With No. 5 UF coming to Nashville on Saturday, Vanderbilt will take any help it can get.
Most betting services have the Gators as 24-point favorites, but Commodores coach Bobby Johnson had a different idea of how to level the playing field.
"If they want to play with 10, we'll allow them to do it. We'll take any advantage we can get," he said jokingly, earlier this week. "We'll try to sneak 13 in there and have an odd number so the officials won't see it."
Johnson's sentiment may be surprising, considering a win Saturday would bump Vanderbilt into a tie atop the Southeastern Conference East. The Commodores (5-3, 3-2 SEC) opened the season with five straight wins, earning national praise, and became the darlings of college football fans across the nation. Vanderbilt is the SEC's only private school and has the league's smallest enrollment at 6,402 students, compared to UF's 51,520 students. But a recent three-game slide has kept the Commodores from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 1982.
"Hopefully, we can play as well as we possibly can play," Johnson said Wednesday, "because I think that's what it's going to take to win."
Now, Vanderbilt comes off a bye week to face a UF team that has played some of its most complete games the past few weeks. The Gators (7-1, 5-1 SEC) lead the league in both scoring offense (42.9 per game) and points allowed (11.6) and are the only team in the league to score 300 points this season. Johnson said UF's recent blowouts - it has won its last three games by an average of 42.3 points - are pretty good encouragement for his team.
The Gators won 49-22 in Gainesville last season.
"You don't want to be on the bad end of (a blowout) like we were last year against them," Johnson said. "It motivates your guys to get out and learn the game plan."
One of the keys to Saturday's game will be the play of Vanderbilt quarterback Mackenzi Adams. The junior came off the bench to lead a fourth-quarter comeback against Auburn and has started the last two games. Adams is completing only 51 percent of his passes this season but poses a dual threat with his running ability.
"You could tell that he's a good emotional quarterback who plays with passion," UF linebacker Ryan Stamper said. "They were fired up when he came in (against Auburn)."
Johnson said the key will be not giving up big plays early.
"You do all you can to stay close and have a chance to win in the fourth quarter," he said. "That's how every game for us has played out (this season). … I hope it can be close in the fourth quarter."
