NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright.accounted for six touchdowns leading the Commodores to a 42-21 win over Elon at FirstBank Stadium on Saturday night.
Wright put Vandy up 35-10 after kicker Joseph Bulovas's point-after with a 45-yard scoring run with 12:26 left in the third quarter.
But the Phoenix didn't go away, with quarterback Matthew McKay accounting for two third-quarter touchdowns, one on a a 5-yard run and another, a 22-yard scoring pass to Jackson Parham.
But Vandy swung the momentum back its way early in the fourth quarter. Michael Owusu forced a fumble that Elijah McAllister landed on at the Vandy 43. Wright cashed in with a 9-yard TD throw to Ray Davis with 10:02 left, helping the Commodores to a 42-24 lead.
Elon tacked on another touchdown on McKay's 5-yard rush with 5:21 left, but the Phoenix couldn't cash in on further scoring opportunities as Vanderbilt held on.
Vanderbilt held Elon to a pair of three-and-outs to start, then after Elon’s Jeff Yurk shanked a punt that gave Vandy the ball at the Phoenix 41, the ‘Dores drove 41 yards in three plays with Wright running in from 5 yards out for the game’s first score with 10:17 left in the first quarter.
After another Elon punt, Wright found a streaking Jayden McGowan down the right sideline and hit him with a perfect thrown, as the freshman raced 75 yards for his first career score with 6:48 left in the quarter.
The teams traded first-quarter TD passes as Wright hit Will Sheppard on a 6-yard score, then, Elon’s McKay found an open Chandler Brayboy for a 75-yard score on the next snap.
Elon’s Skyler Davis boomed a 48-yard field goal with 2:32 left before half to make it 21-10, but Wright marched Vandy down the field and hit Sheppard with a 30-yard scoring strike with 35 seconds left before the break.
Quick thoughts
1. Does Vanderbilt win this without Mike Wright?
The junior was terrific, giving Vandy enough of a spark early and providing enough offense in the second half for the Commodores to hang on. When you account for 331 yards of total offense, six touchdowns and no turnovers, that's a special night.
2. The defense wasn't good but it came up with three huge plays when it mattered.
The biggest may have been when Christian James and Nate Clifton combined to stop Jalen Hampton for a loss of 3 on fourth-and-1 from the Vandy 31 and under four minutes remaining. Elon had just recovered an onside kick and driven too easily into Vandy territory after having scored a touchdown on the previous drive, and a touchdown and a point-after there makes it 42-38. Instead, the 'Dores held there.
Two drives before that, the Commodores' Michael Owusu force a fumble that Elijah McAllister recovered to snuff out another.
Finally, a pile of Commodores that appeared to include Clifton, James and Anfernee Orji combined to stop Elon quarterback Matthew McKay out of the end zone on two plays inside the 1 with under a minute to play.
3. The defense’s notoriously slow start didn’t continue. The Commodores are notorious for allowing first-drive touchdowns, but Vandy forced a three-and-out on Elon’s first two drives, allowed one first down before forcing a punt on the third and then another three-and-out on the fourth drive.
If that doesn't happen, perhaps the 'Dores aren't 2-0.
4. Vanderbilt had 205 yards of offense in the first quarter, with 144 coming through the air.
5. Field position was a big deal at times. Vanderbilt two possessions on the Elon side of midfield in the first 18 minutes; one was due to a shanked Elon punt and another was due to Matt Hayball’s pinning the Phoenix at their 4, at which point the defense held Elon to a three-and-out and another punt that Sheppard fielded inside midfield and returned to the Elon 40.
In the second half, field position hurt Vanderbilt as the Commodores started every drive inside their 30 .
6. This offense seems to play well when it plays fast. It was dictated by the clock—Vandy got the ball back with 2:37 before the half—but whatever the case, the ‘Dores moved the ball better after having stagnated the previous three possessions, having gained just 45 yards with no points. This time Wright led the offense 75 yards in seven plays and scored a TD in just 1:57.
7. Bradley Ashmore made an important play in the second half.
Wright coughed up a fumble and Ashmore won a battle with an Elon defender and recovered it at the 13. Otherwise, it's Elon's ball there with a chance to go down 11 with a touchdown and point-after.
8. Special teams weren't good.
In addition to giving up an onside kick, the 'Dores gave up 71 yards on punt returns, though punter Matt Hayball offset some of that with a 49.4-yard average.
9. The injuries/suspensions/etc. are piling up. On defense, Vanderbilt is still without linemen Daevion Davis, Devin Lee and Brayden Bapst, and cornerback Truedell Berry wasn't dressed. Davis is a starter, Lee is in the defensive line rotation for sure and Berry put himself in the conversation to play in a reserve role in fall camp.
On Elon's first drive of the second half, the Commodores had no starting defensive linemen in the game and it showed when the Phoenix pushed Vandy's front around a bit on a five-play, 75-yard scoring drive.
On offense, it may be worse. Running back Maurice Edwards was dismissed this week and Patrick Smith, who would have been Vandy's second back, is apparently suspended. Rocko Griffin, who is Vandy's No. 2 back with Smith out, had a minor injury this week in practice and didn't dress against Elon. Starting center Julian Hernandez is out and so is his backup, Jake Keschek. Receivers Gamarion Carter and Daevon Walker, if they were even on the sidelines, were in street clothes and not jerseys.
That depleted lineup was good enough to beat Elon, but the 'Dores sure need a number of those guys back if they're to do damage against the rest of the schedule.
