{"id":788,"date":"2016-09-15T08:30:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T12:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordoncollegefootball.com\/?p=788"},"modified":"2017-05-22T00:02:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T04:02:39","slug":"the-vanderbilt-commodores-road-trip-to-georgia-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2016\/09\/15\/the-vanderbilt-commodores-road-trip-to-georgia-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vanderbilt Commodores Road Trip to Georgia Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Vanderbilt Commodores<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0first road trip is Saturday to historic\u00a0Bobby Dodd Stadium<\/strong>\u00a0in downtown\u00a0Atlanta.<\/strong>\u00a0The Commodores will face ACC<\/strong> foe\u00a0Georgia Tech<\/strong>\u00a0with kick off at 11:30 CST. Vanderbilt stumbled in the first game of the season with the 13-10 loss to\u00a0South Carolina<\/strong>, but they came back in week two to\u00a0play a solid well-rounded game in their 47-24 win over\u00a0Middle Tennessee State University<\/strong>. Running back\u00a0Ralph Webb<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was the fire the \u2018Dores<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>offense needed as quarterback\u00a0Kyle Shurmur<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0found his rhythm.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Yellow Jackets<\/strong>\u00a0seem to have overcome their struggles from last season. They are 2-0 this season and\u00a0head coach\u00a0Paul Johnson<\/strong>\u00a0has found long-term success in his triple-option offense. Their defense will key on Webb after his high-flying performance last weekend. Meanwhile, the stout Vandy O-line (with an average height of 6\u20195\u201d and weight of 296 pounds) have their work cut out for them against an athletic Tech front seven. The offensive line played well against MTSU last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Death\u201d Defense<\/h3>\n

It is no secret that Vanderbilt\u2019s head coach and defensive coordinator\u00a0Derek Mason<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0loves a challenge, and he thinks of game planning as a chess match. Mason will have his \u201cBlack Death\u201d defense ready to play. Georgia Tech quarterback\u00a0Justin Thomas<\/strong>\u00a0took some hits in the\u00a0Mercer<\/strong>\u00a0game, but will play Saturday. He’ll do so with two of his favorite offensive weapons: running backs\u00a0Marcus Marshall<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Qua Searcy<\/strong>. Vandy linebacker\u00a0Zach Cunningham<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0enters Saturday with a streak of six games with at least 10 tackles after he recorded a game-high 10 last week. Cunningham has accumulated 66 tackles during the streak. Enter\u00a0Oren Burks<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>who also put up a big game playing in his new star position. Coach Mason added that position to Vandy’s defense specifically for Burks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special position and takes a special kind of guy to play that,\u201d Mason added \u201chow many guys that you know can play on the line of scrimmage then drop back and cover a wide receiver, and then jump up and pick off a pass and put us in scoring position?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Burks picked off the \u2018Dores first pass of the season and ran it back for 59 yards setting up a Vandy TD. Meanwhile,\u00a0Tre Herndon<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Torren McGaster<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0have been hitting hard and breaking up passes. This defensive duo is due for a pick six.<\/p>\n

\n

The interception by Burks — which set up the TD — was the fourth of his career.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) September 10, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n