The five most mind-blowing stats from Vanderbilt football's blowout of Alcorn State

Vanderbilt football held an opponent below 75 yards for the first time since at least 1996 in its blowout of Alcorn State on Saturday night.

The Commodores (2-0) built up enough of a lead that starting quarterback Diego Pavia was out of the game by the fourth quarter. Vanderbilt continued to score despite only running four plays in the fourth quarter, getting an interception returned for TD and a punt returned for a touchdown.

The Commodores also scored on every drive in the first half.

It was a comprehensive beatdown for Vanderbilt, which will next move on to traveling to Georgia State on Saturday. With the win, the Commodores moved up to 54th in ESPN's FPI metric, one spot ahead of Kentucky.

Here are the five most mind-blowing stats for Vanderbilt:

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Vanderbilt's average starting field position: Own 48

Vanderbilt started its average drive nearly in Alcorn State territory already, with its average field position being at its own 48. Three of the Commodores' drives started in Braves territory and three others started past Vanderbilt's 40.

Although one of those drives started as a result of an interception, the others were all punts or kickoffs, a testament to the punt return skills of Martel Hight. Hight also had a punt return touchdown, which doesn't count as a separate drive.

Though the Commodores scored 55 points, they had 342 total yards. Part of that, though, was the favorable field position every time. According to Game on Paper , Vanderbilt gained 65% of its available yards based on starting field position.

Alcorn State: 1.6 yards per play

Alcorn State averaged just 1.6 yards per play. Neither the rushing or passing was at all successful for Alcorn State, which had a success rate of 17% and gained just six first downs − three of which came on the Braves' final drive, and two of which came via penalty.

Vanderbilt's defense didn't necessarily make a ton of big plays beyond the two interceptions, with six tackles for loss and one sack, but being able to stop Alcorn State every time meant that wasn't necessary.

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Alcorn State: 0 plays run from Vanderbilt's side of the field

While Vanderbilt ran 75% of its plays from Alcorn State's side of the field, it was the opposite for Alcorn State.

Even with the Braves gaining 30 free yards from penalties, they didn't ever get into the Commodores' territory. The closest they got was to the Alcorn State 49 by the end of the game, but a false start moved the Braves back. They ran only one more play after that, a run for no gain, before the clock ran out.

Jesse Mirco: 69-yard punt

It went unnoticed because of the total score of the game, but one of Vanderbilt's two punts in the game went 69 yards courtesy of Ohio State transfer Jesse Mirco. That punt pinned Alcorn State at the 3-yard line.

Vanderbilt: 29 different players recorded a stat on defense

For Vanderbilt, the blowout gave the Commodores the chance to give several players a chance to play who wouldn't normally. That meant no one player put up big numbers, but on the flip side, 29 different players recorded a defensive or special teams stat − a tackle, pass breakup or interception.

There was enough rotation in the defense that Vanderbilt's three leading tacklers − Aeneas DiCosmo, Prince Kollie and Yilanan Ouattara − were players who didn't start. That kept the Commodores fresh and allowed for more players to get in-game experience who could see time in the future.

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson .

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The five most mind-blowing stats from Vanderbilt football's blowout of Alcorn State