Letters… we get letters… we get stacks and stacks of letters…
Question(s) from Killer Furball & VU1970:
How does it feel to be the #10 team in the nation?
&
Did you ever think we’d see a Top Ten ranked Vanderbilt football team in my lifetime? Ranked way higher than the Chuggers? Ranked above Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Missouri, LSU, Texas, and Mitchigan? Headed for the CFP? Emptying out (the visiting side of) our own stadium?
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: To be fair, we actually came pretty close to this during that one Bobby Johnson season, though we also knew
that was all a smoke and mirrors job. To legitimately be a top ten team on the other hand? Safe to say that I did not think I would ever see this.
At the rate things are going, there won’t be a visiting side of the stadium any more. Maybe a visitors’ section like every other SEC school has.
PatrickSawyer: Surreal and also like this team believes it can play with and beat anyone. Wild. Never thought I would see this without a video game controller in my hand.
Andrew VU ‘04: Safe to say this year has thus far exceeded all of our expectations. Feels pretty good to be on top of the world, but we’re all dogs who’ve survived a coyote attack at Vanderbilt, so I’ll feel a lot better if and when we beat Missourah (spits) this weekend.
Cole Sullivan: At the start of the season, I couldn’t manage to pump this level of sunshine. I am the ultimate believer in Vanderbilt Athletics and I did not actually think we would be a couple inches away from 7-0 and a top 5 spot. It brings me joy, and unlike baseball, where when we’re good we’re the villain, here we’re the hero! And people will give me a “Nice Game!” on the street! It’s fantastic.
Question from WestEndMayhem:
Just how badly does it suck to be a Tennessee Vawl lately?
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: Vandy jumps into the top ten on the same weekend that Tony V. leaves and they get smothered by Alabama? Yeah, that sounds like a pretty typical weekend for a Vanderbilt fan for most of the 1980s and 1990s so we’ve all been there and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch.
PatrickSawyer: Not as much as they deserve.
Andrew VU ‘04: Haha, yeah. I’m just glad not to have to deal with Tony “The Calf” Vitello’s obnoxious bullshit any more. Nothing sucks like a big orange.
Cole Sullivan: It always sucks infinitely, specifically it sucks via the butt, so right now is no more or less sucky than the rest of the time, which is to say it really sucks, again, via the butt.
Question from Ofermod:
Which team(s) scare you most on the remaining schedule, and why is it very unfortunately Them?
Bonus question: now that we’re getting Gameday (is this the first time we’vebeen involved in two Gamedays in the same year?), who is your dream guest picker (alive) and (dead)?
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: Actually, the team that scares me most on the remaining schedule is Texas — not because they’re any good, but because if we get through the mine field of the next four games we can get to the final weekend of the regular season not needing to beat THEM to get in the Playoff. Yeah, that’s a sentence I didn’t think I would ever write.
PatrickSawyer: Missouri might be the best team left, but it’s strength on strength with them, so I like our chances. Tennessee can, at their best, attack our weaknesses like Alabama did, and that game is in Neyland. However, like the Bama game this season, our guys are going to into Knoxville pissed off and ready for revenge.
Andrew VU ‘04: Yeah, it’s either THEM or Tejas… and Tejas often has no offense, making them basically LSU. Our rivals will likely be our toughest opponent from here on out, as Coach Bobby Hill can flat out put up points.
Cole Sullivan: Dream living guest picker is Nate Bargatze, because he’s likable and funny and a true fan through thick and thin. Second choice would be Skip Bayless just because I think he would be hilarious. Then Al Gore because he invented the internet and that makes him a cool guy in my book. As for dead? Any fan from a century ago because then we’d get a “HIPPITY HUZZ” chant and it would be electric.
Question(s) from CommonDore & VU1970:
Which of the following fired coaches is most likely to replace another at their former job:
James Franklin
Billy Napier
Trent Dilfer&
Or most likely to get fired again first?
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: I mean the obvious answer is Franklin going to Florida but the low-key correct answer is Napier going to UAB, where I actually think he’d kill it and Franklin… uh, probably doesn’t particularly want back in the SEC. The funniest possible outcome, of course, is Florida engaging in some real dumbfuckery and hiring Trent Dilfer.
PatrickSawyer: Franklin is the most likely to end up backfilling one of the others, and it would be Florida. Napier at UAB is intriguing. I would take Napier as next to be fired again, but it will be after a successful G5 stint then coming back to P4. Dilfer will be back to HS or maybe a team only Parlagi has heard of in DII/DIII.
Andrew VU ‘04: The Old Bald Poach/James Danklin will pretty much have his pick of open jerbs this hiring season. The Florida State Semen Holes might come running, as might the Jortsville Jorts. Hell, if he wants the LSU jerb, I bet they’re willing to make Nittany Lion Jambalaya in his honor. Napier will have to drop down to the level he came from (he coached ULL successfully from 2018 to 2021) unless he wants to go the high level coordinator route to put some shine on his shoes. Trent Dilfer will never get another head coaching job at the college level.
Cole Sullivan: Whatever happens, I just hope they all have fun (except for James Franklin).
Question from certainpersonio:
For years I have been evangelizing the good works of VandyFootball to family, friends, people at work, people on the street. Now, for the first time, I’m meeting receptive ears, even getting a few anchor downs. Do you have advice for optimizing my proselytizing and spread the good works of our lord and savior HCCL? (how do we best capitalize on this good will for the future of the program?)
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: Don’t proselytize too hard or Penn State will get wind of us having a football coach who’s good.
PatrickSawyer: Get people to games and following the teams on social media. The in-stadoum atmosphere has been pretty good (better than ever at Vanderbilt), and the social media teams are dropping highly entertaining content.
Andrew VU ‘04: This is Pinman erasure. Say 5 Hail Pinmans and 5 Our Father, Bowls in Heavens. Hail Pinman.
Cole Sullivan: First off, the correct pluralization would actually be “Anchors Down” and second off, I spent the entire season telling this LSU fan friends of mine we were going to beat him and he would dismiss me completely and talk about hanging 50 on us. Today? He wouldn’t look me in the eye. We command attention and respect only when we win. The best thing we can do, the only thing we can do, is keep on winning.
Question from DoreFanInDallas:
Kudos to HCCL, ADCSL, CDD and all the players for what has been a glorious year. But…how much of this year is related to Diego Pavia, and did HCCL catch “lightening in a bottle” with him. So what happens next year when Pavia is gone–is the improvement sustainable or is this just a short period of success to be enjoyed while it is here?
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: Well, let’s be real, if it were just Pavia and a typical Bobby Johnson roster, uh, we’re probably battling for a Music City Bowl berth? As special as Pavia has been, you don’t just get to potentially 10-2 and a Playoff team entirely by having a good quarterback. So there’s definitely some sustainability. And “they have to figure out the quarterback situation” is hardly an issue unique to Vanderbilt.
PatrickSawyer: A ton of it is Pavia and the New West End AggieDores. They brought an attitude and belief to go with a creative and effective offense. The NIL coffers got opened to fill out the roster, especially on the OL. The sustainability will rely on keeping the coaching staff mostly intact and capitalize in recruiting, both the portal and HS. The latter will depend heavily on whether the season ends with a bang or fizzles.
Andrew VU ‘04: It’s everything, man. It’s opening up the money printer (which goes brrrr), hiring Beck/Marry/Kill, bringing over Diego and Sowers with Beck and Kill, bringing over a whole offensive line that’s able to push around the big boys of the SEC, and on and on. Also, Pavia will successfully sue for eligibility until he’s 50. That’s a lot of Josh Henderson popcorn, but we’ve got the kettle going.
Cole Sullivan: I think we’ll see a regression to the mean. To be clear, the cfb mean and not the Vanderbilt mean. We are reaching incredibly high levels of success in part due to newfound institutional support that was supercharged by the arrival of Diego Pavia and the rest of the state of New Mexico. We may lose the man, but he’ll leave behind everything he built. It’s up to us to take advantage of that, but even if our future is 7-5 every year, that sure beats 2-10 every year.
(Not a) Question from KnockinOnHeavensDore:
Gameday in Nashville!!
Hope they pick Nate Batgatze as the guest picker.
Answers from AoG:
Andrew VU ‘04: Not a question. Also, yep.
Question from CommonDore:
Which player from the Clark Lee era do you think it’s at the biggest impact on the culture and success shift that is currently happening and why is it definitely someone besides Diego? I personally feel like it’s a toss-up between Ray Davis or AJ swan and the ways that they kind of burned Clark to make him recognize he can want to develop but he also needs the portal and immediate success.
Answers from AoG:
Tom Stephenson: This is kind of an off-the-wall answer, but I think of Jadais Richard. Guy was coming up for his turn in the secondary and bailed for Miami so that he can get paid a bunch of money to be a role player. Made the entire university realize that they can’t operate that way any more.
PatrickSawyer: This is silly. Yes, collectively players bailing made Lea change his approach. None of them get credit for it. Jerry Kill’s input is probably the most important factor with his program building success. And bringing Pavia, Stowers, etc.
Andrew VU ‘04: It’s definitely Diego. Stop overthinking this.
Cole Sullivan: He said himself that Ray Davis leaving completely changed how he viewed the game of college football and his role as a coach. He saw himself as a molder of men, but now he realizes you can’t do that without people who are bought in, and you have to win to get the buy-in you need. Or maybe he only wants to win now, and has accepted that that’s what his job is. I don’t fully know where his head is at, but he has proven he can adjust to the shifting landscape of the sport, which is possibly the most valuable trait a coach can have. The Leanaissance continues on.
