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The following is an excerpt from an Interview with Chris Lee of Vandysports.com

GoldandBlack.com: What are some of the strengths of Vanderbilt?

Lee: I think their strength is their offense. You didn’t really see it last week. They’ve got a running back, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, I think is about as good as anybody’s anywhere. He’s explosive. He averaged nearly eight yards a carry last year, had three 60-plus yard touchdown runs in Vandy’s bowl game.

They’ve got an All-American tight end, Jared Pinkney, who is a potential NFL first-rounder. They’ve got a receiver, Kalija Lipscomb, who is going to probably finish in the top-10 in SEC career charts in receiving yards, receptions, and receiving touchdowns. They’ve got some other good skilled position players on offense. I think the issue for them right now is injuries. They started four entirely new offensive line men against Georgia, guys who had never made a start before. Cole Clemens, the only starter they’ve had in that lineup, who had always been a guard for Vanderbilt for two years started for the first time at left tackle. That’s more injuries, Pinkney got banged up late in that game, Jamauri Wakefield (backup running back) is maybe going to be out this next one. So really, I think they’ve got some offensive skill position talent. They were really erratic at quarterback last week too. Georgia does that to you. Long way to say, I think they are really good offensively but the injuries and the offensive line shuffle just left some of that into question.

GoldandBlack.com: Is there a quarterback controversy brewing at all? Who do you think is going to start when they come to Purdue?

Lee: Maybe. That’s a good question. Riley Neal did not really play well (against Georgia). Their offensive line threw him off. The snaps were bad consistently from start to finish and I think that throws the timing of the play off. I don’t know if we could completely and fairly judge Neal last week, but it didn’t look good when he was in there, that’s for sure.

At the same time, Deuce Wallace, who is a four-year player in that program, some people think that he was a better quarterback during fall camp. He came in (the Georgia game) late for nine snaps, it was in garbage time. But the offense began to run a little better with him, so I think that is a little bit of a question mark coming in. I think Neal will start, but what happens if he struggles early? They have a similar skill set. They both run decently well. Neal’s a lot taller, he’s about 6 feet-6 inches, while Wallace is closer to 6-1 or 6-2. Neal has a stronger arm, but I think he throws it too hard sometimes. Wallace has better touch on the ball, and I think probably better command of the offense too.

GoldandBlack.com: What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the defense?

Lee: Well they got gassed against the run a week ago. Georgia averaged about eight yards a carry, but they just kept blowing off the ball. I do think that they are better on the defensive line, they’re deeper there. It probably didn’t show because Georgia may have the best running game in the country between it’s offensive line and it’s tailbacks. So I don’t know if that was a fair fight for them.

I think the Purdue game will be a better way to judge them. I was surprised that Vandy's secondary played really well. They had two new corners that they broke in, both of those kids have Big Ten experience. Cam Watkins started Illinois, DC Williams started I think five games his freshman year at Wisconsin.

Dashaun Jerkins (freshman safety) was terrific. I think he had 14 tackles in his first start. They were not very good a year ago. I think holding Georgia to 30 points, I won’t say was smoke and mirrors but the yards per play numbers weren’t pretty. What they did is they stiffened as Georgia got closer to the goal line, which accounts for something. But again, I think that’s a little bit of a wait and see what we see against Purdue there before I know better what they have.

GoldandBlack.com: What does Vanderbilt have to do to win this game?

Lee: Well, they have to avoid turnovers. They have also got to get right on offense. They did not look at all like what I thought they would look like. I know Georgia’s a really good defense. They are capable of generating some explosive plays. They were so inept in the passing game a week ago, again I can blame some of that on the snaps from center. But they have to get a good performance out of Riley Neal (QB) and if they don’t get it out of him I think they need to make the switch to Deuce Wallace pretty early because you know that Purdue is going to put up some points.

I think the key for them is finding that offensive consistency that we expected coming into the year. We have Ke’Shawn Vaughn (RB). That un-does a lot of ills so I think he’s big in this game too.