HONOLULU — Vanderbilt knew exactly what it was getting into.
Nine days after a video surfaced on social media that featured a member of the Hawai’i football staff implying that the Commodores were in for a tough night at T.C. Ching Stadium, Vandy had anything but a rough go of it during a 63-10 drubbing of the Rainbow Warriors.
“Our head coach literally showed us that video about 10 times throughout the week. Even when we got here during team dinners that would be up on the screen,” Vandy senior safety Maxwell Worship said. “Everything that has happened, everything since we’ve been here has been moved as motivation. Coach Lea and all the coaches have made sure to really use all those things as motivation for our team.
“We wanted to set a statement. We wanted the whole world really to see we’re a different team this year. We’re going to earn everybody’s respect this year.”
Worship had the play of the day in what flipped the script for what turned out to be an historic day for head coach Clark Lea’s program.
Vanderbilt racked up more than 600 yards of total offense, scored two defensive touchdowns and saw six different Commodores find the end zone en route to its most points since beating Davidson 63-8 in 1969. A sluggish start gave way to a steamroll of an effort which hasn’t been seen in a long, long time for the black-and-gold faithful.
The 53-point win was the program’s largest since a 58-0 drubbing of Presbyterian on Sept. 17, 2012.
“This is a program that we’re building, it’s an identity we’re building. It’s not something that we want to celebrate, it’s something that we want to expect,” Lea said. “I think those of us that were there a year ago, down 7-3 in the second quarter, can appreciate how far we’ve come. But the sooner we shift into a mode of that’s our expectation for operation, the better for this program.
“This isn’t the goal, this isn’t the end point. This is the beginning, this is the start of the journey and there’s a lot more out there for this team to accomplish.”
Vandy dominated both offensively and defensively after falling behind 7-0 in the first quarter.
The Dores averaged 9.2 yards per carry and 8.3 yards per play. They recovered two fumbles, both of which went for touchdowns. They stopped Hawai’i all four times the Rainbow Warriors went for it on fourth down. They went 6-for-6 in the red zone.
Individually, quarterback Mike Wright ran for 163 yards and two scores and threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Will Sheppard hauled in two touchdown passes. Ray Davis and Rocko Griffin combined for 150 yards rushing and both found the end zone once each.
Worship led the way defensively with seven stops, a forced fumble and a pass breakup in the end zone.
“I think early in the game we battled a little bit of adversity. Then after we scored and going back on defense, that was kind of a statement,” Worship said. “That was kind of like the tone-setter like, ‘OK, this is a different Vanderbilt football team.’ Last year (being down 7-0) might have happened and we might have kind of backed down a little bit.
“No, we kept going and that’s what we did this whole game.”
Vanderbilt could not have gotten off to a worse start Saturday.
Dedrick Parson opened the game by capping Hawai’i’s first offensive drive by scoring on a 37-yard run untouched through the left side. The Vandy offense then committed three penalties, one of which was declined, before being forced to punt.
And on the Dores’ second offensive series Wright was forced to throw a fourth-down pass out of bounds to avoid any sort of serious disaster.
But then Vandy settled in. An eight-play, 90-yard drive ended with Wright taking a one-step drop and lofting a ball into the right corner of the end zone where Sheppard, all alone was waiting.
Fifteen seconds of game clock later came the biggest play of the day.
Worship read the Hawai’i formation and play call and crashed down on a Parson run to the right side. He met the running back with his helmet, popping the ball into the air and down into the arms of a waiting Anfernee Orji. Orji took it 28 yards the other way for six — and Vanderbilt never trailed again.
“I already knew what was coming,” Worship said. “I came down, he tried to cut back on me, I got a perfect tackle on him, my helmet was on the ball, it popped out, (Orji) got it. A little luck, but, shoot, when you got high energy the ball finds a way to get to you.”
Orji for the TD!@AnferneeOrji#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/p67JQUnLHJ
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) August 28, 2022
Up 14-10, Wright scored on a one-yard keeper before halftime to put Vandy up 21-10. That play was set up by a 4th-and-7 pass that went through the hands of Devin Boddie and landed in the gut of Jayden McGowan for a fortuitous conversion.
Vanderbilt opened the second half emphatically with a three-play drive that ended on Griffin’s 9-yard touchdown run.
The rout was just beginning.
Davis scored shortly thereafter on a 12-yard run and then CJ Taylor scooped up a fumble caused by Elijah McAllister that made it 42-10. Wright burst for an 87-yard touchdown run putting the Commodores up 49-10 with 5:49 left in the third quarter.
Another Wright-to-Sheppard touchdown gave the Dores a 56-10 lead and gave them 35 points in the third quarter alone. Many of the 9,346 fans in attendance began to head for home at that point.
8⃣7⃣ yards for the TD!@mike5wright #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/Wjnx6KAuS4
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) August 28, 2022
Now the Commodores head to their own home 1-0 for the first time since 2018. They will celebrate long into the night on the long flight back to the mainland, but they know once they land in Nashville the page turns to Week 2.
“This is a stepping stone. I don’t believe in momentum. I believe in growth of a team as a program,” Wright said. “We took a step. We took a step in growing today and we’ve got to go take another step next week. We’ve got to keep going. That’s our goal – playing at the highest level as a team. We’re not at our highest level yet.”
- Vandy’s 35 points in the third quarter was the most in a single period since it scored 35 in the second quarter against Austin Peay on Sept. 7, 2013.
- Wright became the fourth Vandy quarterback since 1996 to rush for two touchdowns and throw for two touchdowns in the same game since 1996 and first since Chris Nickson did so against Duke on Oct. 28, 2006.
- Orji’s fumble recovery and touchdown were both the first of his career.
- Worship’s forced fumble in the first quarter was the first of his career.
- Orji’s score was the first defensive touchdown for Vanderbilt since Allan George returned a fumble against Kentucky on Nov. 16, 2019.
- Taylor’s touchdown was the first of his career.
- The Commodores last recorded two defensive touchdowns in a single game Sept. 21, 2019.
- Wright’s 87-yard run touchdown was the second-longest run in Vanderbilt history.
- Vanderbilt last began a season 1-0 in 2018 and last started a season with a road win in 2017.
- The Commodores last began a season 2-0 in 2018.
- August 27 marked the earliest date on the calendar Vanderbilt has ever started a season in program history.
- Vanderbilt went 5-0 in the past nine months against Hawaii. The Vandy men’s basketball team defeated Hawai’i 68-54 in December in Honolulu and the baseball team won four games in March (9-2, 12-1, 13-1 and 2-1, respectively) in Honolulu.
- The Vanderbilt football program has now played a game in 30 states as well as the District of Columbia.
- Vandy is now 1-0 against Hawai’i and 4-4 all-time against current members of the Mountain West Conference.
- Vanderbilt is now 3-7 in games played in August since 1997.
- Attendance on Saturday was announced as 9,346.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
