Sept. 26, 2015
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Vanderbilt – Ole Miss Postgame Notes
Sept. 26, 2015
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Pregame Notes
– Vanderbilt is in its 126th year of organized football.
– The Commodores wore all white on Saturday night donning white helmets, jerseys and pants for the first time this season.
– Vanderbilt won the toss and deferred to the second half, Ole Miss elected to receive and defend the south goal.
– Attendance was 60,654.
– Vanderbilt captains for the game were Trent Sherfield, Darreon Herring and Tommy Openshaw.
Team Notes
– Vanderbilt and Ole Miss met for the 90th time on Saturday night with the Commodores now standing 38-50-2 all time in Vanderbilt’s second-most played series.
– Saturday night’s game marked the first time the Commodores played in Oxford since 2012 when the Dores won 27-26 and snapped a three-game Vandy winning streak in Oxford dating back to 2008.
– The Commodores’ game vs. No. 3 Ole Miss is the Dores’ first game against an opponent ranked that high since 2011 at No. 2 Alabama.
– Vanderbilt won the turnover margin for the first time in 18 games with two interceptions and no turnovers dating back to 2013.
Individual Notes
– Khari Blasingame made his first career start, getting the nod at inside linebacker to become the sixth different Commodore to get his first career start this season.
– Oren Burks hauled in the Commodores’ first interception of the season and first of his career, picking off a pass on Ole Miss’ first drive of the game.
– Josh Crawford saw his first collegiate action in the first quarter with a three-yard gain on Vanderbilt’s scoring drive making him the eighth true freshman to see time this season.
– Tommy Openshaw’s 28-yard field goal in the first quarter gave Vanderbilt the lead and put Ole Miss behind for the first time this season.
– Darrius Sims’ 47-yard kick return in the first quarter was the Dores’ longest of the season and longest since Sims took two kicks back for TDs last season vs. South Carolina.
– Stephen Weatherly notched his first sack of the year on a third down in the second quarter.
– Adam Butler recorded his first sack of the season late in the first half.
– Torren McGaster led the Dores with five tackles in the first half.
– Caleb Scott set new career-bests with five catches and 42 yards.
– Tommy Openshaw’s 41-yard field goal early in the third gave him eight made field goals this season, two in each game.
– Nifae Lealao blocked his first career field goal in the third quarter to give the Dores’ their first block of the season and first since 2013 when Adam Butler blocked one against Tennessee.
– Ralph Webb’s 43-yard rush in the third quarter was the longest of his career and longest rush of the season for the Commodores.
– Johnny McCrary’s TD pass to Ralph Webb was Webb’s second TD catch of the season and gave McCrary at least one TD pass in every game this season.
– Steven Scheu hauled in a season-high five passes for a season-best 57 yards.
– Ralph Webb rushed for a season-best 90 yards.
– Tommy Openshaw nailed his career-best third field goal of the night early in the fourth quarter from 34 yards giving him nine on the season to set a new career-high.
– Zach Cunningham notched his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter for his 10th tackle of the night.
– Jahmel McIntosh picked off his third career pass in the fourth quarter and returned inside the Ole Miss 20-yard line to give Vanderbilt two interceptions on the night.
– Johnny McCrary’s 23 completions give him 93 for the season and three straight games with 20-plus completions. He had 78 all of last season.
– Zach Cunningham’s 11 tackles are the most by a Commodore this season and the third game of his career with 11-plus tackles.
– Arnold Tarpley made a career-best eight tackles in the game.
– Darreon Herring made a season-best eight tackles.
– For the second straight week, Trent Sherfield led VU in receptions with seven for 55 yards.
– Torren McGaster and Adam Butler each had two tackles for loss in the game.
Offensive Notes
– The Commodores’ 19-play, 83-yard scoring drive in the first quarter was the Commodores’ longest drive of the season that saw the Dores converting five third downs.
– Vanderbilt’s 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter was the team’s second 80-plus yard scoring drive of the night and gave the Dores their longest two scoring drives of the season.
– The Dores went 3-for-4 in the red zone and are now 12-for-20 scoring inside the red zone this season.
– The offense did not turn the ball over for the first time in 18 games dating back to 2013.
– The offensive line did not allow a sack in the game.
– The Commodores converted a season-high 10 third downs going 10-for-22 in the game.
– Seven different receivers caught passes in the game led by Trent Sherfield’s seven catches.
Defensive Notes
– Khari Blasingame made his first career start, getting the nod at inside linebacker.
– Oren Burks hauled in the Commodores’ first interception of the season and first of his career, picking off a pass on Ole Miss’ first drive of the game.
– Stephen Weatherly notched his first sack of the year on a third down in the second quarter.
– The Commodores held Ole Miss to 2-of-9 on third downs in the first half.
– Jahmel McIntosh picked off his third career pass in the fourth quarter and returned inside the Ole Miss 20-yard line to give Vanderbilt two interceptions on the night.
– Vanderbilt held Ole Miss to 3-for-13 on third down.
– The Dores held the Rebels to 95 yards passing in the second half and 1-for-4 on third down.
– VU matched the team’s season-high with nine tackles for loss and has 18 TFLs in the team’s last two games.
– For the second straight week, the defense registered three sacks in the game and now has nine on the season as a team.
Special Teams Notes
– Darrius Sims’ 47-yard kick return in the first quarter was the Dores’ longest of the season and longest since Sims took two kicks back for TDs last season vs. South Carolina.
– Tommy Openshaw’s 28-yard field goal in the first quarter gave Vanderbilt the lead and put Ole Miss behind for the first time this season.
– Nifae Lealao blocked his first career field goal in the third quarter to give the Dores’ their first block of the season and first since 2013 when Adam Butler blocked one against Tennessee.
– Tommy Openshaw averaged 40.3 yards per punt on his six punts.
