Vanderbilt opens up their college football season on Saturday, September 4th and they are 3-point home underdogs in college football odds to Northwestern. The Commodores may have a tough time winning that game since two of their starters are out due to injury. Northwestern is not a powerful team but they are still considered better in college football betting lines than Vanderbilt. College football odds are likely to list Vanderbilt as underdogs in almost all of their games in 2010. The Commodores were just 2-10 last season and things are not starting off well this season with two players already out with injuries. The Commodores announced that tight end Austin Monahan will miss the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Running back Zac Stacy is listed as questionable for the Northwestern game with a sprained left knee. Monahan has dealt with a lot of injuries in his college career as he has been hurt in each of the last three years. Stacy was the second leading rusher for Vanderbilt last season with 478 yards.
Vanderbilt was a decent team two years ago when they made their first bowl game since 1982 but last year they were a mess as they lost 10 games. Vandy didn’t even win a game in the SEC a year ago. The Commodores do not have a good offense and the problems start at quarterback. Larry Smith was very poor last season as he completed only 46.7 percent of his passes. The Commodores might be better off with JC transfer Jordan Rodgers who is the younger brother of Aaron Rodgers. Vanderbilt does have running back Warren Norman who rushed for 783 yards last season but if they don’t have Stacy for the opener they would be hurting.
The Vanderbilt defense is okay but when the team doesn’t have a strong offense that is simply not good enough vs. the college football betting lines. Their one really good player is linebacker Chris Marve who is an All-SEC player. The secondary is solid but they are on the field way too often.
The Commodores are going to struggle in 2010. They simply don’t have enough talent to compete and win in the SEC. If they lose their opener at Northwestern they will likely be 0-4 heading into their only winnable game this season as they host Eastern Michigan. Unless the Commodores can win one of their final two home games against Tennessee or Wake Forest they could end up with a worse record than in 2009.