With Cutler, Jennings, Vanderbilt offense has more options
Now they have a running game to match.
Cutler threw for 314 yards in helping Vanderbilt beat Mississippi 31-23 Saturday and improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1984. Cutler also ran for 58 yards, but sophomore Jeff Jennings rushed for a career-high 24 times for 103 yards.
That’s the first time a Commodore netted 100 yards rushing since Oct. 23, 2004, when Kwane Doster ran for 117 yards against Eastern Kentucky. Doster would have been the starting tailback this season as a senior, but he was shot and killed Dec. 26 in his hometown of Tampa.
“I told Jeff before the game he had to make it easy on me,” Cutler said. “He’s doing a great job finding the end zone for us.”
Jennings also ran for three touchdowns on carries of 3, 4 and 1 yards with the last coming with 1:26 left to seal the victory for Vanderbilt, which is off to its first 2-0 SEC start since 1956 and atop the Eastern Division ahead of teams like Florida, Tennessee and Georgia.
The Commodores put on an offensive show with 90 plays for 523 yards, holding the ball for more than 37 minutes. They led 24-3 at halftime and looked ready to rout Ole Miss, which had won five straight and 11 of the previous 12 games in this series.
But Ole Miss answered with 20 straight points in the second half and had a chance to tie the game midway through the fourth after Mike Espy’s 51-yard punt return for a touchdown. Ralph McKenzie blocked Will Moseley’s extra point attempt, preserving the 24-23 Vanderbilt lead.
The Rebels had another opportunity to tie the game in the final minute as Micheal Spurlock drove them down the field.
Spurlock left the game when he bent his left middle finger sideways while scrambling, and Vandy linebacker Moses Osemwegie knocked the ball from backup Robert Lane’s hands five plays later and recovered it with 1 second left.
“We didn’t lose our focus and made some plays at the end and held on like we did the first two weeks,” Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said. “I was very pleased with the win.”
Cutler drove the Commodores five different series of at least 50 yards each, and he finished the game as Vanderbilt’s all-time leader for total offensive yards with 7,261, surpassing Greg Zolman’s mark of 7,607.
“He’s tough. We couldn’t get to him, we couldn’t pressure him,” Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said. “Every time the pressures that we had would beat the protections, he was picking it up and was given just enough time for the routes to come open.”
Combine that with the successful passes to six different Commodores, including Erik Davis, who had a career-best eight receptions for 107 yards, and Vanderbilt is laying the foundation for its best start since going 4-0 in 1984.
“The fact we can put the ball in the end zone when we need to is real big,” Vanderbilt tight end Dustin Dunning said. “Whenever we need to make a play we can make it.”