A dominating defensive effort and a turnover-free night helped Vanderbilt to a straightforward 55-0 victory over Alcorn State at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday night.
Vanderbilt held the visiting Braves to simply 1.6 yards per play and 6 first downs (three by penalties) on 44 snaps.
It was the Commodores’ first shutout since 2019.
Alcorn State did not cross midfield all night and had fewer yards of complete offense (71) than Vanderbilt’s Martel Hight (127) had on punt returns.
Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia accomplished 10-of-13 throws for 83 yards and rushed 13 instances for 51 yards and a rating.
He was changed in the beginning of the fourth quarter by Nate Johnson, who raced for a 56-yard landing on his first snap.
After the Braves’ sixth drive of three performs or much less, Hight took a Franklin Rogers punt and raced 57 yards for a rating with 12:17 left.
Six seconds later, Vanderbilt’s Alan Wright closed out the scoring along with his first profession landing on an 18-yard interception return of a Roderick Hartsfield Jr. throw.
AJ Newberry scored on a 20-yard run on the longest play of the night time for both staff, giving the Commodores a 34-0 lead with 2:37 left within the third quarter.
The Commodores scored on each first-half possession and led 27-0 on the break because of a 205-28 edge in complete yards.
Vanderbilt obtained a Brock Taylor 35-yard discipline aim with 5:15 left within the first quarter to open the scoring.
On the Braves’ ensuing drive, Vanderbilt’s Linus Zunk popped quarterback Tyler Macon as he was throwing, with CJ Taylor returning it 23 yards to the ASU 17.
On the subsequent play, tight finish Eli Stowers took an end-around and located tight finish Cole Spence open for a landing toss with 2:40 left within the quarter.
After one other ASU punt, Pavia led one other methodical drive ending on his 5-yard keeper off a faux for a 17-0 benefit.
Sedrick Alexander’s 2-yard run and Taylor’s 46-yard discipline aim accounted for the half’s remaining factors.
–Area Stage Media
