2008
Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
Boston College (9-4) vs. Vanderbilt (6-6)
Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
Not Available Location:
LP Field, Nashville TN
By
Richard Cirminiello
-
2008
Music City
Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Vanderbilt |
Boston College |
|
Total Offense |
|
117th 296.92 ypg |
95th 318.46 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
29th 318.67 ypg |
6th 273.38 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
104th 19.42 ppg |
61st 25.54 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
27th 20.08 ppg |
19th 18.54 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
69th 138.17 ypg |
64th 143 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
68th 145 ypg |
7th 92.15 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
112th 122.75ypg |
95th 318.46 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
18th 173.67 ypg |
24th 181.23 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
27th 0.50 |
30th 0.46 |
|
Vanderbilt
at Miami U. W 34-13
So Carolina W 24-17
Rice W 38-21
at Ole Miss W 23-17
Auburn W 14-13
at Miss St L 17-14
at Georgia L 24-14
Duke L 10-7
Florida L 42-14
at Kentucky W 31-24
Tennessee L 20-10
at Wake F L 23-10 |
Boston College
at Kent St W 21-0
Ga Tech L 19-16
UCF W 34-7
Rhode Isl W 42-0
at NC St W 38-31
Va Tech W 28-23
at UNC L 45-24
Clemson L 27-21
Notre Dame W 17-0
at Fla St W 27-17
at Wake F W 24-21
Maryland W 28-21
ACC Champ
Va Tech L 30-12 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
V |
5
highest
1 lowest |
BC |
|
3 |
Quarterbacks |
2.5 |
|
3 |
RBs |
3 |
|
2.5 |
Receivers |
3 |
|
3 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
3 |
D
Line |
5 |
|
3 |
Linebackers |
4.5 |
|
5 |
Secondary |
5 |
|
3 |
Spec
Teams |
2.5 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
4 |
|
Although it got a little dicey
during a four-game, midseason
losing streak, Vanderbilt has
ended its 26-year bowl drought.
Finally.
After starting 5-0 and even
climbing up to No. 13 in the
polls, the Commodores reverted
back to old form and darn near
fumbled their chance for the
postseason. That sinking feeling
permeated throughout Nashville
until the ‘Dores finally broke
through on Nov. 15 with a 31-24
win over Kentucky. The city let
out a collective sigh of relief.
Now matter how it got there or
who it faces, this invitation is
a monumental step for a program
that’s spent a generation
searching for momentum and some
positive results. While not a
particularly sexy team, Bobby
Johnson’s kids play
fundamentally sound, limit their
mistakes, and are disciplined on
defense. It’s that combination
which kept Vandy in just about
every game, even when it was
losing.
Vanderbilt last bowled in 1982.
Since then, Boston College has
won 12 postseason games,
including all eight this
century. The Eagles will be
looking to bounce back from a
loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC
Championship game for a second
straight year. After coming so
close to a signature appearance
in the Orange Bowl, the school
might be prone to a letdown.
Don’t bank on it. It proved to
have a short memory under Jeff
Jagodzinski last December,
getting past Michigan State in
the Champs Sports Bowl. Coach
Jags impressed in his second
season in Chestnut Hill, leading
a BC team that was supposed to
be rebuilding to nine wins,
including four down the stretch
over Notre Dame, Florida State,
Wake Forest, and Maryland in a
sprint to the ACC Atlantic
crown. Since senior Chris Crane
is done with a broken
collarbone, the staff has been
getting a long look at its
quarterback of the future,
redshirt freshman Dominique
Davis. Regardless of what
happens in Nashville, being the
starter for the last month will
pay enormous dividends in 2009.
Players to watch:
Davis versus the Vandy pass
defense is bad news for BC, so
it’ll lean more heavily on
Montel Harris and the ground
game. Already the school
record-holder for rushing yards
by a freshman, he was
instrumental in the Eagles’
drive toward a division title.
Before getting stuffed by
Virginia Tech, he’d gone over
100 yards in three of the prior
four games, and is within a
career-day of 1,000 yards. Most
of Boston College’s newsmakers,
however, are on the defensive
side of the ball. LB Mark
Herzlich was a beast in his
junior year, racking up a
team-high 105 tackles and six of
the Eagles’ 26 interceptions. If
there’s a big play happening,
rest assured that No. 94 won’t
be far from the action. Manning
the middle of the line will be
B.J. Raji and Ron
Brace, neither of whom is
easy to move off his base.
Considering that they’re 112th
nationally in passing, the
Commodores must somehow find a
way to move the ball on the
ground with beefy Jared
Hawkins against the
country’s No. 7 run defense.
Much like its New Year’s Eve
dance partner, Vanderbilt is all
about the defense. Florida was
the only team to score more than
24 points on the ‘Dores, which
has done a nice job of creating
turnovers and pocket pressure.
The most talented player on
either sideline is CB D.J.
Moore, an NFL-ready
defender, who’ll also contribute
as a dangerous return man and an
occasional pass-catcher. At some
point, he’ll make a play that
ignites the partisan crowd in
Nashville. Joining Moore in the
secondary is S Ryan Hamilton,
a thumper who’ll be instrumental
in run defense. A good
all-around athlete, he’s second
on the team with 98 tackles and
had a three-pick game in the
upset of Ole Miss. Now that
Broderick Stewart is done
with a broken leg, Steven
Stone needs to rise up from
his end position. One of the
Commodores’ better pass rushers,
he’ll be asked to chip in more
than normal in run defense
against a hefty BC front wall.
Boston College will win if...
it keeps gobbling up the
takeaways. The Eagles lead the
country with 36 turnovers
gained, a key reason why they
nearly won an ACC title. If
Boston College can pressure the
already futile Vandy offense
into mistakes, the Commodores
will struggle to reach
double-digits. As it stands now,
they’ll need to be precise just
to top their season average of
19 points a game. If the Eagles
can give Davis a few short field
opportunities with turnovers,
this game could get ugly by the
third quarter.
Vanderbilt will win if...
it can pressure Davis into
unforced errors. It’s sort of
the same blueprint that Boston
College is staring at for this
game. The Eagles aren’t going to
run away and hide with their
offense, so if a few drives end
in turnovers, they’ll be in a
four-quarter scrum. In Davis’
last high-profile game with
Virginia Tech, he was picked off
twice and sacked five times,
while guiding his offense to
just a single touchdown. The
Commodores have enough talent,
especially in the back seven, to
produce similar results against
this vanilla Eagle offense.
What will happen: It’s
possible that Vanderbilt will
ride the excitement of the
moment and energy of the local
crowd to a mild upset of Boston
College. The more likely
scenario, however, has the
Commodores struggling badly to
score on an Eagle defense that
gives up very little ground,
especially against the run. In
one of the postseason’s least
attractive games, Boston College
will win the pivotal turnover
battle and get a game-changing
touchdown from its defense.
Neither team will have a
100-yard rusher or produce more
than 300 yards of total offense,
propelling a couple of
inconsistent kickers into the
spotlight.
Line: Boston College -3.5
... CFN Prediction:
Boston College 23 ...
Vanderbilt 16
-
2008
Music City
Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More