NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Much of Vanderbilt’s luck, good play and good attitude was washed away at FirstBank Stadium on Saturday in a 45-25 loss at the hands of a visit to Wake Forest.
The 23rd-ranked Demon Deacons solidly defeated Vanderbilt in many areas, but the Commodores (2-1) often beat themselves as well. Three turnovers and eight offensive drives that ended with a punt gave Vandy little chance of winning his third straight game to start the season.
“It’s a shame that we go into a game with clarity on what it takes to beat a good opponent at home, and I thought the guys had the spirit and energy for it, but we lacked the discipline to continue with our strategies and it has caught up with us,” said Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea. “Today was an indication of where we stand. I don’t want to shy away from the fact that Wake played a good game. They are a good opponent and we played a sloppy first half that allowed them to take distance. We have to learn from this and grow and keep moving forward.”
Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman threw 300 yards on 18 of 27 passes and completed four touchdowns and receiver AT Perry caught five balls for 142 yards and a score. Wake Forest also averaged 6.7 yards per game.
The Demon Deacons defense finished with five tackles for losses, a sack, five pass breaks, three quarterback rushes, an interception and forced two fumbles while holding the Dores on a total offense of 294 yards.
Ray Davis was a lone bright spot for the Commodores by rushing 87 yards and a touchdown and catching five balls for 21 yards. Quarterback Mike Wright was only 8 of 15 that went by, threw a pick and lost two fumbles.
“The ball is the program, and we have to take care of it, and we didn’t do that today. That was basically our #1 offensive key and we didn’t,” said Vandy senior tight end Gavin Schoenwald. “I think just owning that – this is going to be an incredible game to watch and learn from the band.
“There will be some key moments in the game that we can look at and say, ‘This happened because of this’, or ‘if this happened, this wouldn’t have happened.’ I just have to see it and be better next week.”
Things started to go wrong for black and gold after being so good in the beginning.
Vandy led 3-0 on a 35-yard Joseph Bulovas field goal, then got a fourth stop on the goal line through his defense. But just seconds later, Wright threw a pick-6, Vandy’s first turnover of the year, when his ill-advised pass bounced into the hands of Coby Davis, who took it 31 yards the other way.
Vanderbilt’s put in his next ball to set Wake Forest up under his own steam 32 and from there Hartman hit Perry with a pass from 68 yards.
Wright messed up Vandy’s next run on his own 32 and two plays later, Hartman threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to run back Christian Turner and raised the score to 21-3 in just under six minutes from the game clock.
Then a life preserver.
Vanderbilt’s Cooper Lutz recovered a muffled punt on the Wake Forest 24 and four plays later, Davis grabbed a direct shot from the shotgun and ran to the left before ducking into the end zone and narrowing the deficit to 21-10.
But Wake Forest (2-0) scored on their first drive of the third quarter, a 10-play series that ended with Hartman’s 9-yard lob to Taylor Morin. That score took the wind out of the sails that the home side might have had.
Another lost fumble by Vanderbilt, this one on a failed transfer, led to a 17-yard Cameron Tite run for Wake Forest, making it a 35-10 game.
“We knew we couldn’t give them offensive extra possessions,” Lea said. “Giving up 21 points on turnover is not going to be a formula against good teams, especially not a good foul. The interception for a touchdown was just a momentum killer.”
“We have to look at ball security and decisions with the ball. That is not only a player problem, it is also a coaching problem.”
The Commodores narrowed the gap to 35-18 late in the third quarter with a touchdown pass from AJ Swann-to-Will Sheppard, but it was far too little, too late. Swann also put Schoenwald on a 7-yard pass with only 2:09 to play, giving the final margin.
Vanderbilt will try to regroup this week before traveling to Northern Illinois (1-0) for a 2:30 p.m. Saturday game.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s about fully understanding what we’ve just been through, the good things that happened on the pitch and then the learning, the adversity we faced – designed for us, to take,” said Leah. “We don’t like the result, but we’re going to focus on the things that showed us today and we’re going to evolve from there.
“We have a great chance of doing that back on the road next week. And that’s how we go.”
- Sheppard now has at least one touchdown reception in four consecutive games.
- Swann’s touchdown pass in the third quarter was the first of his career.
- Vanderbilt now has a takeaway in 12 consecutive games.
- A fourth-quarter looting by the Wake Forest defense was the first allowed by the Vanderbilt attack this season.
- Vandy opponents are now 1-for-9 on the fourth-down conversions.
- Vandy leads the all-time series 10-7 over Wake Forest and is 65-63-6 against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
- Vanderbilt’s 130 points in the first three games of the season are the highest since scoring 137 points in the first three games of the 1927 season.
- Saturday attendance was announced as 24,431.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
follow him @MrChadBishop.
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