It was only a matter of time...

I'm with CBJ on this one. This was not an upset. We beat them at their oversized stadium with their stupid pumped in rooster "crow" last year, and we beat them again at our places this year, sans any sort of obnoxious animal noises blaring over the PA system. What did people expect? South Carolina all of a sudden became some sort of offensive juggernaut after falling off the face of the planet last year? Vanderbilt sat around all summer eating cheetos and playing video games? Yeah, right. To quote my favorite Arizona Cardinals headcoach of all time Dennis Green, "they are who we thought they were", and we thought they were one of the most consistently over-hyped and under-achieving teams the SEC has produced in recent memory.

Vanderbilt just whipped them. After going in at the half with out a whole lot to be excited about on the offensive side of the ball, Chris Nickson was like a bat out of hell in the second half. After dropping a beautiful TD pass off of Captain "He's No D.J. Moore" Munnerlyn's stupid head to TE Brandon Barden to tie the game, Nickson picked up his third rushing TD of the year on the next drive to put the 'Dores up for good. Jared Hawkins busted through South Carolina defenders with reckless abandon, Chris Smelly got abused like he was married to Ike Turner, and most importantly of all, Vanderbilt played smart. Excellent clock management and play calling allowed the 'Dores to run out the clock at the end of the game to preserve the 24-17 victory, which certainly has to go down as one of the biggest of the Johnson era.

The atmosphere for the game was also great. Maybe it was Erin Andrews, but I definitely felt a tingle at crucial moments of the game. Vanderbilt stadium was, dare I say, rocking? The fans actually provided our boys with a homefield advantage, and whaddya know? We won! Maybe I'm on to something here...

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Let's do it again Saturday! Beat Rice!

As Always,

Go 'Dores!