Goin' back to Vandy: A B-Dawg dual NCAA '14/NCAA '07 flashback dynasty

[BDawg35]

GAME 6 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS


Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis celebrates his game-winning 19-yard field goal in overtime. Mevis was 5-for-5
on field goals.


Missouri’s Mookie Cooper hauls in a 21-yard touchdown catch with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter.

PARTY POOPERS
Missouri snatches victory from Vandy
as kicker completes perfect day in OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt football players were already planning the postgame party, trying to figure out which cheerleaders they’d hook up with that night.

Missouri spoiled the Commodores’ plans.

Victory seemed certain for Vanderbilt after it took a three-point lead with 29 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Missouri moved quickly down the field to get a game-tying field goal before winning 35-32 in overtime on Oct. 4, 2021.

After giving up a touchdown with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter, the Commodores took a 32-29 lead with 29 seconds remaining in the fourth on a 15-yard pass from Mike Wright to running back Re’Mahn Davis.

The Tigers ran four seconds off the clock on the kick return, taking over at their 28-yard line with 25 seconds to go. Three straight completions by Connor Bazelak put Missouri in field goal range. After a pass to the end zone went off a receiver’s hands, Missouri forced overtime on a 32-yard field goal by Mevis with three seconds left.

Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg called for a fair catch on the ensuing kick return to give the offense one more shot. Wright hit Devin Boddie for a 36-yard gain on a play that beat Colorado State earlier in the season, sending the game to overtime.

B-Dawg’s shoddy stick skills betrayed him in overtime, as he kicked wide left on a 42-yard field goal attempt following three straight incompletions.

The Tigers just needed to protect the ball, move closer and claim the walk-off victory with an easy field goal. They had first-and-goal at the 5-yard line before attempting a couple risky passes and having a run come up short of the end zone. Mevis, an 87 OVR sophomore, came on and hit the 19-yard chip-shot to end it with his fifth field goal in as many attempts.

“I’ll be second-guessing how I defended the final 25 seconds for a long time,” B-Dawg said. “There had to be a way to keep them from moving that far in such a short time. We could’ve settled it by not leaving as much time on the clock, but you have to score when you can. You’re never guaranteed the end zone.”

Wright had an off day, going 24-for-43 for 303 yards, one touchdown and two picks. The Tigers broke up nine passes Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw had an interception and three deflections.


Re’Mahn Davis snags a touchdown catch out of the backfield to give
Vanderbilt a short-lived lead with 29 seconds left.

MISSOURI TIGERS at VANDERBILT COMMODORES
Oct. 4, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	OT	SCORE
Missouri Tigers (3-2)	3	6	6	17	3	35
Vanderbilt Commodores (4-2)	7	3	8	14	0	32

Team Stats Comparison
	MIZZ	VAN
Total Offense	432	466
Rushing Yards	21-80	40-163
Passing Yards	352	303
First Downs	19	24
Punt Return Yards	17	0
Kick Return Yards	132	217
Total Yards	581	683
Turnovers	0	2
3rd Down Conversion	5-11	11-19
4th Down Conversion	0-0	2-2
2-Point Conversion	0-1	1-1
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-1-4	4-4-0
Penalties	2-19	2-15
Possession Time	14:42	21:18

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		MIZZ	VAN
5:00	(VAN) R. Davis 1 run (J. Bulovas kick)	0	7
2:00	(MIZZ) H. Mevis 41 field goal	3	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		MIZZ	VAN
4:14	(MIZZ) H. Mevis 34 field goal	6	7
1:13	(MIZZ) H. Mevis 48 field goal	9	7
:11	(VAN) J. Bulovas 40 field goal	9	10
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		MIZZ	VAN
7:14	(MIZZ) M. Cooper 29 pass from C. Bazelak (run failed)	15	10
4:10	(VAN) R. Davis 4 run (R. Davis run)	15	18
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		MIZZ	VAN
8:26	(MIZZ) T. Badie 5 run (H. Mevis kick)	22	18
4:10	(VAN) R. Davis 4 run (J. Bulovas kick)	22	25
1:15	(MIZZ) M. Cooper 21 pass from C. Bazelak (H. Mevis kick)	29	25
:29	(VAN) R. Davis 15 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	29	32
:03	(MIZZ) H. Mevis 32 field goal	32	32
OVERTIME SCORING		MIZZ	VAN
---	(MIZZ) H. Mevis 19 field goal	35	32

MISSOURI TIGERS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Connor Bazelak 29/38 352 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Tyler Badie 11 45 4.0 1 Michael Cox 2 15 7.5 0 Connor Bazelak 6 13 2.1 0 Keke Chism 1 7 7.0 0 Tauskie Dove 1 0 0.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Tyler Badie 9 33 3.7 0 Daniel Parker 7 69 9.8 0 Keke Chism 4 108 27.0 0 Mookie Cooper 3 61 20.3 2 Tauskie Dove 3 33 11.0 0 Niko Hea 2 35 17.5 0 Barrett Banister 1 13 13.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Xavier Delgado 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Kris Abrams-Draine 12 1 0 0 Devin Nicholson 7 3 0 0 Jaylon Carlies 6 0 0 0 Trajan Jeffcoat 5 1 0 0 Ish Burdine 5 1 0 0 Ennis Rakestraw 5 0 0 1 Blaze Alldredge 4 0 0 0 Isaiah McGuire 4 2 0 0 Kobie Whiteside 4 1 0 0 Chris Shearin 3 1 0 0 Akial Byers 3 0 0 0 D'Ionte Smith 2 0 0 0 Jalani Williams 2 0 0 0 Akayleb Evans 1 0 0 1 Allie Green 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Harrison Mevis 5/5 2/2 17 48 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Grant McKinniss 2 94 47.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Elijah Young 5 132 26.4 30 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Kris Abrams-Draine 2 17 8.5 11

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 24/43 303 1 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Re'Mahn Davis 22 97 4.4 3 Mike Wright 12 43 3.5 0 Brayden Bapst 5 23 4.6 0 Rocko Griffin 1 0 0.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Re'Mahn Davis 7 56 8.0 1 Devin Boddie 6 105 17.5 0 Chris Pierce 4 47 11.8 0 Ben Bresnahan 3 54 18.0 0 Will Sheppard 1 24 24.0 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 1 10 10.0 0 Tyrell Alexander 1 7 7.0 0 Brayden Bapst 1 0 0.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Max Worship 9 0 0 0 Deshaun Jenkins 7 0 0 0 Brayden DeVault-Smith 6 1 0 0 Ethan Barr 6 1 0 0 Anfernee Orji 6 3 0 0 Allan George 5 0 0 0 Jaylen Mahoney 3 0 0 0 Chase Lloyd 3 0 0 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 3 2 0 0 Michael Owusu 2 0 0 0 Daevion Davis 2 1 1 0 De'Rickey Wright 1 1 0 0 Elijah McAllister 1 1 0 0 Feleti Afemui 1 0 0 0 Justin Harris 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 1/2 3/3 6 40 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 2 80 40.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 4 134 33.5 43 Gavin Schoenwald 3 83 27.7 35 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

Josh Allen grabs his second interception (left), his third interception (center) and takes the latter to the
house (right).

Allen’s 3 picks pave the way
for Vandy’s first SEC victory

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A big play needed to be made by Vanderbilt’s defense.

On this day, no player in all the land was better suited to come through than Vanderbilt cornerback Josh Allen.

Allen’s third interception of the game was taken back 19 yards for a touchdown with 4:54 left in the game, sealing 113th-ranked Vanderbilt’s 41-29 victory over 86th-ranked Mississippi on Oct. 7, 2006.

Allen’s three interceptions, which tie the real-life school record, directly or indirectly led to 21 points for Vanderbilt, which won for the first time in Southeastern Conference play under first-year coach B-Dawg.

Both teams came in with woeful 1-4 overall records and 0-2 SEC marks.

“Josh Allen is a kid who hasn’t really shown us a whole lot in the first five games,” Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg said. “The only guys in our secondary who were playing with a crap were strong safety Reshard Langford and true freshman cornerback D.J. Moore. Josh was amazing today, the way he read the play and broke on the ball. He’s only a red-shirt sophomore, so we’re hoping a game like this gives him a big boost toward becoming a big-time stud by his senior year.”

The Commodores, who didn’t score a single offensive point against lowly Temple last week, had an out-of-body experience in the first half against Mississippi. Red-shirt freshman quarterback Mackenzi Adams started the game 11-for-18 for 270 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in staking Vanderbilt to a stunning 31-7 lead with 5:18 left in the first half. Two of Vanderbilt’s touchdowns came after interceptions by Allen.

Adams hit six different receivers during that stretch, throwing touchdowns to three different players. Marlon White opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown catch, Earl Bennett caught a 21-yard pass to make it 14-7 and tight end Brad Allen snared a 12-yard scoring strike to put the Commodores ahead 31-7.

“I was stunned, absolutely stunned,” B-Dawg said. “Here we’ve been struggling all season to scrape and claw for every yard, every point we can get. All of a sudden, it was like the floodgates opened. I switched to the Vanderbilt playbook for this game and the guys seemed much more at ease using their own book. It gives us a good mix of plays that seem suited to our talent. Mississippi isn’t the toughest defense in the country by a long shot, but we had a hard time with Tennessee State and Temple, so we expected another tough battle.”

This is Vanderbilt, of course, which meant this victory would become far from easy.

The Rebels got some momentum heading into halftime when Brent Schaeffer hit Marshay Green with a 14-yard touchdown pass with 41 seconds left in the second quarter. A 2-point pass cut the Commodores’ lead to 31-15.

Mississippi hardly ran at all in the first half, but established a ground game coming out in the second half and had its patience rewarded. The Rebels, led by running back Mico McSwain, outscored Vanderbilt 14-0 in the third quarter to make things very interesting at 31-29.

“At that point, I’m bracing for another one of our patented fourth-quarter meltdowns,” B-Dawg said. “We had momentum, we had everything going our way, but they got to +2 on the momentum meter and I fully expected a load of EA-orchestrated B.S. to come our way.”

Mississippi’s defense came up with a big stop by stuffing a third-and-goal run from the 2-yard line, forcing Vanderbilt to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Bryant Hahnfeldt with 5:08 left in the game. At 34-29, the Rebels could have taken the lead with a touchdown.

But Mr. Allen had other ideas.

He leapt to snare a short pass by Schaeffer and went 19 yards to the house with Vanderbilt’s second defensive touchdown of the season, making it a two-score game at 41-29.

“We breathed a huge sigh of relief, because we knew we could just drop back and not give up the big play and ride out the victory,” B-Dawg said.

Mississippi moved all the way to Vanderbilt’s 2-yard line, but Schaeffer threw three straight incompletions to end the Rebels’ final threat with 1:01 remaining.

Adams finished 19-for-31 for 334 yards, three touchdowns and — the truly beautiful part — NO INTERCEPTIONS!!!

Cassen Jackson-Garrison showed some versatility, catching two passes for 71 yards and rushing 26 times for 112 yards and a touchdown. His 28-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the longest run this season for the Commodores.

Seven different Commodores caught passes, with six grabbing at least two. White had five catches for 77 yards and his first touchdown of the season. Bennett, whose big-play ability has been the only offense for the Commodores so far, was relatively quiet with four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown.

“I tell you what, when Bennett has so-so numbers, I’d be willing to bet we’ll win the majority of those games,” B-Dawg said. “It’s when we get desperate and nothing else is working that we lean heavily on him. Today was a perfect display of how I want to run my offense. We got everyone involved and had a good mix of short, medium and deep balls, not to mention a much more effective ground game.”

The Commodores were 12-for-17 on third-down conversions.

Vanderbilt doesn’t have much time to celebrate. The Commodores will have to go between the hedges next Saturday to face 23rd-ranked Georgia (4-2).

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Josh Allen, Vanderbilt; Marshay Green, Mississippi

VANDERBILT 41, MISSISSIPPI 29
First quarter
VANDY: White 7 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 5:52
MISS: Green 71 pass from Schaeffer (Mosely kick), 5:21
VANDY: Bennett 21 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 3:08
Second quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 35 field goal, 7:33
VANDY: Garrison 28 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 6:24
VANDY: B.Allen 12 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 5:18
MISS: Green 14 pass from Schaeffer (Hough pass from Schaeffer), :41
Third quarter
MISS: Lane 2 pass from Schaeffer (Mosely kick), 5:06
MISS: McSwain 27 run (Mosley kick), 1:41
Fourth quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 23 field goal, 5:08
VANDY: J.Allen 19 interception return (Hahnfeldt kick), 4:54





Jamaal Charles, Texas, HB
Stats: 115 carries, 777 yards, 15 TD; 11 catches, 186 yards, 3 TD

Drew Tate, Iowa, QB
Stats: 116-for-204, 1,608 yards, 21 TD, 8 int.

Sidney Rice, South Carolina, WR
Stats: 35 catches, 561 yards, 9 TD

John David Booty, USC, QB
Stats: 123-for-193, 1,576 yards, 18 TD, 6 int.

Zac Taylor, Nebraska, QB
Stats: 128-for-211, 1,689 yards, 21 TD, 6 int.

[BDawg35]

GAME 7 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS


Army quarterback Christian Anderson breaks a tackle by Vanderbilt linebacker Ethan Barr on one of his two long
touchdown runs.


Vanderbilt’s Dashaun Jerkins picks off a pass at the goal line.

TALE OF 2 GAMES
Army option attack shreds Vanderbilt
in restarted game that originally froze

WEST POINT, N.Y. — How much does game momentum factor into the outcome in NCAA ’14?

We now have an example of two wildly different results just based on the whims of EA Sports’ momentum programming.

Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg had the dreaded game freeze while taking down stats of his game against Army, one which the Commodores dominated. Vanderbilt won that game, 26-3, holding a potent option attack to only 67 yards on 31 carries. That total included runs of 32 yards by A.J. Howard and 24 by quarterback Christian Anderson. Vanderbilt had 20 tackles for losses, including four sacks and three interceptions.

So, after getting over the disappointment of wasting almost two hours of his life on a game that didn’t count, B-Dawg was confident when he played Army again a few days later.

It was like two totally different teams took the field, with Army’s option attack shredding the Commodores on its way to a 30-14 victory.

Anderson played about as realistically as an Army quarterback can, running 17 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns, while going 4-for-12 for 41 yards, no touchdowns and a pick through the air. Supplementing his running was a 10-carry, 118-yard performance by Tyrell Robinson.

Army finished with 317 yards on 38 carries.

“You can’t tell me the outcome of games isn’t heavily determined by the momentum programming,” B-Dawg said. “I didn’t get any more stupid, my team didn’t get any worse. I ran the same defense the second time we played these guys, and it’s almost as if they practiced against it for a few days and were ready to shred us. I’ve played that Army option attack many times, going back to my Air Force days, but have never been destroyed like that.”

During 13 seasons at Air Force, B-Dawg had a 13-0 record against Army. He lost twice to Navy during that time.

The first indication this game would be different was when Anderson ran 71 yards for a touchdown on Army’s first snap of the game.

“And, thus, the momentum programming was triggered in Army’s favor,” B-Dawg said.

B-Dawg’s offense can typically outscore its defensive problems, but the Commodores didn’t score again after taking a 14-7 lead two minutes into the second quarter. A major part of Vanderbilt’s ineptitude on offense was an abysmal performance by quarterback Mike Wright, who threw five interceptions and completed only 20 of 46 passes. Wright started the game completing 13 of his first 14 attempts.

Despite Wright’s self-destructive behavior, Vanderbilt’s defense hung in there, with the game tied 14-14 after three quarters.

Army outscored Vanderbilt 16-0 in the fourth quarter, as Wright threw three interceptions. A 55-yard run by Anderson was the only touchdown. Cole Talley kicked three field goals in the fourth.

“My quarterback starts out 13-for-14 and ends up 7-for-32 the rest of the way,” B-Dawg said. “That can’t happen unless the game’s momentum conspires against you.”

VANDERBILT COMMODORES at ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS
Oct. 11, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Vanderbilt Commodores (4-3)	7	7	0	0	14
Army Black Knights (2-4)	7	0	7	16	30

Team Stats Comparison
	VAN	ARMY
Total Offense	350	358
Rushing Yards	33-119	38-317
Passing Yards	231	41
First Downs	20	9
Punt Return Yards	38	11
Kick Return Yards	127	28
Total Yards	515	397
Turnovers	5	2
3rd Down Conversion	5-15	2-12
4th Down Conversion	1-4	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2-2-0	4-1-2
Penalties	1-12	1-5
Possession Time	20:55	15:05

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		VAN	ARMY
6:19	(ARMY) C. Anderson 71 run (C. Talley kick)	0	7
1:56	(VAN) R. Davis 2 run (J. Bulovas kick)	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		VAN	ARMY
7:00	(VAN) R. Davis 2 run (J. Bulovas kick)	14	7
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		VAN	ARMY
3:46	(ARMY) T. Tyler 13 run (C. Talley kick)	14	14
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		VAN	ARMY
7:29	(ARMY) C. Talley 27 field goal	14	17
5:51	(ARMY) C. Anderson 55 run (C. Talley kick)	14	24
4:22	(ARMY) C. Talley 47 field goal	14	27
1:54	(ARMY) C. Talley 37 field goal	14	30

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 20/46 231 0 5 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Re'Mahn Davis 22 68 3.0 2 Mike Wright 7 42 6.0 0 Rocko Griffin 2 4 2.0 0 Brayden Bapst 1 3 3.0 0 Will Sheppard 1 2 2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Will Sheppard 8 92 11.5 0 Devin Boddie 4 49 12.3 0 Chris Pierce 4 40 10.0 0 Ben Bresnahan 1 25 25.0 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 1 19 19.0 0 Brayden Bapst 1 6 6.0 0 Re'Mahn Davis 1 0 0.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Ethan Barr 8 3 1 0 Dashaun Jerkins 6 2 0 1 Michael Owusu 4 3 1 0 Max Worship 4 1 1 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 4 0 0 0 Anfernee Orji 4 1 1 0 Jaylen Mahoney 4 0 0 0 Brendon Harris 2 1 0 0 Chris Pierce 2 0 0 0 Allan George 2 2 0 0 De'Rickey Wright 1 0 0 0 Nate Clifton 1 0 0 0 Feleti Afemui 1 1 0 0 Justin Harris 1 0 0 0 D.Boddie/R.Davis 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 0/0 2/2 2 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 4 154 38.5 2 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 5 127 25.4 33 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 3 38 12.7 15

ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Christian Anderson 4/12 41 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Christian Anderson 17 161 9.4 2 Tyrell Robinson 10 118 11.8 0 AJ Howard 9 22 2.4 0 Tyhier Tyler 1 13 13.0 1 Jakobi Buchanan 1 13 3.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Sean Eckert 1 19 19.0 0 Reikan Donaldson 1 9 9.0 0 Isaiah Alston 1 9 9.0 0 AJ Howard 1 4 4.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Connor Finucane 0 1 Dean Powell 0 1 Zack Ward 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT D'Andre Tobias 8 0 0 0 Julian McDuffie 7 0 0 1 Leo Lowin 6 1 0 1 Marquel Broughton 5 0 0 1 Ryan Duran 4 3 0 0 Nolan Cockrill 4 0 0 0 Jabari Moore 4 1 0 1 Arik Smith 4 1 0 0 Malkelm Morrison 4 0 0 0 Kwabena Bonsu 2 0 0 0 Cameron Jones 2 0 0 1 Isaiah Morris 2 0 0 0 Quindrelin Hammonds 1 0 0 0 Isaiah Filisi 1 0 0 0 Caleb John 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Cole Talley 3/3 3/3 12 47 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Zach Harding 5 210 42.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Braheam Murphy 1 28 28.0 28 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Tyrell Robinson 1 11 11.0 11

The photo which is going on Vanderbilt’s bulletin board:
Georgia halfback Kregg Lumpkin throwing a 64-yard touchdown
pass in the fourth quarter of a blowout game.

A RIVALRY IS BORN?
B-Dawg vows to get back at Georgia
for running up the score in 59-10 rout

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — There isn’t much of a history between Vanderbilt and Georgia, even though both schools have been long-time members of the Southeastern Conference.

Well, a bitter rivalry may be brewing after the events of Oct. 14, 2006.

Vanderbilt isn’t a threat to the Bulldogs any time soon, as 23rd-ranked Georgia’s 59-10 rout of the 99th-ranked Commodores would suggest. But Commodores coach B-Dawg believes his team will someday become a national power and has essentially told dem UGA ’Dawgs to watch their backs when that day arrives.

B-Dawg was steaming hot after the game, believing that Georgia ran up the score on his team.

There were several instances to support B-Dawg’s case, but the most egregious came when backup halfback Kregg Lumpkin took a pitchout, then pulled up and threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Mario Riley with 7:08 left in the game. Georgia was winning the game 45-3 at the time the play was called.

The Bulldogs (5-2) threw three touchdown passes in the game, all of which came in the second half after they’d built a comfortable 31-0 lead on the strength of two returns of Vanderbilt turnovers.

“I’m sorry, but I felt like I was playing NCAA 2006 all over again, when the CPU didn’t seem to have a clue about what the score was and how much time was left,” B-Dawg said. “Everyone else we’ve played this season has had the class to just run the ball with a big lead in the second half. What Georgia did was a mockery to the game and showed a lack of respect to our program.

“I doubt we’ll be able to beat them any time soon, but the day is coming when we’ll have a team capable of laying a beatdown on them. I can assure all of our fans that it will not be pretty and we will not let our foot off their throats when that day comes. That photo of Lumpkin throwing the halfback option touchdown pass in the fourth quarter will remain in our locker room as a reminder of how badly they disrespected us. I just hope that some of our young guys who were on the field today get the chance by their senior year to exact retribution.”

Brad Nessler seemed to support B-Dawg’s asserting. After Georgia’s last touchdown, the ESPN announcer told a regional television audience, “Well, these guys are just out there padding their stats and running up the score.”

Until the Bulldogs ran it up in the second half, their offense was overshadowed by their defense. Brandon Miller returned a fumbled punt by Earl Bennett 35 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and Thomas Flowers took an interception 97 yards to paydirt in the third after Vanderbilt had first-and-goal at Georgia’s 5-yard line.

“The next time I call a quick out near the goal line on first down, slap me silly,” B-Dawg said. “That play was just destined to be six the other way.”

Vanderbilt was down 38-0 before averting the shutout on a 32-yard field goal by Bryant Hahnfeldt with 56 seconds left in the third quarter. “We weren’t leaving here without any points,” B-Dawg said.

Backup halfback Jared Hawkins, playing for only the second time this season, hauled in a 75-yard touchdown pass from Mackenzi Adams with 3:44 left in the game for Vanderbilt’s only touchdown.

A bright spot for Vanderbilt (2-5) was the running of Cassen Jackson-Garrison, who had a season-high 162 yards on 25 carries. B-Dawg stuck to the ground in the second half to keep the game from getting out of hand, which is another reason he was so livid that Georgia ran it up with some quick touchdowns off big plays.

“It was really good to finally do something on the ground for a change,” B-Dawg said. “Hopefully we can carry this into the rest of the season. We found that the quarterback option play got us some nice yards where just holding the X button would work like the fullback dive on the triple option. Cassen got some nice yardage that way. That’s not even a play I’ve considered using before, but if Lee Corso suggests it, we’ll start using it more. It seems to be a staple of the Vandy playbook.”

The final stats don’t suggest this game was a blowout, as Georgia had only a 484-423 advantage in total yardage. Vanderbilt had a 16:21 to 15:39 advantage in possession, but the Bulldogs’ big-play capability meant they didn’t need to hang on to the ball very long.

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Cassen Jackson-Garrison, Vanderbilt; Thomas Brown, Georgia

GEORGIA 59, VANDERBILT 10
First quarter
UGA: Coutu 37 field goal, 2:02
Second quarter
UGA: Brown 2 run (Coutu kick), 7:58
UGA: Miller 35 fumble return (Coutu kick), 4:40
UGA: Brown 67 run (Coutu kick), 2:03
Third quarter
UGA: Flowers 97 interception return (Coutu kick), 4:27
UGA: Brown 52 pass from Tereshinski (Coutu kick), 2:26
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 32 field goal, :56
UGA: Massaquoi 62 pass from Tereshinski (Coutu kick), :24
Fourth quarter
UGA: Riley 64 pass from Lumpkin (Coutu kick), 7:08
VANDY: Hawkins 75 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 3:44
UGA: Lumpkin 17 run (Coutu kick), 1:47






Jamaal Charles, Texas, HB
Stats: 129 carries, 854 yards, 16 TD; 11 catches, 186 yards, 3 TD

John David Booty, USC, QB
Stats: 152-for-234, 2,039 yards, 21 TD, 7 int.

Drew Tate, Iowa, QB
Stats: 143-for-250, 1,930 yards, 24 TD, 12 int.

Zac Taylor, Nebraska, QB
Stats: 148-for-242, 1,897 yards, 23 TD, 7 int.

Patrick White, West Virginia, QB
Stats: 79-for-133, 992 yards, 11 TD, 5 int.; 90 carrries, 651 yards, 7 TD

[BDawg35]

GAME 8 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS


Backup quarterback Ken Seals of Vanderbilt throws a touchdown pass in the third quarter.


Vanderbilt running back Re’Mahn Davis scores the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 10 seconds left.

LOOK OUT, SEC!
Vanderbilt shocks the world with
last-minute victory over Georgia

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It was supposed to be Vanderbilt’s “Welcome to the SEC moment,” the game which would amplify the gap between the Commodores and the big boys in the league.

Instead, it was B-Dawg’s coming-out party, a chance to show the rest of the SEC that Vanderbilt isn’t an automatic dub anymore.

B-Dawg got his first signature victory in this dynasty just eight games in, pulling off a 31-30 victory over a 10th-ranked Georgia team that was the real-life national champion in 2021.

The Commodores won the game on a 1-yard run by Re’Mahn Davis with 10 seconds left in the game.

The game got an ESPN Classic score of 1,674 points, ranking seventh on B-Dawg’s NCAA ’14 profile.

“I didn’t come here to get my brains beat in for three seasons like the last time I coached at Vandy,” B-Dawg said. “I’m here to win — now! We won’t be intimidated by any team on our schedule. As we’ve already proven, we can lose to any team and we can beat any team. It’s going to be quite the rollercoaster ride.”

The victory came one week after Vanderbilt was on the other end of a mild upset, losing 30-14 to a 1-4 Army team.

Even more stunning was that Vanderbilt pulled out the victory with a backup quarterback at the reins for most of the second half. When starter Mike Wright suffered a mild concussion midway through the third quarter, Ken Seals took the field for his first meaningful action.

Seals threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Chris Pierce shortly after entering the game to tie the game 24-24 with 4:44 left in the third quarter.

The Commodores’ defense bent on Georgia’s next two drives, but held the Bulldogs to 34- and 25-yard field goals to make a comeback doable. A dropped pass over the middle on third down forced Georgia to kick the 25-yarder.

Vanderbilt’s game-winning drive didn’t start on a promising note, with two dropped passes getting things started. A 16-yard pass to Amir Abdur-Rahman on third-and-10 was the spark the Commodores needed on an impressive 15-play, 69-yard march that consumed 5:10.

Abdur-Rahman made another key catch, gaining five yards on third-and-four to move the ball to the 3-yard line with 1:51 remaining.

“At this point, I’m almost certain we can score a touchdown on a toss play against a bunched-up goal-line defense,” B-Dawg said. “It’s probably 80% effective, so with three cracks at it we looked to be golden. But I was also worried about leaving too much time on the clock, like we did two games ago against Missouri. It worked out perfectly that we needed three plays to get into the end zone.”

On first-and-goal, Davis had a 2-yard run to the 1-yard line. He inched the ball closer on the next play, but didn’t break the plane. On third down, Davis took a toss left and had a clear path to the end zone.

“I considered having him hold up a bit to milk an extra second or two, but if something screwy happened and he didn’t score, we were out of timeouts,” B-Dawg said.

Georgia tried to ice kicker Joseph Bulovas on the all-important go-ahead extra point, but it was a futile effort.

Vanderbilt kicked it short to force Georgia to run some clock on the return, knowing that the CPU almost never goes house on kick returns. The return killed five seconds, giving the Bulldogs only one more play. Gabe Jeudy’Lally broke up a deep ball to end the game.

A key to the victory was what each team did in the red zone. Both teams had five red-zone trips, but Vanderbilt had four touchdowns and Georgia settled for three field goals.

Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, who is 98 OVR, wasn’t a factor in the game, making only one tackle.


Georgia’s Zamir White was held to 61 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries.

GEORGIA BULLDOGS at VANDERBILT COMMODORES
Oct. 18, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
#10 Georgia Bulldogs (4-3)	7	10	10	3	30
Vanderbilt Commodores (5-3)	7	10	7	7	31

Team Stats Comparison
	UGA	VAN
Total Offense	485	435
Rushing Yards	26-124	34-126
Passing Yards	361	309
First Downs	20	27
Punt Return Yards	15	0
Kick Return Yards	55	140
Total Yards	555	575
Turnovers	0	1
3rd Down Conversion	6-10	9-13
4th Down Conversion	0-0	1-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-2-3	5-4-1
Penalties	0-0	0-0
Possession Time	14:43	21:17

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		UGA	VAN
5:49	(VAN) C. Pierce 9 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	0	7
3:52	(UGA) J. Daniels 5 run (J. Podlesny kick)	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		UGA	VAN
8:57	(VAN) R. Davis 2 run (J. Bulovas kick)	7	14
7:13	(UGA) Z. White 1 run (J. Podlesny kick)	14	14
1:11	(UGA) J. Podlesny 19 field goal	17	14
:29	(VAN) J. Bulovas 35 field goal	17	17
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		UGA	VAN
8:08	(UGA) L. McConkey 57 pass from J. Daniels (J. Podlesny kick)	24	17
4:44	(VAN) C. Pierce 12 pass from K. Seals (J. Bulovas kick)	24	24
2:10	(UGA) J. Podlesny 34 field goal	27	24
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		UGA	VAN
5:20	(UGA) J. Podlesny 25 field goal	30	24
:10	(VAN) R. Davis 1 run (J. Bulovas kick)	30	31

GEORGIA BULLDOGS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT J.T. Daniels 24/32 361 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Zamir White 19 61 3.2 1 J.T. Daniels 5 58 11.6 1 James Cook 2 5 2.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Ladd McConkey 10 204 20.4 1 Marcus Jacksaint 5 74 14.8 0 Jermaine Burton 2 35 17.5 0 Kearis Jackson 2 14 7.0 0 Zamir White 2 3 1.5 0 James Cook 1 19 19.0 0 Brock Bowers 1 6 6.0 0 John FitzPatrick 1 6 6.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Tykee Smith 12 0 0 0 Nakobe Dean 9 1 0 0 Kelee Ringo 6 1 0 0 Lewis Cine 5 1 0 0 Quay Walker 4 1 0 0 Derion Kendrick 4 1 0 0 Adam Anderson 4 2 0 1 Nyland Green 3 0 0 0 Ameer Speed 3 0 0 0 Travon Walker 3 0 0 0 Nolan Smith 2 1 1 0 Dan Jackson 1 0 0 0 Christopher Smith 1 0 0 0 Jalen Carter 1 1 0 0 Jordan Davis 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Jack Podlesny 3/4 3/3 12 34 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Jake Camarda 1 42 42.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Kenny McIntosh 2 55 27.5 32 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Kearis Jackson 1 15 15.0 15

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 17/25 213 1 0 Ken Seals 11/17 96 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Mike Wright 9 56 6.2 0 Re'Mahn Davis 18 40 2.2 2 Ken Seals 2 13 6.5 0 Brayden Bapst 2 10 5.0 0 Rocky Griffin 3 7 2.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Devin Boddie 7 110 15.7 0 Ben Bresnahan 5 44 8.8 0 Chris Pierce 5 63 12.6 2 Re'Mahn Davis 4 23 5.8 0 Will Sheppard 3 28 9.3 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 2 21 10.5 0 Brayden Bapst 1 13 13.0 0 Logan Kyle 1 7 7.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Max Worship 8 0 0 0 Allan George 6 0 0 0 Dashaun Jerkins 5 0 0 0 Ethan Barr 4 1 0 0 Jaylen Mahoney 4 1 0 0 Anfernee Orji 3 0 0 0 Elijah McAllister 3 1 0 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 2 0 0 0 De'Rickey Wright 2 1 0 0 Michael Owusu 2 0 0 0 Brendon Harris 1 0 0 0 Brayden DeVault-Smith 1 1 0 0 Nate Clifton 1 0 0 0 Justin Harris 1 0 0 0 Raashaan Wilkins 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 1/1 4/4 7 35 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 2 72 36.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 5 140 28.0 36 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

RACHAAD WHITE, Arizona State, HB, rSr., 86 OVR
2021 stats: 124 carries, 717 yards, 13 TD; 14 catches, 186 yards, 2 TD

CASEY THOMPSON, Texas, QB, rJr., 91 OVR
2021 stats: 115-for-200, 1,743 yards, 21 TD, 3 int.; 96 carries, 344 yards, 5 TD

BRIAN ROBINSON, Alabama, HB, rSr., 91 OVR
2021 stats: 125 carries, 794 yards, 12 TD; 6 catches, 90 yards, 0 TD

C.J. VERDELL, Oregon, HB, rSr., 88 OVR
2021 stats: 118 carries, 574 yards, 11 TD; 23 catches, 216 yards, 3 TD

JAYLEN WARREN, Oklahoma State, HB, rJr., 89 OVR
2021 stats: 110 carries, 600 yards, 12 TD; 12 catches, 95 yards, 0 TD




1. Alabama (6-0)
2. Texas (6-0)
3. USC (6-0)
4. Penn State (6-0)
5. Clemson (7-0)
6. Oklahoma State (6-0)
7. Michigan State (7-0)
8. Oklahoma (5-1)
9. Ohio State (5-1)
10. North Carolina (6-1)
11. LSU (6-2)
12. Wisconsin (4-2)
13. Southern Methodist (5-1)
14. Arizona State (5-2)
15. Oregon (5-2)
16. Florida (5-2)
17. Cincinnati (5-1)
18. Washington (5-2)
19. Virginia Tech (7-1)
20. Baylor (6-0)
21. Arkansas (5-2)
22. Georgia (4-3)
23. Coastal Carolina (6-1)
24. Texas A&M (4-3)
25. Nevada (7-0)





The stench of impact/momentum B.S. was thick in the air as Sidney
Rice makes a one-handed TD catch.

South Carolina throws 6 TD passes,
rallies from early deficit to beat Vandy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — B-Dawg paid the Southeastern Conference the ultimate show of respect by choosing to roll with Vanderbilt because of the tradition and atmosphere of football down south.

This from a long-time lover of Big Ten Conference football.

And how does the SEC respond? By kicking him in the groin over and over again when the man is already down.

Add South Carolina to B-Dawg’s enemies list after coach Steve Spurrier ran up the score in a 56-24 rout of the 106th-ranked Commodores on Oct. 21, 2006 after falling behind 10-0 early in the game.

The 16th-rated Gamecocks (6-1) threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter after they’d already built a 42-0 lead. This latest outrage comes one week after Georgia threw a halfback option pass for a touchdown while holding a 49-7 lead against Vandy.

“I guess this is how they roll in the SEC,” B-Dawg said. “Fine. Now we know the rules of engagement. We’re the small kid on the block right now and I guess it’s cool to beat up on us. But, I tell you what, we’re not going to be the whipping boy of this conference forever. I am taking names. The rest of the SEC is on notice: payback is a mo’ fo’!”

B-Dawg’s plan was to double Heisman Trophy candidate Sidney Rice, the Gamecocks’ outstanding wide receiver. He did it early on, but backed of when South Carolina ran successfully. Whenever the CPU sensed Rice was no longer double-teamed, it went his way with ridiculous effectiveness. When it was over, he had seven catches for 133 yards and three touchdowns. Rice moved up to No. 2 on the Heisman watch list behind Iowa quarterback Drew Tate. Rice has 42 catches for 694 yards and 12 touchdowns in seven games.

O.J. Murdock caught two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, finishing with five catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns. In all, South Carolina quarterbacks Blake Mitchell and Cade Thompson threw for 423 yards and six touchdowns.

The subject of running up the score was once again discussed during the broadcast.

Kirk Herbstreit: “Some people look at it as running up the score. I’m sure the coach says he’s just running his offense.”

Lee Corso: “He knows he can just run the ball and get out of here with a win. There’s no reason for him to throw touchdown passes at this time of the game.”

“Lee’s the authority,” B-Dawg said. “He’s an old-school coach who knows the sacred code of football. He knows you don’t pass the ball with a big lead in the fourth quarter, especially deep.”

B-Dawg would normally have put in his backups late in the game, but was so irate about South Carolina’s game plan that he decided to take advantage of the Gamecocks’ backups. Mackenzi Adams threw three touchdowns passes in the final 3:20, including a 53-yard bomb to star receiver Earl Bennett on fourth-and-one with the defense playing up to stop the run. Bennett was seven yards in the clear for an easy touchdown. He had nine catches for 204 yards and two touchdowns.

“Hey, we’re just playing by their rules,” B-Dawg said. “I’m sure they would have done the same thing to us if we tried to sell out to stop the run on fourth-and-one.”

An upset appeared to be brewing early on, as Vanderbilt put together an impressive 14-play, 78-yard drive to consume the first 3:48 of the game. Adams hit Bennett with a 3-yard touchdown pass to put the Commodores ahead 7-0.

Josh Allen’s fourth interception of the season set up a 49-yard field goal by Bryant Hahnfeldt to make it 10-0 with 2:10 to go in the first. B-Dawg immediately bumped his human kick sliders from 30 percent to 25 percent after the 80 OVR kicker easily cleared the crossbar.

South Carolina got its act together and scored on its next five possessions, not including a brief one late in the first half when the Gamecocks chose to run out the clock. An interception set up the Gamecocks’ second touchdown and put momentum irreversibly in their favor.

Vanderbilt fell to 2-6 overall, 1-4 in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina improved to 4-1 in the league, moving into a tie with Florida for first place in the SEC East. The Commodores are 0-4 against Top 25 teams and 0-5 on television this season.

One of their final legitimate chances to win another game this season awaits them as they visit Duke next Saturday.

“I would be worried if Deegeezy was at the sticks, but I think we can do some damage with the CPU running the show at Duke,” B-Dawg said. “We proved it against Mississippi. Of course, game momentum dictates so much of what happens. We just needed to grab it and keep it.”

The only other possible victory in the four remaining games is against Kentucky. It would take JV mode for Vanderbilt to take down Florida or Tennessee.

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Sidney Rice, South Carolina; Earl Bennett, Vanderbilt

SOUTH CAROLINA 56, VANDERBILT 24
First quarter
VANDY: Bennett 3 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 4:09
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 49 field goal, 2:10
Second quarter
SC: Boyd 4 run (Succop kick), 7:59
SC: Rice 11 pass from Mitchell (Succop kick), 4:36
SC: Davis 33 pass from Mitchell (Succop kick), 2:33
SC: Boyd 1 run (Succop kick), 1:01
Third quarter
SC: Rice 34 pass from Mitchell (Succop kick), 5:56
SC: Rice 14 pass from Mitchell (Succop kick), 1:20
Fourth quarter
SC: Murdock 80 pass from Thompson (Succop kick), 7:20
SC: Murdock 20 pass from Thompson (Succop kick), 5:17
VANDY: Garrison 5 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 3:20
VANDY: Bennett 53 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), :03

[BDawg35]

GAME 9 OF THE 2021/2006 SEASONS


Vanderbilt cornerback Allan George sacked Texas A&M quarterback Zach Calzada three times and had six tackles
for losses.


Vanderbilt tight end Ben Bresnahan cuts toward end zone with a 1-yard touchdown catch.

BLITZKRIEG!
Vanderbilt cornerback gets 3 sacks
in 27-17 triumph over Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It’s too early to get a gauge of how good a cover man Vanderbilt cornerback Allan George is, but he does appear to have a super power that could make him feared by SEC quarterbacks.

George had three sacks and six tackles for losses, as the Commodores beat a top-25 team for the second straight week, knocking off No. 24 Texas A&M, 27-17.

Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg had George, a nickel corner, blitz frequently out of a cover-2 nickel blitz. It’s a move that can backfire if the blitzer is picked up and the quarterback finds the uncovered receiver, but Zach Calzada never had enough time to make the Commodores pay.

George set the tone with two sacks in the first quarter. Calzada, a 79 OVR red-shirt sophomore, seemed flustered at times against the pressure.

“I expected a team like Texas A&M to have a better quarterback than a 79 OVR red-shirt sophomore,” B-Dawg said. “A quarterback more representative of their talent level might have picked us apart, but this kid looked scurred most of the day. The key for us moving forward is seeing if Allan can keep doing this week in and week out. Sometimes, a particular defense is cash money against one opponent, but gets shredded by another.”

The Commodores will need unexpected heroes like George to step up, because 85 OVR sophomore outside linebacker Anfernee Orji suffered a foot fracture that will keep him out for seven weeks. His replacement is 75 OVR red-shirt senior Brayden Devault-Smith.

“You saw what Anfernee is capable of when he had that pick and sack in the last minute against Eastern Michigan a couple weeks ago,” B-Dawg said. “The nice thing is that he has two more years with us and could be back for our bowl game.”

Bowl game? Ah, yes. The Commodores are going bowling after improving their record to 6-3. In B-Dawg’s NCAA 2007 Vanderbilt dynasty, the Commodores didn’t make a bowl until their fourth season.

It’s the second straight victory over a top-25 opponent for Vanderbilt, which beat No. 10 Georgia 31-30 last week.

“I do like the long, slow, painful build, but I’m not going to lose on purpose to achieve that,” B-Dawg said.

By the time Texas A&M realized it is supposed to beat teams like Vanderbilt, it was too late. The Commodores built a 27-3 lead through three quarters before the Aggies outscored them 14-0 in the fourth.

Re’Mahn Davis enabled the Commodores to have a 22:19 to 13:41 advantage in time of possession, running 25 times for 111 yards. It didn’t help the Aggies’ cause that they were 0-for-8 on third down through three quarters.


Will Sheppard makes a 21-yard touchdown catch with six seconds left in the
first half.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES at TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Oct. 25, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Vanderbilt Commodores (6-3)	3	17	7	0	27
#24 Texas A&M Aggies (4-4)	3	0	0	14	17

Team Stats Comparison
	VAN	TA&M
Total Offense	415	284
Rushing Yards	43-175	24-57
Passing Yards	240	227
First Downs	19	12
Punt Return Yards	34	0
Kick Return Yards	64	80
Total Yards	513	364
Turnovers	2	0
3rd Down Conversion	9-17	1-11
4th Down Conversion	1-1	2-3
2-Point Conversion	0-0	1-2
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-2-2	2-1-1
Penalties	1-9	0-0
Possession Time	22:19	13:41

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TA&M
5:41	(VAN) J. Bulovas 20 field goal	3	0
2:42	(TA&M) S. Small 22 field goal	3	3
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TA&M
6:37	(VAN) M. Wright 10 run (J. Bulovas kick)	10	3
2:29	(VAN) J. Bulovas 32 field goal	13	3
:06	(VAN) W. Sheppard 21 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	20	3
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TA&M
:42	(VAN) B. Bresnahan 1 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	27	3
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TA&M
7:38	(TA&M) Z. Calzada 3 run (C. Lane 2-point catch)	27	11
5:17	(TA&M) C. Chapman 36 pass from Z. Calzada (pass failed)	27	17

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 21/31 240 2 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Re'Mahn Davis 25 111 4.4 0 Mike Wright 9 43 4.7 1 Rocko Griffin 7 17 2.4 0 Brayden Bapst 2 4 2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Will Sheppard 5 69 13.8 1 Chris Pierce 4 67 16.8 0 Devin Boddie 4 64 16.0 0 Ben Bresnahan 3 21 7.0 1 Rocko Griffin 2 11 5.5 0 Re'Mahn Davis 2 -2 -1.0 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 1 10 10.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Cole Clemens 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Allan George 7 6 3 0 Ethan Barr 5 1 0 0 Max Worship 5 2 0 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 5 0 0 0 Jaylen Mahoney 3 0 0 0 Dashaun Jerkins 3 0 0 0 Michael Owusu 2 0 0 0 Devin Boddie 2 0 0 0 Bradley Ashmore 2 0 0 0 Daevion Davis 1 1 1 0 Elijah McAllister 1 1 0 0 Raashaaan Wilkins 1 0 0 0 Chase Lloyd 1 0 0 0 Anfernee Orji 1 1 0 0 Brayden Devault-Smith 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 2/3 3/3 9 32 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 3 100 33.3 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 2 64 32.0 40 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 3 34 11.3 14

TEXAS A&M AGGIES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Zach Calzada 20/28 227 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Isaiah Spiller 17 68 4.0 0 L.J. Johnson 1 1 1.0 0 Zach Calzada 6 -12 -2.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Caleb Chapman 9 143 15.8 1 Chase Lane 4 42 10.5 0 Ainias Smith 3 8 2.7 0 Jalen Wydermyer 2 25 12.5 0 Isaiah Spiller 2 9 4.5 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Layden Robinson 0 1 Isaiah Spiller 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Andre White 9 0 0 0 Leon O'Neal 8 1 0 0 Demani Richardson 7 2 0 0 Jayden Peevy 6 2 0 0 Aaron Hansford 6 1 0 1 Antonio Johnson 6 0 0 0 Myles Jones 5 0 0 0 Brian George 4 0 0 0 Michael Clemons 3 0 0 0 Tyree Johnson 3 1 0 0 DeMarvin Leal 3 1 1 0 Jaylon Jones 2 0 0 1 Chris Russell 1 0 0 0 Brian Williams 1 0 0 0 Keldrick Carper 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Seth Small 1/2 0/0 3 22 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Nik Constantinou 5 198 39.6 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Devon Achane 3 80 26.7 27 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

Two-star center is Vandy’s first recruit

Center Preston Moss of Opelika, Ala. will always have a special place in this dynasty as the first recruit to commit to Vanderbilt in the B-Dawg 2.0 era.

Moss is a two-star prospect who is ranked 59th nationally among centers. Proximity to home was his No. 1 priority (B+), with academic prestige (A+) ranking second. He was able to overlook program tradition (C-).

Moss chose Vanderbilt over Alabama-Birmingham and South Alabama.

“I always try to do whatever I can to get my first recruit on the field, but Preston may have to wait a few years before he can crack the lineup,” B-Dawg said.




WALTER CAMP
5. Re’Mahn Davis, HB, Jr.

BEDNARIK
3. Ethan Barr, MLB, Soph.
5. Dashaun Jerkins, FS, Sr.
11. Anfernee Orji, OLB, Soph.

NAGURSKI
11. Ethan Barr, MLB, Soph.

DOAK WALKER
4. Re’Mahn Davis, HB, Jr.

BUTKUS
8. Ethan Barr, MLB, Soph.

THORPE
3. Dashaun Jerkins, FS, Sr.
12. Allan George, CB, rSr.

BEST RETURNER
11. James Ziglor, HB, Fr.






Aided by a huge dose of impact-momentum B.S., Justin Boyle breaks
one tackle and drags another defender into the end zone for a TD.

WHO NEEDS ’ROIDS?
Fueled by overblown EA Sports momentum,
lowly Duke looks unbeatable vs. Vandy

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Even one of the worst teams in college football can look like world beaters when a new EA feature goes horribly, horribly wrong.

There was no turning back the instant that Duke got a momentum boost on an interception return for a touchdown midway through second quarter. A game that 107th-ranked Vanderbilt was leading 6-0 turned into a 44-13 laugher for the 82nd-ranked Blue Devils on Oct. 28, 2006.

A 53-yard interception return for a touchdown by Michael Tauiliili with 3:29 left in the second quarter got Duke on the scoreboard and ignited a 21-point surge in a matter of just 2:06. The halftime break couldn’t shake Duke’s plus-five momentum, as the Blue Devils seemed to get an enormous, mysterious boost in AWR from EA’s lovely new feature. Duke (3-5) always seemed to know what Vanderbilt’s defense was designed to stop, throwing over the top for big plays when the Commodores were focusing on the run and plowing out big yards on the ground when Vanderbilt hedged its bets and honored the pass.

“There was a defining moment for me in NCAA 2006 that caused me to put that dynasty to rest forever and never pick it up again, only a few months after the game released,” Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg said. “It was when the CPU, sensing I was selling out to stop the run on third-and-eight with the clock running late in a blowout, chose to lob a deep bomb down the field to pile up the score.

“This game was utter B.S. and could very well becoming such a defining moment for me if I ever choose to go into another year of Madden hibernation. Duke is not good enough to be beating us like this. Yeah, they have some impact players in the secondary, but none of them would be considered the top players in college football. Yet, with the combination of two EA features — impact player and momentum — they turned into the greatest secondary in the history of college football. I need an aspirin now, if you don’t mind.”

John Talley had three interceptions and Tauiliili had two, as Vanderbilt quarterback Mackenzi Adams was 19-for-36 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions.

The overblown momentum also turned Duke’s run defense into a major force, as Vanderbilt couldn’t even bow out gracefully by running the ball and getting this game over with. The Commodores (2-7) had only 24 yards on 23 carries, with only one sack factoring in to that total. Duke had 13 tackles for losses.

This one was shaping up to be a welcome defensive struggle, with Vanderbilt leading 6-0 midway through the second quarter on a 22-yard pass from Adams to Marlon White with 5:59 left in the first half. The touchdown pass was the 10th straight completion for Adams, who gave no indication he was about to go irreversibly in the tank after leading an impressive 11-play, 73-yard drive. The extra point failed when Vanderbilt’s holder sprung up to avoid a block, then was totally confused and eventually threw the ball out of bounds.

The botched extra point would prove to be the least of Vandy’s problems on this day. Tauiliili’s interception return put Duke ahead to stay at 7-6. It was quickly followed by two touchdown passes from Zack Asack to Jomar Wright, who caught four passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

Duke’s lead eventually spiraled out of control at 41-6 before the Commodores just chucked the ole NCAA deep ball to Earl Bennett and got lucky for a season-long 83-yard touchdown with 6:25 left in the game.

“This was a game I thought we would at least be extremely competitive in, if not win,” B-Dawg said. “But it turned out to be somewhat like our game against Temple. I don’t know if our guys get overconfident when we play the weaker teams. We seem to play better against top competition. What I do know is that EA has ruined an otherwise outstanding video game with yet another new feature that needs to be overblown to let us know it’s in there.”

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Jonathan Goff, Vanderbilt; Michael Tauiliili, Duke

DUKE 44, VANDERBILT 13
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
VANDY: White 22 pass from Adams (kick failed), 5:59
DUKE: Tauiliili 53 interception return (Surgan kick), 3:29
DUKE: Wright 23 pass from Asack (Surgan kick), 2:41
DUKE: Wright 50 pass from Asack (Surgan kick), 1:23
Third quarter
DUKE: Surgan 29 field goal, 5:29
DUKE: Robinson 5 run (Surgan kick), 4:14
DUKE: Boyle 4 run (Surgan kick), 2:45
Fourth quarter
DUKE: Surgan 19 field goal, 7:18
VANDY: Bennett 83 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 6:25
DUKE: Surgan 30 field goal, 2:47





Drew Tate, Iowa, QB
Stats: 190-for-328, 2,376 yards, 30 TD, 16 int.

John David Booty, USC, QB
Stats: 170-for-269, 2,387 yards, 23 TD, 8 int.

Sidney Rice, South Carolina, WR
Stats: 46 catches, 745 yards, 13 TD

Jamaal Charles, Texas, HB
Stats: 160 carries, 1,043 yards, 17 TD; 13 catches, 199 yards, 3 TD

Zac Taylor, Nebraska, QB
Stats: 167-for-273, 2,232 yards, 27 TD, 8 int.

[ZSmit88]

Re: GAME 9 OF THE 2021/2006 SEASONS

Great upset! Excellent writing b-dawg, I'm a huge fan. Faring much better this go around than the previous. Fun to compare.

[BDawg35]

Re: GAME 9 OF THE 2021/2006 SEASONS

Great upset! Excellent writing b-dawg, I'm a huge fan. Faring much better this go around than the previous. Fun to compare.

Thanks, Z! I appreciate the compliment. I didn't expect these types of outcomes. I was expecting butt-whoopin's like I was getting from Boy-Z State when I was in my first couple years at Air Force. I'm thinking I may have to come up with a new playbook or make some changes in that regard, because I know my plays too well. It's allowing me to hang around against teams I have no business competing with.

[BDawg35]

GAME 10 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS


Florida quarterback Emory Jones bulls way into end zone.


Florida’s Malik Davis puts the game away by scoring on a 25-yard run with 52 seconds remaining.

History nearly repeats
Dropped pass on fourth-and-five ends
Vandy’s hopes of rallying from 17 down

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — B-Dawg rallied from being down 31-0 to win at The Swamp during his NCAA 2007 stint at Vanderbilt, so he wasn’t going to become unglued over a paltry 24-7 deficit.

The Commodores battled back to within three points with 4:25 left in the game and had the ball in the final two minutes with a chance to lead, but couldn’t close the deal in a 38-28 loss to the 24th-ranked Gators on Nov. 8, 2021.

The comeback from 31-0 down on Nov. 12, 2012 in NCAA 2007 was B-Dawg’s greatest in any video game. The difference between that Vanderbilt team and this one was that those Commodores were in their seventh season under B-Dawg and were ranked 13th in the country. This Vanderbilt team is ahead of schedule, but doesn’t quite possess the talent as its predecessor.

For instance, most of the receivers at Vanderbilt seven years into the NCAA 2007 dynasty wouldn’t have dropped a key fourth-and-five pass like Will Sheppard did with 1:00 on the clock to end the Commodores’ comeback hopes. That was the seventh drop of the game by Vanderbilt.

Two plays later, Florida put the game away when Malik Davis broke off a 25-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds to go.

“There are no moral victories,” B-Dawg said. “This is a game we had no business winning, but it’s a game we could’ve won. We had the ball and had the momentum, but a sack and a dropped pass were killers.”

Receiver Amir Abdur-Rahman caught two touchdown passes less than two minutes apart in the fourth quarter to get the Commodores within striking distance.

Strong safety Max Worship stopped running back Dameon Pierce for no gain on third-and-eight with 2:10 left to give Vanderbilt a shot to at least tie the game.

The Commodores started at their own 20-yard line with 2:04 remaining, but immediately went into reverse when Zachary Carter got his third sack of the game. After an incompletion and a 16-yard completion, Sheppard dropped a fourth-and-five slant.

“Drops were an issue for my guys at Air Force when I first got there,” B-Dawg said. “Once we recruited guys who could hang on to the ball, we were unstoppable. We’re doing OK for a team that drops so many passes.”

If Vanderbilt harbored any delusions of coming back from 10 points down following Davis’ touchdown run, those were wiped away when Trey Dean picked off a pass with 34 seconds left.


Amir Abdur-Rahman caught two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to get
Vanderbilt back in the game.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES at FLORIDA GATORS
Nov. 8, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Vanderbilt Commodores (6-4)	7	0	8	13	28
#24 Florida Gators (6-3)	7	17	7	7	38

Team Stats Comparison
	VAN	FLA
Total Offense	406	425
Rushing Yards	28-88	33-173
Passing Yards	318	252
First Downs	21	14
Punt Return Yards	50	32
Kick Return Yards	147	21
Total Yards	603	478
Turnovers	1	0
3rd Down Conversion	6-17	4-12
4th Down Conversion	3-4	0-0
2-Point Conversion	1-2	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	4-4-0	3-2-1
Penalties	3-38	1-10
Possession Time	19:11	16:49

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		VAN	FLA
5:23	(VAN) B. Bresnahan 3 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	7	0
3:39	(FLA) E. Jones 8 run (C. Howard kick)	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		VAN	FLA
4:21	(FLA) T. Whittemore 94 pass from E. Jones (C. Howard kick)	7	14
1:35	(FLA) C. Howard 24 field goal	7	17
:12	(FLA) J. Shorter 29 pass from E. Jones (C. Howard kick)	7	24
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		VAN	FLA
6:20	(FLA) E. Jones 1 run (C. Howard kick)	7	31
1:25	(VAN) R. Davis 2 run (R. Davis run)	15	31
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		VAN	FLA
6:11	(VAN) A. Abdur-Rahman 11 pass from M. Wright (run failed)	21	31
4:25	(VAN) A. Abdur-Rahman 2 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	28	31
:52	(FLA) M. Davis 25 run (C. Howard kick)	28	38

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 26/55 318 3 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Re'Mahn Davis 15 45 3.0 1 Mike Wright 12 33 2.7 0 Rocko Griffin 1 10 10.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Devin Boddie 7 113 16.1 0 Will Sheppard 6 67 11.1 0 Chris Pierce 4 63 15.8 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 4 41 10.3 2 Ben Bresnahan 2 14 7.0 1 Tyrell Alexander 2 13 6.5 0 Brayden Bapst 1 7 7.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Bradley Ashmore 0 3 Cole Clemens 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Ethan Barr 9 2 0 0 Dashaun Jerkins 7 1 0 0 Brayden DeVault-Smith 6 0 0 0 Max Worship 5 3 0 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 5 0 0 0 Nate Clifton 3 0 0 0 Jaylen Mahoney 2 0 0 0 Allan George 2 0 0 0 Michael Mincey 2 0 0 0 Brendon Harris 1 0 0 0 Michael Owusu 1 0 0 0 Elijah McAllister 1 0 0 0 Justin Harris 1 0 0 0 De'Rickey Wright 1 0 0 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 0/0 2/2 2 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 7 269 38.4 2 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 5 147 29.4 47 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 5 50 10.0 18

FLORIDA GATORS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Emory Jones 18/28 252 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Dameon Pierce 19 63 3.3 0 Emory Jones 9 58 6.4 2 Malik Davis 3 43 14.3 1 Jacob Copeland 1 7 7.0 0 Keon Zipperer 1 2 2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Justin Shorter 6 73 12.1 1 Trent Whittemore 4 144 36.0 1 Kemore Gamble 4 25 6.3 0 Dameon Pierce 3 1 0.3 0 Rick Wells 1 9 9.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Amari Burney 8 1 0 0 Trey Dean 7 0 0 1 Zachary Carter 6 3 3 0 Kaiir Elam 6 2 0 0 Rashad Torrence 5 0 0 0 DaQuan Newkirk 5 2 1 0 Tre'Vez Johnson 4 0 0 0 Mohamoud Diabate 3 0 0 0 Jason Marshall 3 0 0 0 LaCedrick Brunson 2 0 0 0 Scooby Williams 2 0 0 0 Avery Helm 2 0 0 0 Brenton Cox 1 1 0 0 Ethan Pouncey 1 0 0 0 Gervon Dexter 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Chris Howard 1/2 5/5 8 24 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Jeremy Crawshaw 6 276 46.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Jacob Copeland 1 21 21.0 21 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Jacob Copeland 4 32 8.0 20

Dallas Baker (left) scores the go-ahead TD for Florida with 11 seconds left in the third quarter. Andre
Caldwell takes a reverse from Jermaine McCollum en route to a 68-yard game-clinching punt return
with 3:08 to go.

CHOMPED!
Gators bite back to beat Vandy
after blowing early 14-0 advantage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — B-Dawg’s assertion that his team plays its best against better competition could never have been more on-the-money than it’s been the last two weeks.

Just one week after getting dominated in a 31-point blowout against a lowly Duke team, 112th-ranked Vanderbilt was actually leading national power Florida late in the third quarter before the 13th-ranked Gators came back with two big plays to win, 31-20 on Nov. 4, 2006.

Two touchdown passes from Chris Leak to Andre Caldwell gave Florida a 14-0 lead just 2:43 into the game, but the Commodores finally found a way to overcome game momentum as two touchdown passes by Mackenzi Adams and two field goals by Bryant Hahnfeldt had them leading the game by a 20-17 score.

Florida proved to be too powerful to contain, however, as the Gators took a 24-20 lead on a 30-yard pass from Chris Leak to Dallas Baker with 11 seconds left in the third quarter on a third-and-four play. Florida pretty much sealed the victory by using a bit of trickeration, as Jermaine McCollum fielded a punt and gave it to Caldwell on a reverse. Caldwell took off and ran 68 yards for his third touchdown of the day with 3:06 left in the game.

“We have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of,” Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg said. “We had one of the best teams in the country on the ropes for a while there, plus we showed some character by not folding after falling behind 14-0 so quickly. We will grow from this game, fo’ sho’.”

An enormous reason why Vanderbilt (2-8) was able to hang around against Florida (7-2) was a defense that forced seven fumbles, recovering four of them. Middle linebacker Jonathan Goff led the charge with a beastly performance, forcing four fumbles and setting a dynasty record with 13 tackles. Goff’s tackle total tied the all-time record for a B-Dawg NCAA player. Buffalo’s Mark Graham had 13 against Akron on Sept. 27, 2003 in NCAA 2004, while Jammal Lavin did it twice and Willie McCloud once in B-Dawg’s NCAA 2005 Michigan dynasty.

Goff’s fourth forced fumble gave Vanderbilt a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter, as he jarred the ball loose from running back DeShawn Wynn with 3:59 left in the game. The ball was recovered by Vanderbilt’s Sean Dixon at the Commodores’ 26-yard line.

However, after going three-and-out, the Commodores punted the ball away and Caldwell responded with the touchdown off the trick play to ice it.

“In the interest of full disclosure, we amped up the Human tackle slider to combat the unstoppable CPU run game once it gets game momentum,” B-Dawg said. “What happens when that slider gets too high is your guys become user-stripping fools. That slider was gradually lowered throughout the game to what we hope will be a happy medium. Sliders are always a work in progress, y’know.”

Another record was set with 2:13 left in the game when a catch by Earl Bennett allowed him to break the real-life single-season record of 1,213 yards set by Boo Mitchell in 1988. Bennett, only a sophomore, has 60 catches for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns.

Leak showed why he’s expected to be one of the top quarterbacks taken in the Madden draft, going 23-for-33 for 284 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

The victory enabled Florida to stay atop the Southeastern Conference East Division with a 6-1 record. Tennessee is 4-1 in the SEC and presumably has come catching up to do schedule-wise. The Volunteers need some help from South Carolina next week in Florida’s SEC finale. Florida owns the tie-breaker over Tennessee, having beaten the Vols 42-35 in Week 3, so the Gators need to lose to the Gamecocks and Tennessee needs to win out to go to the SEC Championship Game.

Vandy, meanwhile, has a game at Kentucky to determine which team will finish last in the division. Both teams are 1-5 in the conference.

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Andre Caldwell, Florida; Jonathan Goff, Vanderbilt

FLORIDA 31, VANDERBILT 20
First quarter
FLA: Caldwell 6 pass from Leak (Hetland kick), 6:39
FLA: Caldwell 58 pass from Leak (Hetland kick), 5:17
VANDY: White 44 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 3:33
Second quarter
FLA: Hetland 32 field goal, 6:54
VANDY: Bennett 47 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 5:17
Third quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 33 field goal, 5:37
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 33 field goal, 1:54
FLA: Baker 30 pass from Leak (Hetland kick), :11
Fourth quarter
FLA: Caldwell 68 punt return (Hetland kick), 3:06


4 Commodores on awards list

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt is having another wretched season on the football field, but the Commodores have had some strong individual performances throughout the 2006 season.

Four of those individuals have gained national attention, making the list of 12 semifinalists on the various awards lists that were released Monday.

The player with the best shot at an award is middle linebacker Jonathan Goff, who is second for the Best Linebacker award, as well as seventh for the Bednarik as Defensive Player of the Year. Goff has 88 tackles, 20 for losses, four sacks, one pick and seven forced fumbles.

Earl Bennett is sixth on the list for best wide receiver, having made 60 catches for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns.

Reshard Langford is ninth for the Thorpe as the nation’s top defensive back. He has 55 tackles, one for a loss, four interceptions and two forced fumbles. All four of his interceptions came in Vanderbilt’s first four games. He’s gone six games without a pick.

Bryant Hahnfeldt is 11th for the Groza Award, which goes to the top kicker. Hahnfeldt is 12-for-13 on field goals, with a long of 49, and is perfect on 20 extra points.

LEADERS ON LIST OF AWARD SEMIFINALISTS
Maxwell: Jamil Walker, Wisconsin
Bednarik: Steve Octavien, Nebraska; 7. Jonathan Goff, Vanderbilt
Quarterback: Troy Smith, Ohio State
Walker: Jamil Walker, Wisconsin
Wide receiver: Calvin Davis, Iowa; 6. Earl Bennett, Vanderbilt
Tight end: Matt Herian, Nebraska
Offensive lineman: Kirk Barton, Ohio State
Rimington: Doug Datish, Ohio State
Lombardi: Lawrence Wilson, Ohio State
Best Linebacker: Steve Octavien, Nebraska; 2. Jonathan Goff, Vanderbilt
Thorpe: Roderick Rogers, Wisconsin; 9. Reshard Langford, Vanderbilt
Groza: Mason Crosby, Colorado; 11. Bryant Hahnfeldt, Vanderbilt

[BDawg35]

GAME 11 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS


Kentucky’s Vito Tisdale picks off a pass with 1:16 left to end Vanderbilt’s comeback hopes.


Vanderbilt receiver Chris Pierce dives into the end zone.

DIGGING HOLES
Vanderbilt falls behind at half again,
falls short again in loss to Kentucky

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt isn’t a good enough football team to win games after spotting opponents huge leads.

The Commodores can certainly make things interesting as they attempt to rise from the dead, but that’s no way to go about your business if you expect to have any success.

For the second straight week, Vanderbilt had a chance to win a game after trailing by more than three scores, but couldn’t close the deal in a 41-35 loss to Kentucky on Nov. 15, 2021.

The Wildcats shredded the Commodores in the first half, building a 38-13 halftime lead. One week earlier, Vanderbilt trailed 24-7 at Florida.

As was the case last week, Vanderbilt’s defense showed some self-respect in the second half while the offense got rolling. A 32-yard touchdown pass from Mike Wright ton Will Sheppard with 4:16 left in the game cut Kentucky’s lead to 41-35.

Again, as was the case last week, Vanderbilt got the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Instead of a dropped pass on fourth-and-five with 1:00 left, as happened at Florida, the dagger against Kentucky came in the form of Vito Tisdale’s second interception of the game with 1:16 remaining. The Commodores had driven to the Wildcats’ 32-yard line.

“The game momentum seems to reset at halftime, so we’ve had a chance to make a new game of it the last two weeks,” B-Dawg said. “We probably got too comfortable once things were going well, figuring we would come back as my teams have done so often in the past. This team still needs to develop that winning pedigree. You’re not going to just pull off miracle comebacks because you have a coaching legend on the sidelines. Ballerz gotsta ball.”

Kentucky quarterback Will Levis threw for four touchdown passes in the first half. His offense couldn’t manage more than a field goal after halftime. The 79 OVR red-shirt junior was 17-for-21 for 313 yards at halftime. He was only 5-for-8 for 47 yards in the second half.

“I tell you, it’s all about EA’s game momentum,” B-Dawg said. “It resets at halftime. This guy was in ultimate robo-QB mode in the first half and was below average after that.”


Will Sheppard snags a touchdown pass with 4:16 left to get Vanderbilt
within six points.

KENTUCKY WILDCATS at VANDERBILT COMMODORES
Nov. 15, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Kentucky Wildcats (3-7)	17	21	0	3	41
Vanderbilt Commodores (6-5)	0	13	7	15	35

Team Stats Comparison
	UK	VAN
Total Offense	440	530
Rushing Yards	33-80	22-160
Passing Yards	360	370
First Downs	16	23
Punt Return Yards	19	34
Kick Return Yards	30	196
Total Yards	489	760
Turnovers	0	3
3rd Down Conversion	6-13	3-10
4th Down Conversion	0-0	2-2
2-Point Conversion	0-0	1-2
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	4-3-1	5-4-0
Penalties	0-0	1-10
Possession Time	17:37	18:23

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		UK	VAN
5:14	(UK) D. Harris 19 pass from W. Levis (M. Ruffolo kick)	7	0
3:31	(UK) C. Rodriguez 4 run (M. Ruffolo kick)	14	0
:24	(UK) M. Ruffolo 45 field goal	17	0
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		UK	VAN
7:16	(VAN) C. Pierce 10 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	17	7
6:28	(UK) I. Epps 52 pass from W. Levis (M. Ruffolo kick)	24	7
4:35	(UK) J. Rigg 47 pass from W Levis (M. Ruffolo kick)	31	7
2:09	(VAN) R. Davis 1 run (run failed)	31	13
:10	(UK) W. Robinson 3 pass from W. Levis (M. Ruffolo kick)	38	13
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		UK	VAN
4:05	(VAN) C. Pierce 5 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	38	20
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		UK	VAN
8:14	(VAN) A. Abdur-Rahman 9 pass from M. Wright (R. Davis run)	38	28
5:07	(UK) M. Ruffolo 20 field goal	41	28
4:16	(VAN) W. Sheppard 32 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	41	35

KENTUCKY WILDCATS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Will Levis 22/29 360 4 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Chris Rodriguez 20 47 2.3 1 Will Levis 13 33 2.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Josh Ali 6 101 16.8 0 Isaiah Epps 5 84 16.8 1 DeMarcus Harris 4 83 20.8 1 Justin Rigg 3 61 20.3 1 Wan'Dale Robinson 3 29 9.7 1 Chris Rodriguez 1 2 2.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Eli Cox 0 1 Chris Rodriguez 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Tyrell Ajian 11 2 0 0 Carrington Valentine 9 1 0 0 Jacquez Jones 6 0 0 0 Taj Dodson 5 0 0 0 Davonte Robinson 5 0 0 0 Trevin Wallace 5 2 0 0 Quandre Mosely 3 0 0 0 Yusuf Corker 3 0 0 1 Jalen Geiger 2 0 0 0 Vito Tisdale 2 0 0 2 Jordan Wright 2 1 0 0 Josh Paschal 1 1 0 0 Abule A.-Fitzgerald 1 0 0 0 Jared Casey 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Matt Ruffolo 2/3 5/5 11 46 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Wilson Berry 4 150 37.5 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Wan'Dale Robinson 1 30 30.0 30 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Wan'Dale Robinson 1 19 19.0 19

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 30/47 370 4 3 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Mike Wright 12 126 10.5 0 Re'Mahn Davis 9 37 4.1 1 Rocko Griffin 1 -3 -3.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Devin Boddie 7 164 23.4 0 Will Sheppard 6 82 13.7 1 Chris Pierce 6 53 8.8 2 Re'Mahn Davis 4 13 3.3 0 Ben Bresnahan 3 28 9.3 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 2 12 6.0 1 Logan Kyle 1 9 9.0 0 Brayden Bapst 1 9 9.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Ethan Barr 10 4 0 0 Max Worship 8 2 0 0 Dashaun Jerkins 5 0 0 0 Brayden Devault-Smith 4 2 2 0 Daevion Davis 4 0 0 0 Jaylen Mahoney 3 0 0 0 Allan George 3 1 0 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 2 0 0 0 De'Rickey Wright 2 0 0 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 2 0 0 0 Nate Clifton 2 1 0 0 Brendon Harris 2 0 0 0 Michael Owusu 2 1 0 0 Feleti Afemui 2 1 0 0 Boddie/McAllister 2/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 0/1 3/3 3 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 3 122 40.7 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 7 196 27.9 53 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 4 34 8.5 13

Despite loss, Vandy gets four commits

Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg was worried how a loss to Kentucky would impact recruiting when the Commodores had many of their prospects visiting last Saturday.

It wasn’t a great haul, but it wasn’t a total loss. Four players committed to Vanderbilt, although only kicker Greg Mitchell will likely have an impact during his career.

Mitchell is the 11th-ranked kicker in the country. The three-star prospect from Bayonet Point, Fla. chose Vanderbilt over Clemson and South Carolina.

Keith Walker, the No. 74 offensive guard, is also a three-star prospect. The Valdosta, Ga. native picked the Commodores over Eastern Michigan and Wake Forest.

Wake Forest also lost out on two-star offensive tackle Lance Griffin, who is ranked 131st at his position. Duke was third in the running for the St. Mary’s, Ga. product.

After having to use tight ends to fill the void at fullback on the real Vanderbilt roster, B-Dawg landed two-star Andy Wilson of Decatur, Ala. Wilson is ranked 13th among fullbacks. He was also considering Alabama-Birmingham and Georgia Tech.





Vanderbilt was shut out when the finalists were named for the 2021 College Football Awards.

Senior free safety Dashaun Jerkins came the closest to making the cut, ranking fourth for the Bednarik and fifth for the Thorpe.

Sophomore middle linebacker Ethan Barr was fifth for the Butkus.

Jerkins has 66 tackles, five for losses, one sack, one interception and six deflections. Barr has 65 tackles, 21 for losses, three sacks and one interception.






Cassen Jackson-Garrison leaps defenders on his way to a 278-yard,
four-touchdown performance.

THANK YOU, EA!
CJG rushes for 278 yards and 4 touchdowns,
Commodores ride early mo’ to victory at UK

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Across the way, Kentucky coach Rich Brooks was holding his postgame press conference and decrying the “momentum” feature in NCAA 2007.

“Leave it to EA to overblow a new feature, just to let everyone know, hey lookie here, it’s in da game!” Brooks said. “We fumble one kickoff and all of a sudden we can’t stop an average running back like Cassen Jackson-Garrison? That’s pure B.S.!”

Please forgive Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg if he doesn’t feel sorry for Mr. Brooks.

B-Dawg has felt handcuffed by the momentum feature numerous times during the 2006 season, so he was more than happy to accept it when EA smiled happily upon his 112th-ranked Commodores in a 38-31 victory over 110th-ranked Kentucky on Nov. 11, 2006.

The game really wasn’t as close as the final score indicated but, like in the team’s victory over Mississippi, a late rally made things more respectable. Kentucky (2-8) scored 23 points in the final 3:50 after falling behind 38-8.

Garrison, who has had to scrape and claw for every yard he’s gotten this season, ran for big gains with ease. He had huge holes and great blocks on the outside all day, taking full advantage by running 42 times for 278 yards and four touchdowns. He almost certainly would have gone over 300 yards, but B-Dawg pulled his starters early in the fourth quarter, which may have contributed to Kentucky’s late rally.

“Running backs, fueled by their impact status and game momentum, have run wild against us all year,” B-Dawg said. “It felt good to be on the other end of things. I know what they’re going through over there, but I’m not gonna shed a tear for them. I just had to call a dive play for CJG and he was guaranteed to move guys at least four or five yards off the line of scrimmage, if they were going to bring him down at all. It was B.S., but it was good B.S.”

Garrison, a former fullback in real life, used power to get all those yards. He didn’t have a run longer than 24 yards and he had 12 broken tackles that led to 141 yards after contact. He finished with 345 all-purpose yards, having also gained 65 yards on two kick returns and two yards on one catch.

Perhaps the tone was set when Kentucky fumbled the kickoff following Vanderbilt’s first touchdown, a 5-yard run by Garrison with 4:19 left in the first quarter. That fumble set up another touchdown run by Garrison and put the momentum meter at plus-five for Vanderbilt most of the game. The Wildcats also fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half during a rainstorm in Lexington.

Vanderbilt’s domination was thorough for most of the first half, as the Commodores outgained Kentucky 249-21 and held a 12:07 to 2:55 advantage in time of possession while building a 24-0 lead. Kentucky got a spark going into halftime when Keenan Burton hauled in a 40-yard touchdown pass and a 2-point conversion from Andre Woodson with one second to go in the second quarter.

Any boost the Wildcats got from that score was undone when they fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half. Touchdown runs by Garrison and fullback Darnell Martemus gave Vanderbilt a seemingly comfortable 38-8 lead with 4:18 left in the game.

A 71-yard bomb from Woodson to DeMoreo Ford with 3:50 left made it a 38-15 game. Kentucky recovered the onside kick and got within 38-23 on a 2-yard run by Rafael Little, plus a 2-point run by Little. Jared Hawkins of Vanderbilt recovered the next onside kick, but the Commodores quickly gave the ball back on a punt. An 11-yard pass from Woodson to Burton with 55 seconds left and Kentucky’s third 2-point conversion produced some nervous moments for Vanderbilt, which had put its starters back on the field by now.

It came down to the ensuing onside kick, which Vanderbilt’s George Smith recovered to end any possibility of a miracle comeback.

“I was scared to death on that last onside kick,” B-Dawg said. “You talk about ways in which game momentum can screw you big-time, the onside kick is one area where it surely can. The ball hits your guy in the leg and bounces just the right way for the CPU … yeah, it could happen.”

With the ground game coming so easily, B-Dawg didn’t flirt with disaster through the air, especially with shaky No. 1 quarterback Chris Nickson returning from a six-week injury. Nickson threw only 13 times, completing six passes for 40 yards.

The ground game enabled Vanderbilt to roll up a 22:41 to 9:19 advantage in time of possession.

The victory moves Vanderbilt out of a tie for the Southeastern Conference East Division basement with Kentucky. Both teams were 1-5 in the SEC coming into the game. The Commodores will host in-state rival Tennessee in their season finale next Saturday.

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Cassen Jackson-Garrison, Vanderbilt; Keenan Burton, Kentucky

VANDERBILT 38, KENTUCKY 31
First quarter
VANDY: Garrison 5 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 4:19
VANDY: Garrison 1 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 2:35
Second quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 21 field goal, 4:57
VANDY: Garrison 1 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 1:02
UK: Burton 40 pass from Woodson (Burton pass from Woodson), :01
Third quarter
VANDY: Garrison 7 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 1:00
Fourth quarter
VANDY: Martemus 3 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 4:18
UK: Ford 71 pass from Woodson (Housley kick), 3:50
UK: Little 2 run (Little run), 2:36
UK: Burton 11 pass from Woodson (Bogue pass from Woodson), :55


CJG gets weekly national honor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Even if the competition was Kentucky and the two teams were battling to stay out of last place, Cassen Jackson-Garrison’s performance on Saturday was too impressive to ignore.

Vanderbilt’s junior impact running back became the second Commodore this season to earn NCAA Player of the Week honors, doing so on the offensive side of the ball after running 42 times for 278 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-31 victory over Kentucky.

The man known around town as CJG had 345 all-purpose yards.

He joins cornerback Josh Allen as the two Vanderbilt players who have won the national weekly award this season. Allen got it when he had three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, in a victory over Mississippi.

Texas Tech cornerback Antonio Huffman is the NCAA Defensive Player of the Week. He returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown in a 44-31 victory at Oklahoma.




1. Drew Tate, Iowa, QB
STATS: 241-for-409, 3,090 yards, 36 TD, 19 int.

2. John David Booty, USC, QB
STATS: 209-for-326, 2,837 yards, 29 TD, 9 int.

3. Sidney Rice, South Carolina, WR
STATS: 55 catches, 943 yards, 14 TD

4. Calvin Davis, Iowa, WR
STATS: 59 catches, 875 yards, 13 TD

5. Steve Smith, USC, WR
STATS: 64 catches, 958 yards, 10 TD

[ZSmit88]

Re: GAME 11 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS

Love that these games are aligning. Fun to see how these teams looked then vs now.

[BDawg35]

GAME 12 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS


Vanderbilt kicker Joseph Bulovas celebrates his game-winning field goal as time expires.


Vanderbilt receiver Chris Pierce makes a 15-yard catch on fourth-and-eight with 1:20 left in the game, setting up
the winning field goal.

GUTLESS CPU
’Dores take advantage of CPU choices
in walk-off victory over Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The difference between winning and losing in NCAA ’14 often comes down to how the coaches of each team are wired.

EA Sports programmed its CPU coaches to make gutless decisions when going for it wouldn’t be that much of a risk.

User-controlled teams, thankfully, are usually controlled by someone who can bring some common sense to the table when decisions need to be made.

Tennessee’s unwillingness to go for it and settle for field goals twice on fourth-and-one, while B-Dawg’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-eight late in the game made all the difference in Vanderbilt’s 30-27 victory over the Vols on a rare snowy Nov. 22 day in the south.

Tennessee had fourth down at the 1-yard line when it chose to kick a 17-yard field goal in the second quarter. Facing fourth-and-one from the 16 in the third quarter, Tennessee kicked a 33-yard field goal.

“Anyone who has watched our defense knows it can be had,” B-Dawg said. “It’s safe to say Tennessee left eight points out there by settling for field goals. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the coach get fired after making those spineless decisions in a rivalry game they don’t expect to ever lose.”

B-Dawg’s big fourth-down decision came when Vanderbilt had the ball at Tennessee’s 38-yard line, needing eight yards to move the chains. Quarterback Mike Wright was sacked for a 2-yard loss by defensive tackle Matthew Butler on the previous play.

“A punt wouldn’t have done us any good, unless we really pinned them inside the 5,” B-Dawg said. “I don’t trust my defense to hold them off and get us to overtime.”

So, B-Dawg went for it, despite the risk of giving the Vols good field position with enough time to do some damage. Wright hit receiver Chris Pierce for a 15-yard gain on an out route with 1:20 remaining to keep the drive alive and ultimately set up Joseph Bulovas’ 25-yard walk-off field goal.

Bulovas’ kick capped a fourth-quarter comeback from a 10-point deficit. Devin Boddie sparked the rally by catching a 4-yard touchdown pass from Wright with 8:57 left in the game.

The Commodores had to settle for a game-tying 26-yard field goal from Bulovas with 5:54 left after a 44-yard scramble by Wright moved the ball to Tennessee’s 8-yard line. Wright was lucky to not have a pass intended for Logan Kyle at the goal line intercepted on third down.

The Commodores got the ball back when cornerback Allan George blew up running back Tiyon Evans for a 2-yard loss on third-and-2 from the Vanderbilt 40. Tennessee’s Paxton Brooks pinned Vanderbilt at the 7-yard line with a rare intelligent punt by the CPU with 4:12 remaining.

From there, Vanderbilt milked the rest of the clock by running 14 plays before kicking the walk-off field goal.

Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker was in full-on robo-QB mode, completing 27 of 29 passes for 385 yards and two touchdowns. His only incompletions were two drops in his first six passes. He completed his final 23 attempts.

As for the snow, B-Dawg was shocked when the game loaded.

“I figure I had seen the last of snow games when I came to the SEC to coach,” B-Dawg said. “I know it can snow in Knoxville. I was actually in the Knoxville area when it snowed in 2009, but that was between Christmas and New Year’s. In Michigan where I’ve lived most of my life, we are just starting to get snow around this time of year. I’m glad I didn’t put us in the all-white pants and the white helmets, or it would’ve been difficult spotting our receivers.”


Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright has a 44-yard scramble to set up a
fourth-quarter field goal.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES at TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS
Nov. 22, 2021	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Vanderbilt Commodores (7-5)	10	7	0	13	30
Tennessee Volunteers (5-6)	0	10	17	0	27

Team Stats Comparison
	VAN	TENN
Total Offense	499	475
Rushing Yards	31-167	25-90
Passing Yards	332	385
First Downs	27	16
Punt Return Yards	0	8
Kick Return Yards	169	106
Total Yards	668	589
Turnovers	1	1
3rd Down Conversion	5-11	7-12
4th Down Conversion	1-1	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-3-2	4-1-2
Penalties	1-10	0-0
Possession Time	19:57	16:03

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TENN
6:14	(VAN) J. Bulovas 44 field goal	3	0
:31	(VAN) D. Boddie 1 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	10	0
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TENN
6:45	(TENN) T. Evans 2 run (C. McGrath kick)	10	7
1:27	(TENN) C. McGrath 17 field goal	10	10
:12	(VAN) A. Abdur-Rahman 9 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	17	10
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TENN
6:36	(TENN) C. McGrath 33 field goal	17	13
5:03	(TENN) J. Hyatt 69 pass from H. Hooker (C. McGrath kick)	17	20
2:59	(TENN) C. Tillman 33 pass from H. Hooker (C. McGrath kick)	17	27
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		VAN	TENN
8:57	(VAN) D. Boddie 4 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick)	24	27
5:54	(VAN) J. Bulovas 26 field goal	27	27
:00	(VAN) J. Bulovas 25 field goal	30	27

VANDERBILT COMMODORES PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Mike Wright 27/43 332 3 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Mike Wright 13 112 8.6 0 Re'Mahn Davis 16 58 3.6 0 Rocko Griffin 2 -3 -1.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Chris Pierce 9 167 18.5 0 Will Sheppard 5 60 12.0 0 Amir Abdur-Rahman 4 45 11.3 1 Devin Boddie 4 14 3.5 2 Ben Bresnahan 2 22 11.0 0 Re'Mahn Davis 2 15 7.5 0 Brayden Bapst 1 9 9.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Ben Cox 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Ethan Barr 7 0 0 0 Brayden Devault-Smith 6 3 0 0 Jaylen Mahoney 5 0 0 0 Dashaun Jerkins 5 0 0 0 Elijah McAllister 4 1 0 0 Max Worship 4 1 0 0 Gabe Jeudy'Lally 4 1 0 0 Michael Owusu 4 1 0 0 Feleti Afemui 3 1 0 0 Allan George 3 2 1 0 Brendon Harris 2 0 0 0 Nate Clifton 1 0 0 0 Daevion Davis 1 1 0 0 Christian James 1 0 0 0 J.Harris/D.Wright 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Joseph Bulovas 3/4 3/3 12 44 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Harrison Smith 2 64 32.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG James Ziglor 6 169 28.1 36 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Hendon Hooker 27/29 385 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Hendon Hooker 11 48 4.3 0 Tiyon Evans 12 22 1.8 1 Jalin Hyatt 2 20 10.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Tiyon Evans 7 51 7.2 0 Jalin Hyatt 6 122 20.3 1 Cedric Tillman 5 116 23.2 1 Velus Jones 4 52 13.0 0 Javonta Payton 3 30 10.0 0 Jacob Warren 1 11 11.0 0 Jaylen Wright 1 3 3.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Team 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Trevon Flowers 8 2 0 1 Theo Jackson 8 1 0 0 Jeremy Banks 7 0 0 0 Juwan Mitchell 6 1 0 0 Tyler Baron 5 1 0 0 Jaylen McCollough 4 1 0 0 Alontae Taylor 3 0 0 0 Brandon Turnage 3 0 0 0 Matthew Butler 3 1 1 0 Ramel Keyton 2 0 0 0 Warren Burrell 2 0 0 0 Ja'Quain Blakely 2 2 0 0 Christian Charles 2 0 0 0 Elijah Simmons 1 0 0 0 Latrell Bumphus 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Chase McGrath 2/4 3/3 9 33 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Paxton Brooks 1 36 36.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Velus Jones 3 106 35.3 49 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Theo Jackson 1 8 8.0 8

Vanderbilt appears to have upgraded its defense by adding three-star strong safety Anthony Smiley to its 2022 recruiting class during the bye week following a victory at Tennessee.

Smiley is the 13th-ranked strong safety in the country, rated 73 OVR. The Pueblo West, Colo. native chose the Commodores over Kentucky and Rutgers. Smiley visited campus during the loss to Kentucky.





Cassen Jackson-Garrison wasn’t going to run
for 278 yards this week, not if Tennessee’s
Justin Harrell had anything to say about it.

Vols hold Vandy to 124 yards,
grab four picks in 40-3 rout

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt hopes one day to rule the national college football scene under the guidance of coach B-Dawg.

For the time being, just ruling their own backyard is a major challenge.

The team that struggled to beat Division I-AA Tennessee State got an expected beatdown from the big boys on the block, losing 40-3 to fifth-ranked Tennessee in the Commodores’ season finale on Nov. 18, 2006.

Vanderbilt finished its first season under B-Dawg with a 3-9 overall record, 2-6 in the Southeastern Conference. The Commodores’ victories came over Tennessee State, Mississippi and Kentucky.

“We really thought we should have had two more victories this season with teams like Temple and Duke on our schedule, but I guess we’re one of those teams ourselves,” B-Dawg said. “I cannot get on the recruiting trail quickly enough.”

The 101st-ranked Commodores held out hope that they could hang with Tennessee after having a lead late in the third quarter against Florida two weeks ago and running wild against Kentucky in a 38-31 victory last Saturday. It certainly looked like Vanderbilt might position itself for an upset, as a 23-yard field goal by Bryant Hahnfeldt gave the Commodores a 3-0 lead after one quarter.

However, things totally unraveled in the second quarter.

Tennessee (10-1) outscored Vanderbilt 30-0 in the second quarter, intercepting three passes, including one which was returned 40 yards for a touchdown by Marvin Mitchell. The Vols scored four touchdowns in a 2:48 span late in the first half, as EA game momentum went into overdrive following a Roshaun Fellows pick with 5:37 left in the second quarter. A blocked extra point by Brandon Holmes was Vanderbilt’s only highlight after the first quarter.

Quarterback Chris Nickson could not have been more horrible, posting a pitiful 3.5 quarterback rating by going 5-for-15 for 42 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions. He led an offense and managed only 124 yards of total offense.

“I can’t blame Chris totally, because once game momentum kicked in, he never had time to catch his breath back there,” B-Dawg said. “Their defenders went through our line like it didn’t even exist.”

Realizing that it just wasn’t going to happen on this day, B-Dawg tried to just run the ball, keep the clock running and get on to the offseason. Even running proved to be a major chore, as Cassen Jackson-Garrison was held to 78 yards on 23 carries after rushing for 278 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Star receiver Earl Bennett had only one catch for zero yards, but is still fifth in the national in receiving yards with a school-record 1,237 yards on 64 catches. Middle linebacker Jonathan Goff had eight tackles, but fell two short of becoming B-Dawg’s first NCAA player to ever rack up 100 for a season. His 98 tackles are an all-time B-Dawg record for NCAA Football, breaking the 89 racked up by Paul Tithof of Western Michigan in the 2006 season of NCAA 2006.

“Both of those guys will be back next season and should do even bigger and better things as we get this thing turned in the right direction,” B-Dawg said.

PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Marvin Mitchell, Tennessee; David Carter, Vanderbilt

TENNESSEE 40, VANDERBILT 3
First quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 23 field goal, 1:37
Second quarter
TENN: Wilhoit 33 field goal, 6:28
TENN: Holbert 10 pass from Ainge (Wilhoit kick), 3:54
TENN: Mitchell 40 interception return (Wilhoit kick), 3:06
TENN: Hefney 55 punt return (Wilhoit kick), 2:15
TENN: Foster 18 run (kick blocked), 1:06
Third quarter
TENN: Wilhoit 25 field goal, 5:40
Fourth quarter
TENN: Hardesty 4 run (Wilhoit kick), 2:29





1. Drew Tate, Iowa, QB
STATS: 264-for-448, 3,277 yards, 39 TD, 19 int.

2. John David Booty, USC, QB
STATS: 233-for-360, 3,128 yards, 31 TD, 11 int.

3. Sidney Rice, South Carolina, WR
STATS: 62 catches, 990 yards, 16 TD

4. Calvin Davis, Iowa, WR
STATS: 68 catches, 924 yards, 14 TD

5. Steve Smith, USC, WR
STATS: 69 catches, 978 yards, 10 TD





Maxwell
1. Jamil Walker, Wisconsin
2. Amir Pinnix, Minnesota
3. Kenneth Darby, Alabama
Bednarik
1. Steve Octavien, Nebraska
2. Maurice Mack, Kansas State
3. Anthony Waters, Clemson
Missed cut — 8. Jonathan Goff, Vanderbilt
Best quarterback
1. John David Booty, USC
2. Drew Tate, Iowa
3. Troy Smith, Ohio State
Walker
1. Jamil Walker, Wisconsin
2. Kenneth Darby, Alabama
3. Amir Pinnix, Minnesota
Best wide receiver
1. Sidney Rice, South Carolina
2. Steve Smith, USC
3. Calvin Davis, Iowa
Missed cut — 8. Earl Bennett, Vanderbilt
Best tight end
1. Tate Casey, Florida
2. Joe Jon Finley, Oklahoma
3. Rylan Reed, Texas Tech
Best offensive lineman
1. Kirk Barton, Ohio State
2. Doug Datish, Ohio State
3. Kraig Urbik, Wisconsin
Rimington
1. Doug Datish, Ohio State
2. Tyson Swaggert, Minnesota
3. Mark Fenton, Colorado
Lombardi
1. Cody Pree, Houston
2. Adam Carriker, Nebraska
3. Lawrence Wilson, Ohio State
Best linebacker
1. Steve Octavien, Nebraska
2. Jonathan Goff, Vanderbilt
3. Anthony Waters, Clemson
Thorpe
1. Roderick Rogers, Wisconsin
2. Michael Hamlin, Clemson
3. A.J. Tuitele, Oregon
Missed cut — 5. Reshard Langford, Vanderbilt
Groza
1. James Wilhoit, Tennessee
2. Mason Crosby, Colorado
3. Ryan Pretorius, Ohio State
Missed cut — 12. Bryant Hahnfeldt, Vanderbilt
Best punter
1. Brian Monroe, Miami
2. Jeremy Kapinos, Penn State
3. A.J. Trapasso, Ohio State
Best returner
1. Terry Richardson, Arizona State
2. Steve Breaston, Michigan
3. Tre Smith, Auburn
Coach of the year
1. George O’Leary, Central Florida
2. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
3. Tommy Tuberville, Auburn

[BDawg35]

Re: GAME 11 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS

Love that these games are aligning. Fun to see how these teams looked then vs now.

Yeah, even with some changes in the SEC since NCAA 2007, it seems the back half of Vandy's schedule is roughly the same. Tennessee is obviously the final game for rivalry weekend, but a lot of the other ones are also aligning. I've started playing my second season and don't have Alabama on my schedule yet. I don't know how the schedule rotates in the SEC so you play every team at some point.

[ZSmit88]

Re: GAME 11 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS

3-9 the first go around, with what seemed to be some cheesy EA antics. This time around, much better. How would you compare the two seasons? Curious to hear your thoughts and reflection.

[BDawg35]

Re: GAME 11 OF 2021/2006 SEASONS

3-9 the first go around, with what seemed to be some cheesy EA antics. This time around, much better. How would you compare the two seasons? Curious to hear your thoughts and reflection.

I think the biggest difference is I started that NCAA 2007 dynasty almost immediately after the game dropped. So, I still had a learning curve with the game that mirrored starting as a new coach with a weak team. The deep ball occasionally bailed me out in NCAA 2007 (especially with Earl Bennett) or things might have been worse. As I got better talent, I remember converting third-and-longs with regularity for like 30-yard gains like it was nothing.

With this dynasty, I’ve been playing the game for nine years now and running the same created playbook for about 2-3 years. I know the plays inside and out. At some point in the second season of this dynasty, I created a new playbook to alleviate some of the comfort level I had with the book I’ve been using, but I still included a lot of familiar plays. I did try using the regular Vandy book in a game in this dynasty and I just wasn’t feeling it.

So, I’ve come to believe that playbook familiarity may be the biggest indicator of success in football video games, more so than mode, sliders or even talent.

[bh446066]

Re: Goin' back to Vandy: A B-Dawg dual NCAA '14/NCAA '07 flashback dynasty

BDawg! What is this??? What are you doing??? I'm stuffing my face with member berries right now! I also remember that Tennessee St game very well. That was hilarious. I had also recently lost to a 1-AA team (Villanova) when you posted that, so I felt a little vindicated.

[BDawg35]

2021/2006 SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

Alabama beats UGA in OT for SEC title

It was old-school football when Alabama and Georgia met for the Southeastern Conference championship in the ATL.

Each team managed only seven points after four full quarters before Alabama won 10-7 in overtime on a 25-yard field goal by Will Reichard.

Alabama took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard run by Brian Robinson with 10:14 left in the first quarter. Georgia tied it on a 3-yard run by Zamir White with 4:33 left in the second quarter.

Befitting an old-school defensive clash, there wasn’t much done via the passing game. Alabama had 123 passing yards, while Georgia had 109. The running backs did the bulk of the work, with Robinson running 24 times for 100 yards and White running 22 times for 105 yards.

Georgia’s Jourdan Davis had a sack and three tackles for losses.

2021 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
C-USA: Alabama-Birmingham 27, Western Kentucky 3
SEC: Alabama 10, Georgia 7 (OT)
Mountain West: Nevada 45, Wyoming 28
Pac-12: Oregon 45, Utah 31
ACC: Clemson 37, Virginia Tech 17
Big Ten: Nebraska 23, Penn State 20 (OT)
MAC: Central Michigan 38, Kent State 17




Kenny Irons’ huge second quarter
lifts Auburn to SEC championship

THE ATL (AP) — Imagine what Kenny Irons would have done if he got to go up against Vanderbilt this season.

He was able to do plenty against a strong Florida team, scoring four touchdowns in the second quarter to carry seventh-ranked Auburn to a 41-21 victory over the eighth-ranked Gators in the 2006 Southeastern Conference Championship Game at the Georgia Dome.

The game was tied 7-7 after one quarter before Irons caught fire. He hauled in touchdown passes of 33 and 30 yards from Brandon Cox to begin Auburn’s big second quarter, then capped it off by scoring on runs of 7 and 18 yards.

Irons finished with 24 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He caught three passes for 69 yards and two scores.

Cox was 14-for-27 for 196 yards, four touchdowns and two picks. Florida’s Chris Leak was 15-for-30 for 179 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.