In the minutes following Vanderbilt’s 15-3 defeat at the hands of Mississippi State, head coach Bobby Johnson assessed his squad’s offensive attack.
It’s so frustrating, it’s hard to diagnose it,” he said “We we’re doing so poorly in execution, and finally got to executing a little bit better, and making some first downs in the second half. And then we would kill drives … it’s hard to explain.”
Luckily for Johnson and Co., however, the defensive effort was not nearly as mystifying.
On Saturday night, the Commodore defense held Mississippi State to only 15 points, by virtue of three field goals from kicker Sean Brauchle and a 22-yard scamper from quarterback Tyson Lee with just over three minutes to play in regulation. Two of Brauchle’s three field goals were 45 yards or greater, as Vanderbilt buckled down to thwart several of Mississippi State’s drives.
“Our defense played great. It kept their offense bottled up in the first half,” Johnson said.
The linebackers were responsible for much of the bottling. Inside linebacker Chris Marve paced the Commodore defense with 15 total tackles. The redshirt sophomore, an all-Southeastern Conference performer last season, was just one tackle shy of his career-high set last October against Duke. Marve flourished in the physical nature of the home SEC opener.
“Every SEC game is going to be physical. We knew that coming into the game,” Marve said. “It was no surprise to us. And it was no surprise to Mississippi State.”
To the weak side of Marve, senior Patrick Benoist recorded 13 total tackles over the course of the night. Benoist and Marve were the cornerstones of a unit that logged over 38 minutes of action on the field.
In the defensive backfield, sophomore Sean Richardson turned in an excellent performance at strong safety. Richardson, third in total tackles with 10, led Vanderbilt with two tackles for loss and one forced fumble. For the Commodores, it was the third forced fumble of the young season.
“We’re definitely making collective efforts to force turnovers,” Marve said. “Turnovers make huge differences in ballgames.”
In addition to Richardson, redshirt senior free safety Joel Caldwell and redshirt sophomore nickelback Jamie Graham contributed six and seven tackles, respectively. In the trenches, redshirt sophomore T.J. Greenstone led the front four.
The defensive tackle paced the line with nine total tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack. Defensive end Theron Kadri, a junior, contributed six tackles, as well.
On special teams, senior punter Brett Upson turned in an outstanding performance. The MVP of last December’s Music City Bowl, Upson punted 11 times for an average of 43 yards per attempt. Most notably, the Georgia native notched a booming 65-yard kick, pinning the Bulldogs deep in their own territory.
“Brett punted well and had a good average. He also had five inside the 20,” Johnson said. “It was good to see him punt well. We changed up a little bit, to give him a chance to kick it."
