Nashville local media on Vanderbilt playing Iowa

[Hawkboys]

Remember in the Holiday Bowl with Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush said there was no way Iowa was going to keep up with USC's speed? That seemed to work out OK for us...

Remember the Orange Bowl against Carson Palmer and CMC? Not so much...

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Vandy had a nice season, but let's not get too excited about this new era of Commodore Football. They played three cupcakes plus Va Tech. So, 4. They did not beat anyone that is currently ranked, so they mostly fed on the bottom half of the SEC, and got thumped by Bama and probably their best game was a close loss to Texas. They beat three conference teams with winning records (LSU, Missouri, and Tennessee). They were 8, 9, and 10 in the conference. They had a very good season, better than Iowa's for sure, but nothing so good that matching up with Iowa is a sleight.

A bit of paper tiger in that 10-2 record.

The proverbial fake ID

 

[99topdawg]

FYI--Rob Zatechka is a former NU/NFL OL that now has a Nebby podcast. He gets it.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

I've lived in Middle Tennessee for the past 25 years having grown up in Muscatine, Iowa.
The SEC Flag is the modern-day equivalency of the Confederate Battle Flag, in the way it is mentioned.
So, it's the University of SEC at Vanderbilt vs Iowa.
SEC fans will always stick together.
Alabama fans will cheer for Auburn in the bowl games, because....SEC.
Michigan fans will never cheer for Ohio State in the bowl games, because they are ALWAYS rivals.

It's only Monday morning, and with the Tennessee Titans winning to now being 2-11 is taking up all of the local sports talk radio energy.

Yes, this is Vanderbilt's best season ever, and they were hoping for a more Blue Blood team in Michigan, instead of Iowa.
The Vanderbilt coaching staff has handled this quite well.

Just a small sampling, so far.

Chad Withrow, Outkick and former local Nashville 104.5 FM talk show host:
"Vanderbilt’s greatest season in program history will end in a bowl game against Iowa. That is tragic."

Jon Burton, CBS Sports - Nashville TV station
"They (Iowa) haven't seen this offense and they haven't seen Pavia.
I think (Vanderbilt) is going to Rickroll Iowa and let all of their frustration out."

Before the 2009 Outback Bowl vs South Carolina, locals here were sounding the same complaints about what a poor, nobody the 'Cocks had drawn in Iowa. They were 'insulted' to be playing such a lower tier opponent. (Turns out that is a typical, arrogant 'SEC is superior' response to this day.)
Took the Hawks of course in numerous wagers. Did well.

2009 Outback Bowl - Iowa vs. South Carolina Highlights

Iowa scores the first 31 points as the Hawkeyes rout Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks 31-10 in the 2009 Outback Bowl.

youtu.be

 

[CP87]

We all love to think Iowa is being overlooked and relish the opportunity to play the underdog or the spoiler.

But let's not forget the TaxSlayer after 2014 (28-45 vs. Tenn), the Rose Bowl after 2015 (16-45 vs. Stanford), the Outback Bowl after 2016 (3-30 vs. Fla), or the Citrus Bowl after 2023 (0-35 vs. Tenn).

Sometimes we have looked overmatched in Bowl games. Those games have generally corresponded to when we have had a pretty incompetent offense (except for the Rose Bowl, in which case our D was banged up and subpar by the time we got to that game; also, that was pre-Cash).

I don't think our offense is incompetent this year, and I think our D should be stout, so I don't anticipate a game like that. But we shouldn't act like we always beat the doors off of these teams that are ranked above us.

Vandy has a great dual-threat QB...do they have scary skill position guys (like, future NFL)?