson is one of the few outspoken critics of the new rule that kickoffs will be from the 30- instead of the 35-yard-line this year? A team like Vanderbilt that lacks the depth of other big-time SEC programs is naturally going to get hurt on special teams (which typically draw heavily from the second and third roster strings). I personally think the rule will make watching college football more fun (who actually enjoys touchbacks?) but I shudder to think of the impact this could have on a special-teams-impaired team like the Commies. Let's just hope Bobby's got 'em ready for the show...

The big stories today are obviously Mike Vick pleading guilty to dogfighting and Alberto Gonzalez resigning as Attorney General, in that order. If you'd rather talk about Vick than Vandy, so be it, but just for the record I thought (1) his apology was sincere, (2) he'll redeem himself as he vowed he would, and (3) we should all get over ourselves. Who ya with?