Vanderbilt Commodores vs Northwestern Wildcats Box Score on Sep 08, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 8, 2012

Northwestern 23, Vanderbilt 13: Venric Mark ran for 123 yards and Jeff Budzien booted the go-ahead field goal from 18 yards with 2:01 remaining as the Wildcats outlasted the visiting Commodores.

The Wildcats defense, which held Vanderbilt to three second-half points, forced a fumble by quarterback Jordan Rodgers on the first play after the ensuing kickoff and recovered. Quarterback Kain Colter sealed it with a 29-yard touchdown run on third and 19 with 1:24 left.

Mark capped an 86-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run up the middle with 9:28 remaining to put Northwestern up 13-10. However, the Commodores (1-1) responded with 26-yard field goal by Casey Spear to tie it with 5:21 left.

Northwestern (2-0) allowed 470 yards passing to Syracuse in its opener, but gave up just 217 to Rodgers – 86 in the second half. Vandy’s Jordan Matthews had 75 yards receiving, nine in the second half.

Vanderbilt took the opening kickoff and drove 77 yards in 13 plays to take a 7-0 lead. Rodgers hit Matthews across the middle for 22 yards and a score with 10:11 left in the first quarter.

Rodgers had 201 yards of total offense as the Commodores took a 10-3 lead into halftime, thanks to Spear’s 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Vanderbilt could have increased their lead, but Rodgers fumbled at the Northwestern 19 with 40 seconds left in the half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Northwestern, starting its first four-game home stand since 1934, took a 2-1-1 lead in the series. … Vanderbilt’s top running back Zac Stacy was held to 36 yards rushing. … Vanderbilt had its four-game win streak against non-conference teams snapped.