Blaze Berlowitz produced four of Vanderbilt's seven explosive plays

Vanderbilt tops Austin Peay, 28-9 at FirstBank Stadium. Vanderbilt was the steadier side of a 19-point win. Blaze Berlowitz threw for 149 yards on 16 attempts and ran 11 times for 45 yards and one score.

Vanderbilt lived in the backfield

Vanderbilt sacked Austin Peay's quarterback 5 times: Issa Ouattara (2 sacks), Nick Rinaldi (0.5 sacks) and Brian Allen Jr. (1 sack). Vanderbilt converted 4 of 12 third downs (33%) to Austin Peay's 10%, led by Blaze Berlowitz (2/6). That's what carried Vanderbilt.

Who carried it

Blaze Berlowitz threw for 149 yards on 16 attempts and ran 11 times for 45 yards and one score, including that score from inside the 20, two third-down conversions and a hand in four plays of 15 yards or more. Sedrick Alexander ran 10 times for 60 yards and one score, with that score from inside the 20. Jared Curtis threw for 60 yards on nine attempts and ran three times for 22 yards. For Austin Peay, Denver Harper caught one pass for 24 yards for a touchdown. Marvin Sims caught six passes for 55 yards. Chris Parson threw for 116 yards on 21 attempts with one touchdown and lost 19 yards on nine carries. Issa Ouattara was the disruptive one for Vanderbilt: 2 sacks, 2 TFLs, 1 blocked kick, 3 tackles.

Where it swung

Strip it back and a few snaps did the work. Blaze Berlowitz's 13-yard run on 3rd-and-6 at Q2 09:06. Then Sedrick Alexander's 18-yard run for a touchdown on 4th-and-1 at Q3 05:24. Later, Makhilyn Young's 2-yard run that came up short on 4th-and-1 at Q4 08:07.

The way it played out

Vanderbilt struck first through Brock Taylor, led 15-9 at the half and Vanderbilt got the final points on a late touchdown by Brock Taylor.

The takeaway

A solid, earned win for Vanderbilt; Austin Peay is left to clean up the details that cost it.