Nov. 24, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Leverone’s Photos 
| AP Photos
Vanderbilt-Wake Forest Postgame Notes
November 24, 2012 BB&T Field – Winston-Salem, N.C.
Pregame Notes
– Vanderbilt is in its 123rd year of organized football.
– The Commodores wore white jerseys and helmets with black pants; marking the second time this season the team wore the combination (at Kentucky).
– Wake Forest won the toss and deferred to the second half with Vanderbilt receiving the ball in the first half.
– Attendance was 26,134.
Team Notes
– Vanderbilt took the team’s opening drive 85 yards for a touchdown on 11 plays, marking the sixth time this season the Commodores scored points on the team’s opening drive (Northwestern, Presbyterian, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee).
– Vanderbilt’s 28 points in the first half are the most this season.
– Vanderbilt topped 40 points for the fifth time this year. The last season Vanderbilt scored 40+ points in five games came in 1915.
– The Commodores’ 55 are the second-most points Wake Forest allowed in BB&T Field.
– With the win, Vanderbilt goes to 6-2 in the month of November under James Franklin. In the decade prior to Franklin’s arrival, Vanderbilt was 3-32 in November dates.
– The victory is the sixth straight for the Commodores, their first six-game win streak since the 1955. This is Vanderbilt’s first 6-game win streak to conclude the regular season since 1948.
– Vanderbilt finishes the regular season 8-4 overall. It is the most regular season wins since the 1982 season. Only twice in team history has the Commodores reached nine wins: 9-0 in 1904 and 9-1 in 1915.
– James Franklin is now 14-11 in his two-year tenure at Vanderbilt. Among 16 Commodore coaches that have been with the program for two years, only Dan McGugin has registered more victories (16, 1904-05). Franklin is also is 7-1 in non-Southeastern Conference games.
Individual Notes
– Jordan Rodgers’ 25-yard TD pass to Wesley Tate gave him at least on TD pass in five straight games.
– Wesley Tate’s TD reception in the first quarter was his first receiving TD of his career; the score gave him seven for the season to equal Zac Stacy’s team-best.
– Jordan Matthews now has at least one catch in 20 straight games and has four catches or more in 11 of Vanderbilt’s 12 games this season.
– With his six catches in the first quarter Jordan Matthews passed Earl Bennett for second on Vanderbilt’s single-season receptions list with 83 catches this season.
– Wesley Tate’s 15-yard rushing touchdown gave him eight total TDs on the season, the most on the team, and also marked the second straight game the Commodores have had a player rush for a score and catch a touchdown (Jordan Matthews).
– Johnell Thomas recorded his first sack of the season in the second quarter.
– Jordan Matthews’ 64-yard TD reception set the school record for receiving yards in a single season with 1,262 yards this year.
– Jordan Rodgers’ 64-yard TD pass to Jordan Matthews gave him five straight games with two TD tosses.
– Jordan Matthews eclipsed 100 yards receiving for the seventh time this season and 10th time in his career, one shy of Dan Stricker’s school record.
– Jordan Matthews caught 10 passes, equaling a career-best, in the first half, marking the second time this season Matthews had at least 10 catches.
– Zac Stacy scored his 28th career TD with a four-yard run in the second quarter.
– Archibald Barnes recorded his first interception of the season, picking off a pass on the last play of the first half.
– Colt Nichter registered a season-high five tackles in the game and forced a fumble.
– Rob Lohr recorded three tackles for loss for the second time this season and a season-high six tackles.
– Carey Spear’s extra point in the third quarter gave him 74 points this season, setting the new school record previously held by Ricky Anderson (1982).
– Carey Spear’s career-high 52-yard field goal in the third quarter is the Commodores first 50-yard field goal since 2006 when Bryant Hahnfeldt booted a 51-yard field goal at Duke and longest since Steve Yenner’s 55-yarder in 1995. The field goal is the sixth-longest in school history.
– Carey Spear added a 50-yard field goal later in the third quarter giving him 19 field goals this season.
– Jonathan Krause’s 83-yard punt return for a TD was the longest since Alvin Duke’s 88-yard return against Alabama in 1996.
– Jonathan Krause’s two punt returns for touchdowns this season mark the first time since 1968 for a Commodore to return two punts for scores in a single season.
– Zac Stacy’s 90-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter broke his own school record for the longest run in school history and was the second-longest run ever allowed by Wake Forest.
– Zac Stacy became the first player in school history to produce back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with 1,034 yards this season and pushed him over 3,000 career yards with 3,036 yards in his VU career.
– Zac Stacy gained 180 yards on 21 carries for his third 100-yard game of the season.
Offensive Notes
– Vanderbilt took the team’s opening drive 85 yards for a touchdown on 11 plays, marking the sixth time this season the Commodores scored points on the team’s opening drive (Northwestern, Presbyterian, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee).
– The Commodores 11-play scoring drive to open the game was the Commodores 15th scoring drive of 10 or more plays this season.
– Vanderbilt’s 28 points in the first half are the most this season.
– The Commodores converted 4-of-7 third down attempts in the first half and went 2-for-2 on fourth down conversions.
– Vanderbilt eclipsed 300 total points on the season giving the Commodores back-to-back seasons of 300-plus points for the first time in school history.
– Vanderbilt topped 40 points for the fifth time this year. The last season Vanderbilt scored 40-plus points in five games came in 1915.
– Vanderbilt has scored 50-plus points twice this season marking the first time since 1942.
Defensive Notes
– With two turnovers in the first half, Vanderbilt has forced five turnovers in the Commodores’ last six quarters.
– The Commodores held Wake Forest to 32 yards on 18 carries in the first half.
– Vanderbilt held the Demon Deacons to 184 yards passing; Wake Forest entered the game averaging over 200 yards per game through the air.
– Wake Forest was held to just 7-for-19 on third down.
Special Team Notes
– Andrew Williamson’s blocked punt was the first for the Dores since Udom Umoh’s last season against Georgia.
– Casey Hughes recovered the blocked punt in the end zone to become the first Commodore to score on a blocked punt since Javon Marshall did it against Florida in 2010.
– Carey Spear’s extra point in the third quarter gave him 74 points this season, setting the new school record previously held by Ricky Anderson (1982).
– Carey Spear’s career-high 52-yard field goal in the third quarter is the Commodores first 50-yard field goal since 2006 when Bryant Hahnfeldt booted a 51-yard field goal at Duke and longest since Steve Yenner’s 55-yarder in 1995. The field goal is the sixth-longest in school history.
– Carey Spear added a 50-yard field goal later in the third quarter giving him 19 field goals this season.
– Jonathan Krause’s 83-yard punt return for a TD was the longest since Alvin Duke’s 88-yard return against Alabama in 1996.
– Jonathan Krause’s two punt returns for touchdowns this season mark the first time since 1968 for a Commodore to return two punts for scores in a single season.