Vanderbilt Football Three Keys: Purdue

Vanderbilt faces Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, IN. Here are your three keys to a Vanderbilt win over Purdue.

By Don Yates

This is the most important game of the season for Vandy. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if the ‘Dores lose but it’s a winnable game and there are only so many of those on the schedule. The Commodores have to take care of business in West Lafayette if the want to be on a glide path for a bowl game.

Key 1 – Shutdown Rondale Moore

Rondale Moore is a 5-9, 180 wide receiver who caught 11 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown last week at Nevada. He led the Boilermaker receiving corps in receptions in that game. Shut Rondale down and you take out Purdue’s top yardage producer, and you increase Vandy’s chances of leaving West Lafayette with a coveted ‘W’.

Key 2 – Better quarterback production

QB Riley Neal completed 14 of 25 for 85 yards last week against Georgia. That’s just not good enough to give your team a chance to win. Whoever is the starting QB for Vandy on Saturday needs to do much better than 85 yards of passing. Yes, Georgia’s got a great defense but 85 yards can’t happen again. If it’s Neal, and the depth chart for this week states that, it needs to be dramatically better than 85 yards.

Key 3 – Defense pressures Sindelar

Purdue QB Elijah Sindelar passed for 424 yards and four touchdowns last weekend against Nevada. Sindelar completed passes to eight different Boilermaker wide receivers. Make it tough for Sindelar to pass and you likely win this ballgame. NOTE: Please, no stupid late hit penalties that negate great defensive plays.

Bonus Key: Ke’Shawn Vaughn runs wild. Vaughn had a hard time last week against Georgia but fought tooth and nail for every dang yard. He didn’t get 100 yards but he made the Vandy nation proud.

Gameday weather forecast for Saturday per Weather Channel: Partly cloudy, HI 77, Low of 58.

Saturday‘s game kicks off at 11:00 AM CT (12:00 PM ET). Watch on the BTN Network.

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