The Vanderbilt football team thrashed Western Carolina’s defense for 45 points in its season opener Saturday.But Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said the Commodores will need to kick their offense into an even higher gear to have a chance to beat LSU on Saturday, their first Southeastern Conference contest of the season. Vanderbilt implemented a no-huddle offense against Western Carolina and amassed 620 total yards, more than double its average yardage of 236 against SEC foes in 2008.”We have most of the playbook in, and we’re not afraid to call it,” Johnson said. “Hopefully our signaling system will be good enough that we can get the calls in. Not huddling, hopefully we won’t have too many situations where we’re running down and don’t have enough time left on the clock.” Vanderbilt struggled with offensive production throughout last season, particularly against conference teams, averaging seven fewer points scored than in games against non-conference opponents. The Commodores also showed a stark contrast in their rushing performance in conference and non-conference games in 2008. Vanderbilt accumulated 185 yards rushing per game against teams outside the SEC compared to 115 against conference teams.But this season Vanderbilt boasts the true freshman duo of running backs Zac Stacy and Warren Norman. Stacy rushed for 133 yards against Western Carolina, and Norman added 105 as they became the first Vanderbilt teammates to each rush for more than 100 yards in a game since 2002.In the passing game, Vanderbilt sophomore quarterback Larry Smith is at the heart of the no-huddle scheme. Although the Commodores’ difference in passing yardage in conference and non-conference games last season was not as severe — an average of 126 yards per game in non-conference games compared to 121 in the SEC —  their passing offense ranked No. 112 in the country and last in the SEC.Johnson said he is grateful Smith is familiar with this season’s playbook, which he said enables the learning process to move faster.”Larry’s a smart kid,” Johnson said. “The backs and receivers are all looking at the same signals, so they don’t need to hear Larry. He will verbally give a code to the offensive linemen to let them know what the play is. That’s probably going to be the biggest challenge — getting that verbal command to the offensive linemen.”LSU coach Les Miles said the LSU defense has become accustomed to the no-huddle offense because the offense has run the scheme in camp before.”The logistics of no-huddle are hard to simulate in practice,” Miles said. “[Opponents] can change the tempo. The good news is the coaches have a comfortable way to get the defensive snaps called. There’s a comfort being on the field and ready for that.”LSU last faced Vanderbilt in 2005, Les Miles’ first season in Baton Rouge. LSU beat the Commodores, 34-6, in Nashville as Vanderbilt finished with just 138 total offensive yards, including 26 rushing yards on 25 carries. Vanderbilt was No. 1 in the SEC and No. 19 in the country in passing offense in 2005 with current Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler at the helm.”We were sort of a one-player offense with Cutler,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we’ve got more players on our team who can stick with this kind of competition.”LSU senior linebacker Perry Riley said the Tiger defense is not concerned with Vanderbilt’s rank of No. 117 of 119 Division-I Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total offense last season.”Last year’s rankings don’t have anything to do with this year,” Riley said. “Washington’s offense was ranked near the bottom last year, and they played their tails off last weekend. I’m sure they had a good offseason and worked to improve their numbers on the offensive side of the ball. We’re definitely going in thinking it’s going to be a dogfight.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]