NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt had a 10-7 lead on rival Tennessee on Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium, but the Volunteers scored 28 straight to pull away with a 42-17 victory.
The Commodores erased a 7-0 deficit by scoring 10 in a row and found themselves with a lead early in the second quarter while looking for a third consecutive home triumph over the orange and white from Knoxville. But a crucial turnover shortly thereafter sparked the visitors and they never looked back.
Quarterback Ken Seals finished 22-of-39 passing for 239 yards and two touchdowns for Vandy while wide receiver Cam Johnson made seven catches for 64 yards and a score.
Linebacker Anfernee Orji led the Commodore defense with a career-high 13 tackles, the highest total for Vandy in a game this season, and a sack.
Vanderbilt (0-9, 0-9 SEC) is scheduled to travel to No. 12 Georgia at 11 a.m. CT next Saturday for the season finale.
Tennessee opened the scoring with 5:54 left in the first quarter after good field position had the Volunteers in business. A 42-yard drive ended with Harrison Bailey’s 6-yard pass to tight end Princeton Fant making it 7-0.
Vanderbilt wasted little time responding and drove 75 yards in 12 plays, the last being an 18-yard pass from Seals to Johnson for a touchdown.
Sarah Fuller came on to kick the extra point, making it 7-7.
TOUCHDOWN DORES. @KenSealsQB ➡️ @camjohnson_23 💥#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/8oAdm6MYqw
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) December 12, 2020
History has been made at Vanderbilt Stadium! #AnchorDown | @SarahFuller_27 pic.twitter.com/xAO2HOSeR4
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) December 12, 2020
It looked as if Tennessee would regain the lead almost immediately, but on third down at the Vandy 8, Andre Mintze stripped Bailey and Cameron Tidd recovered.
The Commodores converted that turnover into a Pierson Cooke 39-yard field goal to go up 10-7 with 12:03 to go in the first half.
Vandy, playing with less than 70 total student-athletes Saturday, still had a lot of the momentum three minutes later – that is until a Seals throw went errant and Bryce Thompson picked the ball out of the air with his left hand and took it 18 yards the other direction for a touchdown. Tennessee had a 14-10 lead at that point.
The Volunteers added to their advantage not much longer after that thanks to a 23-yard touchdown pass from J.T. Shrout to Velus Jones Jr. Tennessee had a 21-10 advantage with 5:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Shrout added another score – this one from 26 yards out to Jalin Hyatt that put the Volunteers up 28-10 at halftime.
Vandy went 3 of 12 on third down in the first half and surrendered 7.1 yards per play.
Tennessee opened the second half with a 20-yard touchdown run by Ty Chandler, making it 35-10 a little more than three minutes into the period.
Vanderbilt wasn’t able to find the scoreboard again until 7:22 remained. Seals’ 16-yard strike to tight end Ben Bresnahan cut the score to 35-17.
Seals finds Ben Bresnahan for a 16-yard Vanderbilt touchdown. @KenSealsQB 🤝 @benbresnahan#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/Rfa9YK1IIp
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) December 13, 2020
The Volunteers answered one final time when Jones Jr. raced 74 yards for six on a pass from Bailey providing the final margin with seven minutes left.
