September 16, 2017

Postgame Notes - No. 18 Kansas State

Sept. 16, 2017

Vanderbilt – No. 18 Kansas State Postgame Notes
Sept. 16, 2017
Vanderbilt Stadium

Pregame Notes

Vanderbilt is in its 128th year of organized football.
The Commodores wore gold helmets, black jerseys and black pants against Kansas State.
Vanderbilt won the toss and elected to receive. Kansas State then chose to defend the North end zone.
Attendance was 40,350.
Vanderbilt captains for the game were Oren Burks, Trent Sherfield and Ryan White. This trio represented Vanderbilt for the second consecutive game.

Team Notes

The win gives Vanderbilt its first 3-0 start since 2011 when they defeated Elon, Connecticut and Ole Miss to open the season. It is also the first 3-0 start in the Derek Mason era.
After outscoring Kansas State by a 7-0 margin in the first quarter on Saturday, Vanderbilt has now outscored its opponents 35-0 in the first quarter of play.
The Commodores, who were tied with Kansas State 7-7, haven’t played from behind at all this season.
For the first time this season, Vanderbilt didn’t take the opening drive of the game for a touchdown.
The Commodores and Wildcats met for the second time and for the first time since 1984. The win moves Vanderbilt to 2-0 in the series.
Vanderbilt moves to 11-10-1 all-time against current members of the Big 12.
Today’s win marks the second straight season the Commodores have defeated a ranked opponent. Vanderbilt defeated No. 24 Tennessee in 2016.
With tonight’s win the Commodores have won five straight games at Vanderbilt Stadium dating back to 2016.
Vanderbilt now has 598 program wins.
Tonight’s win was the first win over a non-conference ranked opponent since 1946.
Vanderbilt moves to 11-4 against non-conference foes under head coach Derek Mason.

Offense Notes

Kyle Shurmur finished the game with 205 yards on 14-23 passing and no interceptions. Shurmur has yet to throw an interception in the 2017 season.
Shurmur also had a two-yard rushing touchdown, which marked his second consecutive game with a rushing score. He came into last week’s game with zero rushing touchdowns.
With his 205 passing yards, Shurmur moves into 8th place on the Vanderbilt all-time passing list with 3,615 career passing yards. He moves ahead of John Gromos who had 3,514.
Jared Pinkney made a 38-yard yard reception, a new career-long catch, bringing Vanderbilt to the Kansas State 3-yard line and setting up a C.J. Duncan touchdown that gave Vanderbilt a 7-0 lead.
C.J. Duncan’s 2-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter was his first touchdown reception since Nov. 1, 2014 in a 42-28 win over Old Dominion.
Duncan finished with six receptions for 52 yards. He has had at least three receptions in every game this season.
Dating back to last season, Trent Sherfield has 65 receiving yards or more in five of the last six games, including all three games this season. Sherfield finished the game with 97 yards on four receptions.
Sherfield also recorded new season-long reception with a 36-yard catch from Kyle Shurmur early in the third quarter.
Ralph Webb made his 40th consecutive start in tonight’s contest.

Defense Notes

Vanderbilt’s defense has held every opponent scoreless in the first quarter of the game this season.
Charles Wright brought down K-State quarterback Jesse Ertz in the second quarter for his fifth sack of the season. He also shared a sack with Jonathan Wynn in the fourth quarter, bringing his season total up to 5.5
Wright now has a sack in all three of Vanderbilt’s games in 2017.
LaDarius Wiley recorded his first career interception with 13:58 to play in the fourth quarter.
Ryan White snagged his first interception of the season, and second of his career, with 10:16 to play in the fourth quarter.
White’s interception gave the Commodores the ball on the Kansas State 33-yard line and set up Vanderbilt’s game-winning drive.
Vanderbilt now has five interceptions through the first three games of the 2017 season, which matches the team’s total from all of the 2016 season.
Emmanuel Smith notched a new career-high 12 tackles, including five solo stops and a tackle for loss.
Vanderbilt held the Kansas State offense to new season-low marks of seven points and 277 yards. The Wildcats previous lows in those categories were 55 and 493, respectively.