The biggest headline we could think of that epitomized South Carolina and Vanderbilt's performances on the Opening Night of the College Football season was this: "South Carolina bad, Vanderbilt worse". Because it's true. SOUTH CAROLINA WOES South Carolina wasn't so much as a victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels as one fall-over drunk beating the other fall-over drunk to the finish line and collapsing in a stupored mess. ESPN should ban the Gamecocks from opening the season again - since every time they do they seem to absolutely suck. When I saw that ESPN.com had a "highlights" Read more [...]

2014 was a disaster for Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason in his first year. There's no other way to look at it. The three victories in the season included a win by 3 over UMass, a win by 1 over Charleston Southern, and 14 over Old Dominion. They were played off the field in virtually every SEC game they played (apart from Tennessee when they lost by 7), going 0-8 and immediately putting Mason on the hot seat. THE OFF-SEASON Derek Mason went on the rampage, firing OC Karl Correll, DC David Kotulski, and WR coach Marc Lubick. His new OC is former Wisconsin OC Andy Ludwig, while he's appointed Read more [...]

Dak Prescott was close to leaving Mississippi State and going pro, admitted head coach Dan Mullen. "He applied, got all of his NFL paperwork," Mullen said.  He added that it was with his counsel that Prescott decided to stay in school. "We did some research and study of looking at quarterbacks that were coming out, where he might fall.....If he had gone and maybe midround draft pick that's going to sit the bench in the NFL, he'd have a chance to get zero game reps, and I think that experience in the long run will help his career of getting those live game reps. It might not be at the NFL speed Read more [...]

Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason isn't shying away from responsibility for Vanderbilt's awful 2014 season. "We weren't a very competitive football team in 2014, and that's on me. I take full responsibility for that," he said at the SEC Media Days in Florida today. "We struggled to find identity," he said. "What we've tried to do in the last eight months is try to right the wrong." When asked about pressure, he said: "It's college football. I've been coaching 22 years. So my understanding is that every year I coach on a one-year mentality. That's a mindset. That's what you do. You understand Read more [...]

On Tuesday we told you what we're expecting from SEC West coaches on the schedule. It should be a lot of talk about the schedule, quarterbacking and good running backs. Of course, we'd love them to talk about LSU and Alabama's penchant for getting people arrested, shitty defensive co-ordinators, and their hot wives/daughters/do-nothing husbands-in-law, but it's probably not going to happen. Anyway, this time it's time for your SEC East coaches. FLORIDA What Jim McElwain will probably get asked: How he's settling into the job ("I love it down here. It's a change from the Rockies"), how Read more [...]

There's a new era at Vanderbilt. Derek Mason's replaced James Franklin as the new head coach, and he arrived at the SEC Media Days looking AWESOME in a bow tie (he won the best-dressed contest by some mile). But can Mason's awesomeness translate into a good Vanderbilt team in 2014?  LAST SEASON Vanderbilt finished with a 9-4 (4-4 SEC) record, which includes wins over Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. They also managed to lose one of the games of the season on Opening Day against Ole Miss (by damn that was a good game!). OFF-SEASON After all the showmanship of head coach James Franklin, Read more [...]

In celebration of ESPN's delivery of the College Football's week-by-week schedule and team schedules (we're just trying to get our breath back!), we're going to rank the SEC's top games for the opening weekend. We don't know who the new Johnny, Jadeveon, or Tre's going to be. Or the new AJ, Zach or Aaron is going to be. Or Connor, Odell, Jarvis or Jeremy. We don't know how Derek is going to set out his D at Vanderbilt, or Jeremy at Georgia. You know, if there's enough Georgia players not in jail. We don't know. But this delivery of schedule gives us one thing during the Madness of March: Read more [...]

Vanderbilt has snagged Utah State's defensive line coach Frank Maile, the Salt Lake Tribune has reported. The Tribune noted: "In the last two years alone, five of his linemen earned all conference honors: Al Lapuaho, Connor Williams, Jordan Nielsen, A.J. Patiali'i and B.J. Larsen." The paper noted that Maile was well-known for his in-state recruiting, and especially his recruiting of Polynesian recruits. That could be some asset for new coach Derek Mason's team if Maile continues that vein of form. Maile replaces Vavae Tata, who arrested for DUI earlier this month.     Read more [...]

Vanderbilt has suspended defensive line coach Vavae Tata indefinitely after he was arrested for DUI, the Tennessean is reporting. According to the report, Tata was charged for being off his tatas on Saturday night, blowing a .18 on his breathalyzer test, more than twice legal blood-alcohol limit of .08%, according to an affidavit released by Davidson County. Which was quite good going, if you think about it. It's not Tata's first brush with the law: He was arrested for DUI in 1997 and convicted in 2000. Vandy, which underwent a new coaching regime with former Stanford defensive co-ordinator Read more [...]

Former Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin left at the wrong time. His departure in January to Penn State led to a number of de-commitments, and worries that Vanderbilt would not be able to fill their numbers. Defensive co-ordinator Derek Mason, from Stanford (which is better than Vandy in terms of academics, but would still be twinned with them in terms of academics-before-athletics institutions), came to town. And although he had a slow start, the speed that Vandy recruited in the last few days before National Signing Day would have made Nick Saban or Les Miles happy....and they picked Read more [...]