Vanderbilt Game Notes
Game 1 vs. Middle Tennessee
Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville
Pregame Notes
– Vanderbilt is in its 129th year of organized football.
– The VU-MT game was delayed 21 minutes by inclement weather.
– The Commodores wore all black in the season opener, donning black helmets, uniforms and pants. VU wore all white for the second straight year in the season-opener. It was the first time since the 2015 opener against Western Kentucky that Vanderbilt donned all black unis.
– Middle Tennessee lost the toss. Vanderbilt received the ball and defend the south end zone.
– Vanderbilt captains are Kyle Shurmur, LaDarius Wiley, Charles Wright and Justin Skule.
– Attendance: 25,348
Notes
– Vanderbilt’s victory over Middle Tennessee was the Commodores’ second straight season-opening win. They also defeated Middle Tennessee in the 2017 opener played in Murfreesboro.
– In the series, the Commodores are now 16-3 all-time against the Blue Raiders. It was Vanderbilt’s fourth straight win in the series.
– The win was Vanderbilt’s sixth straight regular season victory against non-Southeastern Conference opponents.
– The Commodores are now 31-5 all-time against Conference USA members. It also marked Vanderbilt’s sixth straight win against C-USA opponents.
Team Notes
– Vanderbilt registered six sacks for 30 yards. Last year, Vanderbilt’s season high sack total was six against Western Kentucky.
– The Commodores dominated the third quarter. They held a 129-57 yard advantage over MTSU. Shurmur was 4-5 with 93 yards through the air in the quarter.
– Vanderbilt pitched a shutout in the second half and outscored MTSU, 21-0
First-time Starters, First-Time Contributors
– Ten Vanderbilt players made their first career starts in today’s game: Colin Anderson (R-Fr., ILB), Khari Blasingame (Grad., RB), Tae Daley (So., safety), Ryley Guay (R-Jr., PK), Cody Markel (So., TE), Alim Muhammad (Grad., NB), Dayo Odeyingbo (So., DL), Chris Pierce (So., WR), Donovan Sheffield (Sr., CB),Parker Thome (Grad., punter).
– Vanderbilt first-time contributors: Amir Abdur-Rahman (Fr., WR), Feleti Afemui (R-Fr., LB), Colin Anderson (R-Fr., LB), Bryce Bailey (R-Fr., OT/TE), CJ Bolar (Fr., WR), Brayden DeVault-Smith (R-Fr., LB), Stone Edwards (R-Fr., DL), Allan George (R-Fr., CB), Randall Haynie (R-Fr., CB), Kenny Hebert (R-So., LB), Cam Johnson (Fr., WR), Braden Kopp (R-So., TE), Alim Muhammad (Grad., NB), Alston Orji (Fr., LB), Michael Owusu (R-Fr., LB), Rutger Reitmeier (R-Fr., DL), Parker Thome (Grad., punter), Ke’Shawn Vaughn (R-Jr., RB), Louis Vecchio (Grad., DL) and Max Worship (Fr., safety).
Offensive Notes
– Vanderbilt opened the game with a 58-yard line, five-play drive capped by a 30-yard rushing touchdown by Khari Blasingame (Grad., RB). It was Blasingame’s 11th career rushing touchdown, but first since the 2016 season. The five-play drive featured Blasingame, who had five straight carries.
– Vanderbilt opened the second-half with a 7-play, 92-yard drive capped off with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Chris Pierce for his first-career catch. The drive was the longest Vanderbilt scoring drive since a 97-yard drive against Ole Miss in 2017.
– The second drive for the Dores in the second half resulted in a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive on Shurmur’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Kalija Lipscomb.
– Shurmur now has 42 touchdown passes to move him to second all-time in the Vanderbilt record book. He passed Greg Zolman, who has 41 career touchdown passes.
– Shurmur finished the game with 170 passing yards. He is nearing the 6,000 career passing yards mark with 5,905 career yards.
– Vanderbilt’s third drive in the second resulted in a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped off Jamauri Wakefield’s 14-yard touchdown run. It was his first career touchdown run.
– All three of Vanderbilt’s drives in the second half resulted in touchdowns.
Defensive Notes
– Colin Anderson (R-Fr., LB) contributed a quarterback sack in MTSU’s opening drive.
– Louis Vecchio (Grad., DL) contributed a quarterback sack late in the first quarter. Vecchio was an All-Ivy League performer last year at the University of Pennsylvania.
– On MTSU’s first offensive play of the second quarter, Dayo Odeyingbo (So., DL) had a fumble recovery for a touchdown after picking up a backward pass from MTSU QB Brent Stockstill at the 3-yard line.
– Kenny Hebert produced his first career quarterback sack with 3:48 left before halftime to force a MTSU punt situation.
– Dayo Odeyingbo’s fumble recovery was Vanderbilt’s first defensive touchdown since DB Taurean Ferguson returned a fumble 22 yards for a score against Kentucky on Oct. 8, 2016.
– On MTSU’s first drive in the second half, they were forced to punt after Donovan Sheffield broke up a pass on 3rd and 5.
– MTSU’s second drive of the second came to a stop on a sack from Hebert, for his second sack of the game.
– Jordan Griffin led all Commodores with eight tackles in today’s game, including one sack and two tackles for loss.
– Frank Coppet intercepted a MTSU pass in the endzone with 8:32 remaining in the fourth quarter for his first-career interception.
– Vanderbilt held a 2-0 advantage in the turnover department for the game.
– Josh Smith contributed a first-half sack to force a punt. He finished the game with four total tackles.
