Sept. 1, 2016
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
On campus in Nashville – Vanderbilt fell just short in its season-opening game on Thursday night, losing a hard-fought 13-10 matchup to SEC East foe South Carolina at Vanderbilt Stadium. Here are three thoughts from the Commodores’ first game of the 2016 season:
1. It was a tale of two halves for Vandy’s defense.
Vanderbilt’s defense resembled one of the SEC’s best through two quarters of football. At halftime South Carolina had mustered a mere 88 yards of offense while coughing up two fumbles in the first 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the ‘Dores turned that defensive dominance into a 10-0 lead at the break.
But momentum swung the other direction after intermission. Quarterback Perry Orth (11-19 for 152 yards on the night) and receiver Bryan Edwards (101 yards on eight catches) helped to chip away at Vanderbilt’s defense in the second half. In the end, the Gamecocks rang up 220 of their 308 yards of offense in the final two quarters, scoring the game’s final 13 points along the way.
South Carolina found a rhythm with key third-down conversions, which helped engineer scoring drives of 84, 47 and 36 yards. Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason said the ‘Dores failed to keep their foot on the gas after halftime. “When I look at us tonight, just really inconsistent,” Mason said.
Still, several Commodores managed solid individual nights on defense. Linebacker Zach Cunningham led all players with 12 total tackles and three tackles-for-loss. Cornerback Tre Herndon swatted two pass breakups, and safety LaDarius Wiley chipped in four tackles in his first-career start.
2. VU’s passing game struggled to get rolling.
The Commodores’ aerial attack was grounded for most of the night against South Carolina. Sophomore quarterback Kyle Shurmur finished the night 8-of-22 passing for 73 yards, an average of just 3.3 yards per pass attempt. Receiver C.J. Duncan caught two passes and was the only wideout to grab more than one reception.
In the end, Vanderbilt’s passing game struggled to compliment the rushing duo of Ralph Webb and Khari Blasingame. Thus, the Commodores leaned on the run game for most of the night, rushing on 42 of their 65 offensive plays. South Carolina prevented Shumur from finding a rhythm through the air, which prevented Vanderbilt’s offense from becoming two-dimensional.
“When it comes down to it, you’ve got to have consistency in the passing game,” Mason said, “and we didn’t.”
3. Webb and Blasingame formed a formidable one-two punch for the ‘Dores.
Vanderbilt fans can take solace in one aspect of the offense against South Carolina: Blasingame and Webb. The rushing duo accounted for 165 of the Commodores’ 242 yards of offense on Thursday night. Blasingame, a former linebacker, was a bruiser on a number of first-down runs against the Gamecocks, and he punched in the ‘Dores’ only touchdown on the night in the second quarter.
As Vanderbilt looks to improve its passing game, expect Blasingame and Webb to garner more carries in the backfield. Webb’s success won’t surprise much of the SEC; he ran for 2,059 yards in his first two seasons in Nashville. But Blasingame adds an intriguing – and sizable – element to this Vandy offense going forward.
