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Nov. 7, 2020 • 2:30 p.m. CT
Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field • Starkville, Miss.
SEC Network
Taylor Zarzour (play-by-play), Matt Stinchcomb (analyst),
Dawn Davenport (sideline)
WQZQ 830 AM • 93.3 FM
Joe Fisher (play-by-play), Norman Jordan (analyst),
Kevin Ingram (sideline)
• Vanderbilt travels to Mississippi State for its second road tilt of the season and first since the season opener at No. 10 Texas A&M on Sept. 26. Kick is set for 2:30 p.m. CT at Davis Wade Stadium with live television coverage on SEC Network.
• The Commodores did not play a road game in the month of October for the third time in program history, joining the 1909 and 1918 squads. The 1909 unit hosted Mercer, Rose Polytechnic, Auburn and Ole Miss while the 1918 team welcomed Camp Greenleaf and Campo Hancock to Nashville.
• Despite the scheduling oddities of 2020, Vanderbilt played just three games in October for the second consecutive season. In 2019, the Commodores played at Ole Miss (Oct. 5) and hosted UNLV (Oct. 12) and Missouri (Oct. 19).
• Vanderbilt and Mississippi State meet for the 23rd time Saturday and have not faced each other since the 2014 season when the Bulldogs won 51-0 in Starkville. Mississippi State leads the all-time series 13-7-2. Vandy’s lone win in Starkville was a 49-19 triumph in 1971.
• Vandy head coach Derek Mason and Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach faced each other in 2012 and 2013 when both were in the Pac-12. Mason served as the Stanford associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator while Leach was the head coach at Washington State. In the two matchups, Mason’s units held Leach’s Cougars to an average of 387 total yards/game and 17 points/game, nearly half of Washington State’s average of 33 points per game during the span. The 2012 tilt had Mason’s squad hold the Cougars to minus-16 rushing yards.
• Vanderbilt is averaging 1.5 turnovers gained/game, up from an average of 0.9 turnovers gained/game in 2019. The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s contest with the most turnovers in the league with 19, an average of 3.8 turnovers lost/game.
• Vandy leads the SEC in three penalty categories: fewest penalty yards/game (32.5), fewest penalties (16) and fewest penalty yards (130). The team ranks second in fewest penalties/game (4). A season ago, Vanderbilt did not rank within the top four of the league in any of the four categories.
• The Commodores recovered three fumbles at Texas A&M, their most in a game since jumping on three at No. 10 Florida on Nov. 7, 2015. Vanderbilt added its latest recovery against Ole Miss at the end of the opening half and is tied for 15th nationally in fumbles recovered (5). The Commodores had five fumble recoveries in all of 2019.
• Against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, marking the program’s first fourth-quarter points this season. Entering the contest, the Commodores had been outscored 61-14 in the second half and 24-0 in the final frame.
• Commodore Ken Seals, who ranks second among Southeastern Conference freshmen in yards of total offense/game with 174, became just the league’s third true freshman quarterback to start a season opener, and the first to do so in a true road game, when he took the field at Texas A&M on Sept. 26.
• Seals threw for a career-high 319 yards against Ole Miss, the most by a Vanderbilt true freshman quarterback since 2000. The Azle, Texas, native completed 31 of 40 passes (77.5 percent) versus the Rebels, good for the eighth-best completion percentage in a Commodore contest.
• Junior tight end Ben Bresnahan owns a team second-best 17 receptions and a squad-high two touchdown receptions. He entered the campaign with only seven career catches. Bresnahan finished the Ole Miss game with a career-high 72 receiving yards, backed by a personal-long 43-yard grab that went for a touchdown.
• Junior wide receiver Cam Johnson caught a career-high 14 passes for a personal-best 97 yards against Ole Miss. The reception total for Johnson is tied for the sixth most in a game and the most by a Commodore since Trent Sherfield’s 16 grabs against Austin Peay in 2015.
• After totaling 0.5 tackle for lost yardage against Ole Miss, senior defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo has increased his career total to 27, just 1.5 away from cracking the top 10 in Vanderbilt history. Odeyingbo paces the Commodores with 4 tackles for lost yardage and 2.5 sacks.
