Jan. 22, 2007
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| The Commodores return 16 starters from the 2006 squad. 2007 season ticket prices will be announced later this week. |
2007 Commodore Football Schedule
Nashville, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt Commodores will open the 2007 football season with four consecutive home games, part of a 12-game schedule that includes eight encounters to be played on campus.
For just the second time in 58 years, the Commodores will conclude the regular season against a foe other than the University of Tennessee. Vanderbilt’s season finale against Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference is scheduled Saturday, Nov. 24, in Nashville. It is the first of eight games between the schools through 2014.
The schedule also gives Vanderbilt eight home games for the first time since the Commodores hosted eight opponents on Old Dudley Field in 1900.
The schedule is challenging, with eight opponents having appeared in bowl games last year, including the national champion (Florida), Cotton Bowl winner (Auburn) and Orange Bowl invitee and ACC champion Wake Forest. Other recent bowl-bound teams on the schedule include Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.
“It’s quite a football schedule, but it’s always that way in the Southeastern Conference. It’s a schedule our fans, players and coaches should be excited about,” Head Coach Bobby Johnson said. “It will be a great challenge for our team, but we’re excited about that challenge. As a team, we are back at work getting ready for the season.”
The season opener is against the Richmond Spiders, a squad that Vanderbilt has defeated twice in the last six years.
Alabama will be first Vanderbilt’s first Southeastern Conference game on campus on Sept. 8. The Crimson Tide will be directed for the first time under former LSU and Miami Dolphin head coach Nick Saban.
Vanderbilt will host perennial SEC West opponent Ole Miss on Sept. 15, then take a week off before playing Eastern Michigan of the Middle American Conference on Sept. 29 in its fourth straight home game.
Vanderbilt’s first road trip comes on Oct. 6 when the Commodores tackle Auburn of the SEC West. It will be the Commodores’ first against the Tigers in six years.
The Commodores return to Nashville Oct. 13 to play host to the Georgia Bulldogs, winners of the 2006 Peach Bowl. The game will also serve as homecoming for the university.
The second half of Vanderbilt’s 2007 schedule has the Commodores traveling east to take on South Carolina on Oct. 20. Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks finished the 2006 season by capturing the Liberty Bowl.
After hosting Kent State of the MAC conference on Oct. 27, the Commodores conclude the season with a road game at Florida on Nov. 3, home game versus Kentucky on Nov. 10, road encounter at Tennessee on Nov. 17, and home finale versus Wake Forest on Nov. 24.
The Commodores return 16 starters from the 2006 squad that went 4-8. Several of the SEC’s top returnees are back for the Commodores, including three all-conference players – middle linebacker Jonathan Goff, wide receiver Earl Bennett and offensive tackle Chris Williams. Other standouts returning are junior quarterback Chris Nickson, senior defensive tackle Theo Horrocks, senior defensive end Curtis Gatewood and junior safety Reshard Langford.
Stay tuned to VUcommodores.com – 2007 season ticket packages will be announced later this week.
2007 Vanderbilt Schedule
Date Opponent Location
Sept. 1 RICHMOND Nashville
Sept. 8 ALABAMA Nashville
Sept. 15 OLE MISS Nashville
Sept. 29 EASTERN MICHIGAN Nashville
Oct. 6 Auburn Auburn, Ala.
Oct. 13 GEORGIA Nashville
Oct. 20 South Carolina Columbia, S.C.
Oct. 27 KENT STATE Nashville
Nov. 3 at Florida Gainesville, Fla.
Nov. 10 KENTUCKY Nashville
Nov. 17 at Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn.
Nov. 24 WAKE FOREST Nashville
Nashville games to be played in Vanderbilt Stadium.
