BOL Round Table

I'm going with yes. Vandy won in the last match-up 14-13 in 2008, so it's not like it's difficult.

I think Vandy would've won this year had they played. Vandy just has a better team, and will be improving next year. The barn on the other hand will be taking a BIG step backward. They lost their best player, both coordinators, and some other coaches.

Somewhat true but we will see. The money they have has absolutely nothing to do with endowements or research grants or any other pool of capital that's designated for academics and scholarships. We do have a great deal of wealthy "boosters" though are certainly more focused on overall Vanderbilt growth rather than athletics (football) specifically and it's also a good deal for us to be in the SEC and participate in an equal revenue sharing conference when quite frankly our football team generates the least amount of television interest. The "renovations" that have been going on I can see from my office window, and pedestrian is an understatement relative to where they need to be.

I don't know, I think James Franklin is a stud but I have serious doubts that Vandy will be any sort of power. The degree is a good sale, the city is diverse from a social standpoint (at least relative to the competition), we still provide easy majors like HOD that any athlete can breeze through, etc. It's all about interest of the student body and passion of the fans. The have the money to give to Vandy, they just don't care.

Football is a sport that takes buy in from the community and entire student body to get players and other people to put the necessary investment in to be successful. The Vandy students and most of people in Nashville simply do not care and it isn't some great honor to be a football player on campus. That attitude carries over...it is a difficult problem to overcome.

manbearpig - are you a 'Dore?

Franklin's gone after the next season or 2 for a better job. They will fall back to the bottom

That sounds about right, but most Vandy people would take that. There would have to be a matter of luck (2 straight 3 year qbs that turn into Cutler types, and Franklin or another of his talent hanging around a while), but IF that happened and they had a 3 year stretch of success, it could be parlayed into longer-term recruiting success. The Duke basketball phenomenon from 32 years ago sounds good, but it's easier to get 12 elite athletes to attend an elite school than it is to get 75-85 elite athletes. There just aren't that many great students that are also great athletes to choose from (unless Stanford stops recruiting east of the Mississippi).

I appreciate all the participation in the thread. It's just something I often think about, and I'll have to wear a Vandy hat for a day if they beat the barn. That would be awesome. We'd need a great adjective to add to "Skip Sunday"