By Amber Pennycuff
The Vanderbilt Commodores are heading down to historic Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama for the 8th Annual Compass Bowl.
The black-and-gold will be taking on the Houston Cougars Saturday and the two are evenly matched at 8-4 in the season.
The Dores ended their season with four straight wins against Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wake Forrest to buy into a bowl.
This will pose as the Commodores seventh postseason appearance in the history and as Vandy’s third consecutive bowl.
The Commodores stand 3-2-1 in postseason bowls and are coming off a win from last year in the Franklin American Mortgage Bowl against North Carolina State.
Vanderbilt has been loaded down with talent this year and have taken wins over top-ranked teams like Georgia.
Houston’s four losses hang off of schools like BYU, UCF, Louisville, and Cincinnati. Although taking four losses, Houston’s quarterback John O’Korn was named AAC Rookie of the Year while leading true freshman nationally with 26 touchdown passes.
Also, this stands as Houston’s 22nd bowl appearance and its eighth bowl game in the last 11 seasons.
Vandy will be taking on this bowl without a key player. Quarterback Austin Carta-Samuels underwent knee surgery following the regular season to repair a torn ACL. The injury came about in the win over Georgia in October, and Carta-Samuels missed two games.
The quarterback was able to play the last three games and finished off the season with 2,268 passing yards for 11 touchdowns.
Patton Robinette is said to replace Carta-Samuels. Robinette completed 21 of 40 passes for 273 yards against Texas A&M and Florida, while taking over for Carta-Samuels.
On average, Vanderbilt scores about 29.2 points per game, and Houston averages around 33.9 points per game. Glancing at opponents, Vandy’s schedule included top-ranked teams like South Carolina, Missouri, and even Texas A&M. The SEC certainly includes a huge weight for a team to carry because of the tremendous talent within the conference, but this will stand as an advantage for the Dores.
They will need this experience to carry them into Saturday’s game.
Head coach James Franklin has been in consideration for various coaching jobs across the country. Franklin came into the black-and-gold program, winning 23 games and taking Vandy to a bowl three-consecutive years. Franklin, himself, has only been the head coach for three years and has completely turned their program around.
This team is the first in the school history to beat Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee in one year.
Vanderbilt is favored in this match, but Houston will be a strong competitor. Its loss to BYU was attributed to a single point, and the Cougars have not fallen more than 10 points in a loss. They average around 4 points in a loss to opponents.
This will be a good game to watch on this cold weekend.
The two will kick-off on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Birmingham on ESPN.
Here’s a Look at the Rest of Your Bowl Schedule:
-Discover Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Ohio State
Miami Gardens, FL at Sun Life Stadium
Fri., January 3 at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN
-AT&T Cotton Bowl Classice: Missouri vs. Oklahoma State
Arlington, TX at AT&T Stadium
Fri., January 3 at 6:30 p.m. on FOX
-BBVA Compass Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. Houston
Birmingham, AL at Legion Field
Sat., January 4 at 12 p.m. on ESPN
-GoDaddy Bowl: Arkansas State vs. Ball State
Mobile,AL at Ladd-Peebles Stadium
Sun., January 5 at 8 p.m. on ESPN
-BCS National Championship Game: Florida State vs. Auburn
Pasadena, CA at Rose Bowl
Mon., January 6 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
