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Vanderbilt Breaks NCAA Records 11/23/2005
Vandy Breaks NCAA Record in 1969 On November 22, 1969, Vanderbilt entered its last home game of that season with a 3-5 record against Davidson. Coach Bill Pace was in his third season with the Commodores and this autumn afternoon would be a record-breaker. Vanderbilt rolled to a 63-8 victory before 15, 371 fans at Dudley Field. In the process, the Commodores amassed 798 total yards, a school record that stands today. The total yardage was also an NCAA and SEC record at the time. Alabama broke the record in 1973 against Virginia Tech as the Tide totaled 833 yards. Sophomore quarterback, Watson Brown, became a starter with the third game of the season. Senior tailback Doug Mathews was the Commodores leading rusher for the game with 138 yards and accounted for one touchdown with a halfback pass. The offensive explosiveness gave Vanderbilt a 43-0 lead midway in the third quarter and relieved the first-team. Brown ran for three touchdowns and added a TD pass to David Strong. Backup quarterback Denny Painter accounted for two touchdown passes to Curt Chesley and Karl Weiss. Vanderbilt recorded 430 rushing yards and passed for 368 yards. Reserve running backs John Valput and Bill Young scored two touchdowns on the ground while kicker Ernie Perez booted a 37-yard field goal to pad the scoring. The scoring went like this: Brown–44-yard run (kick failed) Davidson’s star quarterback, Gordon Slade, threw for 244 yards hitting on 22-of-50 attempts. Slade came into the game as the nation’s fourth ranked passer. Davidson only ran the ball 16 times for 33 yards. “We just played a better football team than we are,” Davidson coach Homer Smith said after the game. “They are much better than we are and we just couldn’t handle them physically. Vanderbilt was not this good when we scheduled them and we didn’t know they would get this good. We have had our big moments this year, but this one has to be a low one.” The Commodores scoring drives were for 71, 77, 48, 83, 37, 54, 50, 82 and 39 yards. Brown finished the game with 118 rushing yards on 14 carries. Mathews rushing effort in the game gave him a season total of 721 yards with one game left on the schedule. He passed Tom Moore’s Vanderbilt season rushing record of 676 yards in 1959. “We were just too much for Davidson in this one,” said Pace. “All week I had been afraid we would have a letdown, but as it turned out, we went out there and played hard and we were too much for them physically. Davidson played hard and stayed all the way, which is not easy in a game like this. Their receiver Mike Kelly is a fine athlete and did a great job against us.” The 798 yards ranks third today in the SEC behind Alabama vs. Virginia Tech in 1973 (833 yards) and Kentucky vs. Louisville in 1998 (801 yards). The current total offense record is held by Houston vs.
SMU (Oct. 21, 1989) with 1,021 yards. The 16 rushing attempts was at that time an SEC record for lowest rushing attempts. The previous record was also Vanderbilt preventing North Carolina State to 18 attempts in 1946 at Dudley Field. Mathews also set a then-SEC kickoff return record with 593 yards breaking the previous league record held by Mississippi State’s David Smith the year before. Other Vanderbilt single-game team records established in the game include (an asterisk indicates the record still exists): Most pass completions (27)–previous record 23 against Navy in 1967 The 40 first downs remain today an SEC record. Chesley’s seven pass receptions in the game gave him 84 for his career and passed the previous mark held by Bob Goodridge (82). Earlier in the year Vanderbilt upset Alabama 14-10 at Dudley Field; the last game in which the Commodores beat the Tide in Nashville. After the Davidson game the Commodores lost the next week to 10th ranked Tennessee (40-27) in Knoxville and finished, 4-6. Davidson clinched a Southern Conference championship earlier in the season. The Wildcats lost to Mid-American champions Toledo in the Tangerine Bowl. Mathews finished the season with 849 rushing yards to lead the Southeastern Conference. That rushing effort ranks sixth all-time on the Vanderbilt single-season rushing list. Mathews is the only Vanderbilt football player ever to lead the conference in rushing. During the 26-23 victory over Tulane, Mathews rushed for 214 yards second all-time to Frank Mordica’s 321 yards set in 1978. Next week read about Vanderbilt playing in the Peach Bowl which was their second bowl game in it’s history. If you have any comments or suggestions you can contact Bill Traughber via e-mail WLTraughber@aol.com. |
