Game 3: Vanderbilt (2-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. NC State (1-1, 0-1 ACC)
When: Saturday, Sept. 19 • 11:45 a.m.
Where: FirstBank Stadium • Nashville, Tenn.
Watch: SEC Network (Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb and Michella Chester)
Listen: 102.5 The Game (Andrew Allegretta, Norman Jordan and Kevin Ingram)
GAME PREVIEW
• Vanderbilt concludes a three-game homestand Saturday against NC State at FirstBank Stadium.
• The Commodores are 2-1 against the Wolfpack since 1946 with two of those meetings coming in bowl games. The last time the two schools met was in the 2016 Independence Bowl with NC State coming out on top.
• Vanderbilt has won three straight against ACC opponents, beating Virginia Tech in each of the last two seasons and also taking down Georgia Tech in the 2024 Birmingham Bowl.
• The Commodores enter Saturday’s contest on a nine-game home win streak. The last time Vandy won nine straight at home was 1954-56.
• Vanderbilt has won 10 straight games against nonconference teams at FirstBank Stadium. It is the school’s first 10-game winning streak at home against nonconference opponents since 2015-19.
• With a sellout crowd of 35,000 expected on Saturday, Vandy will have sold out seven consecutive home games dating back to last season.
LAST TIME OUT
• Vanderbilt defeated Delaware 35-26 in front of a sold-out crowd.
• The Dores had a season-high 11 tackles for loss, marking the first time since Oct. 22, 2022, vs. Missouri (11), that Vanderbilt registered 10 or more stops behind the line.
• Miles Capers collected a career-high four tackles for loss, one shy of tying the school record.
• Jared Curtis became the first Vanderbilt freshman to be responsible for three touchdowns in a home game since 2014.
• The Commodores moved to 2-0 for the fifth straight season, marking the first time Vandy has accomplished the feat since 1934-38.
HAVOC IN THE BACKFIELD
• Vanderbilt’s defense enters Week 3 second in FBS in sacks and 14th in TFLs, averaging 5.5 and eight, respectively.
• Vandy’s 85 yards lost on 11 sacks lead FBS.
• Nine different Commodores have registered a sack in the first two games of the campaign.
• Nick Rinaldi’s 3.5 stops behind the line this season are fifth-most among SEC players.
• Miles Capers ranks ninth in FBS and third in the SEC with four TFLs, all coming in the Week 2 win over Delaware.
SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL PLAYS
• The Dores have scored off blocked kicks in back-to-back weeks for the first time since at least 2002, as during Week 1 Vanderbilt had a blocked PAT returned for a two-point conversion and in Week 2 Austin Howard blocked a punt and landed on the loose ball in the end zone.
• Vandy has also returned a punt for a touchdown in each of its first two games, marking the first time since 2012 that the Dores have had multiple punt returns for touchdowns in the same season.
MARRIED TO THE GAME
• Sedrick Alexander’s 28 total touchdowns rank third in program history. He recorded his 23rd career rushing score in Week 2 against Delaware, putting him one away from tying Marcus Wilson for third on Vanderbilt’s all-time rushing touchdown list.
• The Texan carried the ball into the end zone 11 times in 2025, sixth-most in a season by a Commodore.
• Alexander added four receiving touchdowns last fall for 90 total points, fourth-most in a season at Vandy.
• The senior has totaled 1,623 yards on the ground for his career while adding 590 through the air.
• His 1,469 snaps entering the season were the most of any returning running back at the NCAA FBS level.
THE RETURN OF ISSA
• Issa Ouattara, who missed all but one game in 2025 due to injury, made a big impact in his return to the field Week 1 against Austin Peay.
• His two sacks were a career high in both sacks and TFLs and he blocked a PAT which was returned for two points.
• A native of Germany, Ouattara was named a team captain for the second year in a row ahead of the 2026 campaign.
FIRST TOUCHDOWNS
• When freshman quarterback Jared Curtis connected with tight end Walter Taylor on a 19-yard touchdown in the Week 2 win over Delaware, it marked both Curtis’ first collegiate passing score and Taylor’s first collegiate receiving touchdown.
• The last time two Vanderbilt players recorded a first passing touchdown and first receiving score on the same play was Nov. 14, 2015, against Kentucky when Kyle Shurmur threw a touchdown pass to offensive lineman Kyle Anderton.