Kyle Shurmur, 21-of-34 for 416 yards and two TDs, superb performance by our young quarterback. The future is here. Ralph Webb, what else can you say about the ultimate Vanderbilt man. Playing on an ankle that has been bothering him for the past month and a half, the junior warrior from Gainesville, FL. rushed for 114 yards on 21 carries with two TDs, with the last one a 28 yard scamper in which he ran over the Tennessee defensive back and plowed into the end zone. RW now has the all time VU rushing record set by legendary Zac Stacy. Ralph has now rushed for 3,231 yards and counting heading into our bowl game. Ralph set the freshman single season rushing record with 907 yards in 2014, the sophomore rushing record in 2015 with 1,152 yards, and is second on the junior single season rushing record with 1,173 yards. Zac set the junior record with 1,193 yards in 2011. Zac’s career mark in an epic career on the West End was 3,143 yards from 2009-12. Ralph is a legend in Vanderbilt football and there is a bowl game and a possible senior year from Ralph if he decides he wants to keep it going and play on a team in 2017 with huge goals. 

Trent Sherfield, one of the hardest working players in college football, caught 9 passes for 184 yards. Caleb Scott, the acrobatic, superior wide out, caught 4 passes for 117 yards. Our 45 points in our 45-34 victory was the most points we’ve scored since 1971. Wow. And the amazing Zach Cunningham. I don’t know what else to say about this ultimate stud, as he just keeps on amazing the VU nation. Zach added 9 tackles and a fumble recovery, as usual. Ryan White, our superb leader at safety, led the team in tackles with 10. And our offensive line, led by fifth year senior center Barrett Gouger and fifth year senior left tackle Will Holden, dominated the line of scrimmage once again. You can’t give those guys and their coach, Cameron Norcross, enough credit for the job they’ve done this year. It’s been a spectacular display of line play. Dominance by an all star unit.

Just so proud for Coach Mason, Coach Ludwig and the staff. Coach Ludwig has our offense churning out the yards and the 7’s. It’s remarkable to watch. The job Coach Mason has done is nothing short of amazing. The ability to keep his team motivated through the tough times earlier this season and to have them believing they can be the football team he envisioned from the start of the season, is nothing short of spectacular. This football team is as good as any team in the SEC East. I would say that us and Kentucky are the best two teams in the SEC East right now. I’d love to get another shot at them. It’s thrilling to be a part of this.

A couple of things. Zach deserves SEC defensive player of the year and the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker. Kyle deserves SEC offensive player of the week. We had some young players like conerbacks Joejuan Williams and  Donovan Sheffield and inside linebacker Josh Smith get very meaningful snaps, and three of our starting offensive linemen are sophomores and redshirt freshmen with plenty of backups who are young. C.J, Duncan made a huge catch and run on a third down deep in our own territory. We’ve got superb seniors, 26 of them, who deserve this so much for their work ethic and perseverance. Strength Coach James Dobson deserves a lot of credit. Our assistance, Coaches Ludwig, Norcross, Chris Marve, Osai Lewis, Cortez Hankton, Gerry Gdowski, Jeff Genuyk and Marc Mattioli were exceptional in the resurgence of Vanderbilt football. It was a collective effort by a group that believed they could go from good to great from the middle to the end of the season.

The bowls are interesting. I think Coach Mason and the players would go to Moscow to play in a a bowl game. I’d try to jump on the charter flight with them. Right now the options are the Birmingham Bowl, the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, the Advocare Texas Bowl in Houston, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Just tell us where to go, we’ll be there. The bowls will make their selections this Sunday afternoon, so we’ll know then.

Just proud of our head coach, our assistants, and our players. Vanderbilt football is stellar and will be for a long time under Derek Mason.