Sept. 24, 2016
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Vanderbilt — Western Kentucky Postgame NotesSept. 24, 2016Houchens-Smith Stadium
Pregame Notes
•Vanderbilt is in its 127th year of organized football.
•The Commodores wore gold helmets, white jerseys and pants in the game.
•Vanderbilt won the toss and deferred with Western Kentucky electing to receive.
•Attendance for the game was 23,674, which marked a record for Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium.
• Vanderbilt captains for the game were Ralph Webb, Ryan White, Zach Cunningham and Oren Burks.
• The Commodores travelled to Western Kentucky for the first time in school history.
Team Notes
•The Commodores are 4-1 all time against Western Kentucky.
•Vanderbilt’s win snapped an 11-game home winning for Western Kentucky, the fifth-longest active streak in the nation coming into Saturday’s game.
•The victory marked Derek Mason’s second road win during his tenure at Vanderbilt.
•Was Vanderbilt’s first overtime game since 2011, a 27-21 loss to Tennessee, and the Commodores first overtime win since 1999 over Ole Miss.
•Vanderbilt is now 2-0 against Conference USA teams this season and 28-5 against C-USA opponents all-time.
•The Commodores are now 5-1 under head coach Derek Mason when scoring 30 or more points.
Individual Notes
•Linebacker Ja’karri Thomas (Sr.) and tight end Jared Pinkney (r-Fr.) each made their second career start.
•Ralph Webb made his 28th straight start at running back for the Commodores.
•Oren Burks recorded his second sack of the season during the first quarter.
•Arnold Tarpley forced a fumble while Western Kentucky was in Vanderbilt territory during the first quarter. Torren McGaster recovered the fumble.
•Taurean Ferguson stripped the ball from a Western Kentucky wide receiver at the Vanderbilt 5-yard line for his first career forced fumble and Tre Herndon recovered the fumble and returned it 27 yards. It was also Herndon’s first career fumble recovery.
•C.J. Duncan had five receptions for 66 yards. Both figures were the highest total for Duncan since he had four receptions for 65 yards against Old Dominion on Nov. 1, 2014.
•Webb ran for a career-high three touchdowns and now has five rushing scores on the season. Webb also ran for 95 yards on 27 carries.
•Webb passed Carl Woods for third all-time on the Vanderbilt career rushing yards list on a 31-yard scamper on the Commodores opening drive of the second half. He now needs 613 yards to break Zac Stacy’s school record for career rushing yards.
•Today marked Webb’s second game of the season with multiple rushing touchdowns and the third of his career.
•Nathan Marcus caught his first touchdown pass of the season to cap Vanderbilt’s opening overtime possession and give the Commodores the lead, 31-24.
•Kyle Shurmur threw for a career-high 279 yards on 18-for-29 (62%) passing. Shurmur’s 18 completions also marked a career-high, besting his prior mark of 17 completions, which was set just one week ago against Georgia Tech.
Offensive Notes
•Vanderbilt had four third down conversions, including a four-yard Ralph Webb rushing touchdown, on its first scoring drive of the game to bring the score to 14-7 with 2:16 remaining in the first half. The nine-play, 76-yard drive was the Commodores longest scoring drive of the season.
•Vanderbilt is now a perfect 15-for-15 in the red zone with 12 touchdowns and three field goals.
•Vanderbilt scored points for the first time on their opening drive in the second half on a Ralph Webb two-yard touchdown run.
•Vanderbilt completed its longest offensive play of the year in the fourth quarter on a 66-yard strike from Kyle Shurmur to Caleb Scott.
•The Commodores used a seven-play, 75-yard drive, including a 2-yard touchdown run by Ralph Webb as time expired, to tie the game at 24 apiece and send the game to overtime.
•Vanderbilt accumulated 389 total yards. The Commodores are now 2-0 when gaining 300 yards or more in a game.
•The Commodores were 5-for-9 (55%) on third down conversions in the first half and 8-for-16 (50%) for the game.
•Vanderbilt had three pass plays of 20 yards or longer coming into the game, but had five passing plays of 20+ yards in the game against Western Kentucky.
Defensive Notes
•Vanderbilt forced and recovered fumbles on two consecutive Western Kentucky drives in Vanderbilt territory during the first quarter.
•The Commodores forced a season-high three turnovers on the day. This marked the third time this season that Vanderbilt has forced multiple turnovers in a game. The Commodores have forced a turnover in every game and boast a turnover margin of +5.
•Vanderbilt forced two turnovers while Western Kentucky was in the red zone. The Commodores also stopped the Hilltoppers from converting a red zone trip into points for a third time after stopping Western Kentucky on a key 3rd-and-1 on VU’s 7-yardline to force a 25-yard field goal attempt, which was missed.
•During a Western Kentucky two-point conversion attempt on the last play of the game, Vanderbilt deflected Mike White’s pass at the line and then intercepted the tipped ball to seal the win, 31-30.
•Held Western Kentucky to 1-for-5 (20%) on third down conversions in the first half and 3-for-12 (25%) for the game.
Special Teams Notes
• Darrius Sims returned three kicks for 69 yards (23.0). Sims now needs just 18 yards to place second all-time for kickoff return yards at Vanderbilt
•Sam Loy had an average punting distance of 38.0 yards, including a punt in the second quarter that pinned Western Kentucky inside their own 10-yard line and a 55-yard punt that flipped field position in the fourth quarter.
•Tommy Openshaw made a 22-yard field goal to bring the score to 17-21 with 5:29 remaining in the game. Openshaw is now 3-for-4 (75%) on the year on field goals.
