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Vanderbilt Takes SEC Football To Atlanta For A Showdown With Georgia State On Saturday

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Vanderbilt heads southeast to Atlanta on Saturday to face Georgia State at Center Parc Stadium on ESPN+. The Commodores and Panthers will be meeting for the first time with Georgia State scheduled to visit Nashville in 2025.

The Commodores are looking to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2017. Vandy is 3-0 all-time against teams currently in the Sun Belt Conference. Saturday’s contest marks a homecoming of sorts for several Commodores. Vandy’s roster features 10 Georgia natives including seven from the Atlanta metro area.

Week 2 Shutout
• Vanderbilt blanked Alcorn State 55-0 Saturday to move to 2-0 on the season. It was Clark Lea’s third career shutout as a defensive coordinator and first since his 2020 Notre Dame defense held South Florida scoreless.
• The 55 points scored were the most since a 63-10 win at Hawai’i to open the 2022 season.
• The defensive unit held Alcorn State to just 71 total yards. The last time Vandy held its opponent to under 100 yards was against Chattanooga in 2003, with the Mocs generating just 93 yards.
• Vanderbilt held the Braves to just 40 rushing yards after holding Virginia Tech to 75 rushing yards, marking the first time since 2017 that Vandy limited its opponent under 100 rushing yards in back-to-back games (at Middle Tennessee and against Alabama A&M).
• Vandy’s offense closed the first half with a field goal, giving the Commodores a score on all five possessions in the first half.
• Saturday’s win was the largest margin of victory since Vandy defeated Presbyterian 58-0 on Sept. 17, 2012.

Special Plays, Special Players
• In the win over Alcorn State, Martel Hight became the first Dore with 100-plus punt return yards since Jonathan Krause on November 24, 2012 at Wake Forest (110 yards). Hight’s punt return for a touchdown was the first since Krause’s in that contest.
• Hight is now the first Commodore to have 100-plus punt return yards in a season since the 2019 campaign, reaching the mark in just two games.
• Jesse Mirco totaled 111 yards on just two punts in the win over Alcorn State and is averaging 49.7 yards per punt on the season. Mirco’s 69-yard punt vs. Alcorn State is tied for the third longest punt in FBS this season.
• Brock Taylor connected on two more field goals vs. Alcorn State. He is 4-for-5 on field goals this season with three of those makes coming from 40 or more yards out.
• Vanderbilt’s special teams efficiency of 81.5 ranks 15th among FBS programs according to ESPN’s FPI.

Week 1 Thriller
• Diego Pavia accounted for three touchdowns and posted 294 total yards of offense to lead Vanderbilt to a 34-27 win over Virginia Tech in overtime to open the 2024 season.
• The Commodores have won three consecutive season openers as Vanderbilt collected its first victory over a team receiving votes since Nov. 12, 2022, when the Dores knocked off RV/24 Kentucky at Kroger Field.
• Vandy scored on its first three offensive possessions to take a 17-0 lead. It marked the first time since 2017 that the Dores scored on their first three possessions to open a campaign.
• The win was Vandy’s first overtime contest under head coach Clark Lea.

Dual Threats
• Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks have a combined 224 rushing yards through the first two games.
• Nate Johnson’s 56 yard rush vs. Alcorn State is the longest by a Power 4 quarterback this season, per Pro Football Focus. Only three quarterbacks in all of FBS have a longer rush: Washington State’s John Matter (68 yards), Utah State’s Bryson Barnes (63 yards) and Navy’s Blake Horvath (62 yards).
• With Diego Pavia’s long rush on the season checking in at 27 yards, Vanderbilt is the only school in FBS with multiple quarterbacks to record a rush of at least 25 yards.

Two-and-O
• For the first time since World War II, Vanderbilt has won its first two games in three consecutive seasons. The last such streak of 2-0 starts came from 1941-43.
• The 1941 team opened with five straight victories before finishing 8-2. In 1942, the Commodores won three straight to begin the year and finished 6-4. The 1943 team played just five games due to World War II and won all five games.
• From 1956-58, the Commodores were not defeated over their first two games each year. The 1956 team opened 3-0, in 1957 the Dores started with a tie followed by a win and another tie, then in 1958, Vandy again began 3-0.
• Clark Lea is the first Vanderbilt head coach to win the first two games three consecutive seasons since Ray Morrison did it four consecutive seasons from 1935-38.