Presbyterian @ Vanderbilt preview

Presbyterian finds itself on the hot seat for the second straight week when the Blue Hose travel to Nashville to meet winless Vanderbilt. The Commodores, who nearly upset South Carolina in the opener, took a step backwards last week in losing to Northwestern, leaving coach James Franklin’s team with a lot of motivation for this week. A week ago Presbyterian played a Georgia Tech club had had lost an overtime game to Virginia Tech and lost 59-3 and will likely find an equally angry Vanderbilt team this week. It is the first game against an SEC opponent for Presbyterian since it joined Division I.

TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, CSS. LINE: None.

ABOUT PRESBYTERIAN (1-1): The Blue Hose will need to run the ball more effectively than they did last week, when they mustered only 145 yards at Georgia Tech. Lance Byrd has rushed for 189 yards this year and needs 11 more attempts to reach 400 for his career; he’s rushed for 2,138 career yards. Michael Ruff, a two-way threat at receiver and kick returner, needs just five yards to reach 1,000 career receiving yards. Ruff returned the opening kick of the season for a touchdown. Expect punter Patrick Morgano to get another workout; the all-conference selection averaged 38.2 yards last week against Georgia Tech, including a 52-yarder.

ABOUT VANDERBILT (0-2): Quarterback Jordan Rodgers will be under the microscope. He’s thrown for more than 200 yards in each of the first two games, but has completed only 53.6 percent of his throws. Franklin described Rodgers’ play as “inconsistent” and said he considered lifting him for backup Austyn Carta-Samuels in the second half of the Northwestern game. The weak running game is led by Zac Stacy, who has only 84 yards, an average of 3.2 yards per carry. Safety Kenny Ladler will not play this week because of an unspecified injury. Ladler is tied with Chase Garnham with a team-leading 16 tackles.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Presbyterian has not been shut out in the last 61 games, a streak kept intact last week against Georgia Tech thanks to a field goal with five seconds left.

2. Vanderbilt ranks 112th nationally in scoring at 13.0 points per game.

3. Vanderbilt has allowed eight sacks, but Presbyterian only registered one last week against Georgia Tech.

PREDICTION: Vanderbilt 42, Presbyterian 10