Northern Illinois Week – Vanderbilt University Athletics – Official Athletics Site

• Vanderbilt is set to face Northern Illinois on the road this weekend in its final non-conference game of the season. The contest will serve as a final tune-up for the Commodores before they begin conference play.

• Vandy is 6-1 in his last seven non-conference road meetings, including this year’s season opener in Hawai’i.

• Senior running back Ray Davis led Vanderbilt’s rushing offense through the first three games. He has 269 rushing yards this season, averaging 89.7 yards per game.

• Junior wide receiver Will Shepard had his fifth receiving touchdown of the season in the game against No. 23 Wake Forest. With the score, Sheppard extended his touchdown streak to four games since last season.

• First-year quarterback AJ Swann recorded his first career touchdown against Wake Forest. Swann was 8 of 11 for 146 passing yards with a pair of scores.

• Junior Quarterback mike wright accounted for a program-record six touchdowns — four passing and two rushing — in the win over Elon. He became the first Vanderbilt quarterback to post six scores in a single game.

• First-year student Jayden McGowan had his first career 100-yard receiving game against Elon. McGowan finished the contest with four catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, and was named SEC Freshman of the Week. He became the fifth Commodore to earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors since its inception in 2004.

• The Commodores’ 63 points in the season opener in Hawaii scored the most for the program since Vanderbilt beat Davidson, 63-8, in 1969. The 53-point victory was the program’s biggest since a 58-0 win over Presbyterian on September 1. 17, 2012.

• The Dores had a pair of defensive touchdowns against the Rainbow Warriors, returning two fumbles for the scores. It was the first time Vanderbilt had multiple defensive scores since the Commodore defense scored twice against LSU on Sept. 21, 2019.

• Vanderbilt has chosen eight team captains for the 2022 campaign: Ethan Barr, Ben Bresnahan, Daevion Davis, Jaylen Mahoney, Elijah McAllister, Anfernee Orji, Gavin Schoenwald and mike wright.