GDT: Tigers @ Vandy -- 2:30 -- ESPN

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Game No. 2 on the road, but Vandy's home is nothing like Auburn's. Of course, Vandy has a better offense by far. But is anyone else tired of hearing about Diego Almighty Pavia? I am. He couldn't back up his trash talk before the Bama game, so I guess he's given that up. But that aside, I think the Tigers have the players to contain his running -- Young and Wilson up front and Trotter and Jacobs as spies. They did a great job at containing Daniels of KU, Sellers of SC and Arnold of Auburn, who are all dangerous runners. We shall see tomorrow. Here are the keys as I see them:

1. Defense travels, and the Tigers have a pretty good one outside of breakdowns in the secondary. They must prevent big Pavia runs, and the secondary can't be missing assignments looking into the backfield while in zone, which I'm thinking you might see a lot of with a scrambling QB as their backs will be turned to the QB in man coverage. So job No. 1 as always is to stone the runs -- whether called or ad hoc by Pavia -- and make Vandy one-dimensional so Wilson and Young along with blitzers can be unleashed.

2. Get back to establishing the run again against a front that is not as intimidating as that of Auburn's. The OLine has to play better in the run game and in the passing game. Drink has emphasized back to basics on blocking this week. Green was the only Tigers with a PFF grade above 60 in the Auburn game.

3. Keep penalties to a minimum. Cut out the dead ball personal fouls on D for one. Rodriguez had 2 at Auburn. The OLine did fine penalty-wise at Auburn, so I would think they can avoid false starts at least at Vandy, where crowd noise will be a lot less problematic. But can't get behind the sticks very often for whatever reason, including too many plays that can lose yardage. North and south, please!

4. More imaginative and better situational play calling. That series at Auburn right before the end of regulation at the 30 was a disaster. Sack, sideways pass out of bounds for a loss, false start and a desperation heave for an INT when a FG would have won the game. Yikes.

5. Pribula needs more pocket awareness. Too often, he's "escaping" a clean pocket before pressure arrives. And he needs to start seeing the field better when he has time. And Olugbode needs to be a prime receiver from this point forward. He does just about everything right.

The forecast calls for 72 and cloudy. The line is -2.5 Vandy.

MIZ!

[rezero]

Good write up. I think you did a great job of capturing the key points and agree with all of them. Woke up early for the drive to Nashville as we have a group of 6 heading there for the game. Can’t wait as it will be a blast.

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Good write up. I think you did a great job of capturing the key points and agree with all of them. Woke up early for the drive to Nashville as we have a group of 6 heading there for the game. Can’t wait as it will be a blast.

Have fun! I know you will. And I will appreciate your comments from the game and from Game Day. When you're at the game, you can really see plays unfold, especially in the passing game where you can see the entire secondary.

[MizTruBlueLuvzU]

Be nice to win one of these big ones, been a long time. 2023 we lost to Georgia In a massive game with playoff implications, same for the Lsu Game, and then just two weeks ago against Bama. We're due, that's for sure

[hotrivets]

Kickoff at 2:40 so we should be good

[dhsux]

Game No. 2 on the road, but Vandy's home is nothing like Auburn's. Of course, Vandy has a better offense by far. But is anyone else tired of hearing about Diego Almighty Pavia? I am. He couldn't back up his trash talk before the Bama game, so I guess he's given that up. But that aside, I think the Tigers have the players to contain his running -- Young and Wilson up front and Trotter and Jacobs as spies. They did a great job at containing Daniels of KU, Sellers of SC and Arnold of Auburn, who are all dangerous runners. We shall see tomorrow. Here are the keys as I see them:

1. Defense travels, and the Tigers have a pretty good one outside of breakdowns in the secondary. They must prevent big Pavia runs, and the secondary can't be missing assignments looking into the backfield while in zone, which I'm thinking you might see a lot of with a scrambling QB as their backs will be turned to the QB in man coverage. So job No. 1 as always is to stone the runs -- whether called or ad hoc by Pavia -- and make Vandy one-dimensional so Wilson and Young along with blitzers can be unleashed.

2. Get back to establishing the run again against a front that is not as intimidating as that of Auburn's. The OLine has to play better in the run game and in the passing game. Drink has emphasized back to basics on blocking this week. Green was the only Tigers with a PFF grade above 60 in the Auburn game.

3. Keep penalties to a minimum. Cut out the dead ball personal fouls on D for one. Rodriguez had 2 at Auburn. The OLine did fine penalty-wise at Auburn, so I would think they can avoid false starts at least at Vandy, where crowd noise will be a lot less problematic. But can't get behind the sticks very often for whatever reason, including too many plays that can lose yardage. North and south, please!

4. More imaginative and better situational play calling. That series at Auburn right before the end of regulation at the 30 was a disaster. Sack, sideways pass out of bounds for a loss, false start and a desperation heave for an INT when a FG would have won the game. Yikes.

5. Pribula needs more pocket awareness. Too often, he's "escaping" a clean pocket before pressure arrives. And he needs to start seeing the field better when he has time. And Olugbode needs to be a prime receiver from this point forward. He does just about everything right.

The forecast calls for 72 and cloudy. The line is -2.5 Vandy.

MIZ!

All good key points the team needs to hit on every one they can.

I would add to bring Roberts into the game far more than to date. He is being underutilized and he can be great for Hardy and Pribula's game too.

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Pribula in panic mode right off the bat. Terrible throw into the ground on 1st down.

[whowadat]

Ya know...MIZZOU is due to play their best game of the year....decades of suffering the ill effects of WINSTONOLOGY and I'm still holding out hope.

Com'on guys, impose your will....

MIZ

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D gets a stop after Vandy gets 1 first down.

Now, get this offense going.

[whowadat]

Arrrggg....Eli.....give your guys a chance, stop the [nonsense] plays tation calls

[edwin drood]

Offense in a funk.

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Moore with another [nonsense] sideways play on 3rd and 3. Loses 7 yards. Enough already! Go north and south. Also, why throw a 30 yard pass across the field on 1st down to gain a whole 2 yards? High risk, no reward.

[11WSChamps]

I hate that call.

We're not a finesse team.

Stick it in there with the running backs for Christ sake.

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I hate that call.

We're not a finesse team.

Stick it in there with the running backs for Christ sake.

Moore is totally losing it.

[11WSChamps]

Defense may have to create some turnovers to get the offense in gear.

[11WSChamps]

How about a big return here?