It was a chilly and very "Fall-esque" game this past Saturday, but nothing was going to cool down our red hot offense. Read over this numbers for a second:
- 193 Passing Yards
- 404 Rushing Yards
- 12 for 17 on 3rd down
- Jonathan Dwyer runs for 186 yard and 3 touchdowns
- Embry Peeples gets more receiving yards than Bebe!
Play of the game is easily Josh's pass to Embry Peeples simply because of the story behind it that yet again illustrates Paul Johnson's offensive genius. I'd include the clip if I had it but I don't have the proper equipment to pull it off my DVR. Whatever play we were running at the time (have only watched the 1st quarter of the game again and the roommate is watching the World Series) CPJ noticed that the defensive back was cheating up and anticipating. Johnson called Peeples over and [more or less] told Peeples to take off down the line the next time we ran that play. Sure enough, everything worked just as Paul Johnson expected. He was totally playing in the sand and found something that he liked. It makes you swell with pride knowing that he is our coach.
Back to the game...our offense could not be stopped and we looked good. Though he didn't get any yards, Anthony Allen threw killer blocks all over the field (while dehydrated). AA has improved himself well since the Miami game. Well done good sir! Defensively in the first half we were sluggish and made Vanderbilt look like a top-tier SEC team. Before our game, the Commodores averaged 9 points in their losses which included Army and Georgia. They had a very smooth, very productive 28 by halftime.
Then, the infamous adjustment.
I don't know what Paul Johnson (or Dave Wommack) does to our defense but the seond half of this season is turning our defense into a second-half squad. Vandy quickly drove down the field to put up a field goal and they immediately dried up. Three points and that was it. Three points, and then Jon Dwyer took over (God Bless Him).
We are very fortunate to have played Vanderbilt yesterday and not a better team. However,when it comes down to it, we won on the road and beat an SEC team. Let's take the victory and continue onward. We are not going to be playing in the MNC, so a win is a win is a win. No matter how sloppy.