November 20, 2021 Week 12 · Regular Season Belt defended

Ole Miss defends the belt, 31–17, at home over Vanderbilt.

Home · Defending Holder

Ole MissAP No. 10 31

Away · Challenger

Vanderbilt 17

AP poll, week 12: Vanderbilt unranked at Ole Miss No. 10 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Ole Miss came in 7 days into reign #317, which began with a win over Texas A&M, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Ole Miss went on to defend it 1 more time before Baylor took it on January 1, 2022, 49 days after the reign began.

For Vanderbilt this was its 19th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.

It was the 4th of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Ole Miss led the belt series 3–0; all-time Ole Miss leads 4–0. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Ole Miss dominated the first half against Vanderbilt, with Matt Corral orchestrating an efficient passing attack that produced touchdowns to Jerrion Ealy and Dontario Drummond to build a 17-3 halftime lead. Vanderbilt kept pace with field goals from Joseph Bulovas but struggled to consistently move the ball, converting just one third down in the first half. Ole Miss extended their advantage in the fourth quarter with Henry Parrish Jr. punching in a touchdown to reach 31 points, while Vanderbilt's late touchdown to Rocko Griffin proved too little too late. The Rebels' defense stifled Vanderbilt's third-down conversion rate throughout the game despite the Commodores controlling time of possession with their ground game.

Matt Corral's early passing drives, including touchdown passes to Ealy (Q1) and Drummond (Q2), established Ole Miss's early control and set the tone for the defense
Ole Miss's fourth-quarter touchdown by Henry Parrish Jr. extending the lead to 31-10 and essentially clinching the belt defense
Ethan Barr's interception of Mike Wright late in the fourth quarter at the goal line, preventing Vanderbilt from scoring late and ending any comeback hopes

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Ole MissVanderbilt

Total yards470454

Rushing yards139213

Passing yards331241

First downs2325

3rd down conv.1/89/21

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards5–387–39

Time of possession21:0338:57

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 14:30	Ole Miss	+22 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Braylon Sanders for 22 yds to the Vandy 36 for a 1ST down
Q1 14:15	Ole Miss	+21 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dontario Drummond for 21 yds to the Vandy 15 for a 1ST down
Q1 13:53	Ole Miss	+8 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Jerrion Ealy for 8 yds for a TD, (Caden Costa KICK)
Q1 10:18	Ole Miss	+28 yd	Caden Costa 28 yd FG GOOD
Q1 11:35	Ole Miss	+30 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Jahcour Pearson for 30 yds to the Vandy 26 for a 1ST down
Q1 1:08	Vanderbilt	+49 yd	Joseph Bulovas 49 yd FG GOOD
Q1 1:08	Vanderbilt	+26 yd	Pierson Cooke kickoff for 61 yds , Jerrion Ealy return for 26 yds to the OLEMISS 39 OLE MISS Penalty, Offensive Holding (10 Yards) to the Miss 20
Q2 12:51	Ole Miss	+10 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dontario Drummond for 10 yds for a TD, (Caden Costa KICK)
Q2 7:22	Vanderbilt	+33 yd	Joseph Bulovas 33 yd FG GOOD
Q2 9:15	Vanderbilt	+21 yd	Patrick Smith run for 21 yds to the Miss 12 for a 1ST down
Q2 7:22	Vanderbilt	+39 yd	Pierson Cooke kickoff for 62 yds , Jerrion Ealy return for 39 yds to the Miss 42
Q2 6:05	Ole Miss	+27 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dannis Jackson for 27 yds to the Vandy 13 for a 1ST down
Q2 2:56	Vanderbilt	+32 yd	Harrison Smith punt for 42 yds , Dontario Drummond returns for 32 yds to the Vandy 18
Q2 2:15	Ole Miss	+4 yd	Jerrion Ealy run for 4 yds for a TD, (Caden Costa KICK)
Q2 0:00	Vanderbilt	+41 yd	Joseph Bulovas 41 Yd Field Goal
Q2 0:49	Vanderbilt	+22 yd	Mike Wright pass complete to Ben Bresnahan for 22 yds to the Miss 32 for a 1ST down
Q3 6:53	Ole Miss	+50 yd	Mac Brown punt for 50 yds , Cam Johnson returns for a loss of 1 yard to the Vandy 31
Q3 7:45	Ole Miss	-2 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dontario Drummond for a loss of 2 yards Dontario Drummond fumbled, recovered by Miss Casey Kelly
Q3 0:55	Ole Miss	+44 yd	Mac Brown punt for 37 yds, fair catch by Cam Johnson at the OLEMISS 15 VANDERBILT Penalty, Offensive Holding (7 Yards) to the Vandy 8
Q4 14:20	Ole Miss	+7 yd	Snoop Conner run for 7 yds to the Vandy 31 Snoop Conner fumbled, recovered by Miss Snoop Conner
Q4 12:50	Ole Miss	+8 yd	Henry Parrish Jr. run for 8 yds for a TD, (Caden Costa KICK)
Q4 14:40	Ole Miss	+26 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dontario Drummond for 26 yds to the Vandy 38 for a 1ST down
Q4 11:55	Vanderbilt	+20 yd	Mike Wright pass complete to Chris Pierce Jr. for 20 yds to the Vandy 47 for a 1ST down
Q4 7:47	Vanderbilt	+1 yd	Rocko Griffin run for 1 yd for a TD, (Mike Wright pass to Ben Bresnahan for Two-Point Conversion)
Q4 5:14	Ole Miss	+0 yd	Matt Corral pass intercepted Ethan Barr return for no gain to the Vandy 1
Q4 7:30	Ole Miss	+45 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Jahcour Pearson for 45 yds to the Vandy 30 for a 1ST down
Q4 5:01	Vanderbilt	+26 yd	Mike Wright pass complete to Chris Pierce Jr. for 26 yds to the Vandy 27 for a 1ST down
Q4 1:14	Vanderbilt	+0 yd	Mike Wright pass intercepted Deantre Prince return for no gain to the Miss 3
Q4 2:25	Vanderbilt	+20 yd	Mike Wright run for 20 yds to the Vandy 40 for a 1ST down

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Ole Miss

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Matt Corral	28/37	331	8.9	2	1	53.6

Vanderbilt

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Mike Wright	22/44	241	5.5	0	1	57.2

Rushing

Ole Miss

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jerrion Ealy	9	55	6.1	1	17
Snoop Conner	11	47	4.3	0	17
Matt Corral	7	29	4.1	0	19
Henry Parrish Jr.	1	8	8.0	1	8

Vanderbilt

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Rocko Griffin	26	117	4.5	1	14
Mike Wright	13	61	4.7	0	20
Patrick Smith	8	35	4.4	0	21
James Ziglor III	1	2	2.0	0	2
Team	1	-2	-2.0	0	0

Receiving

Ole Miss

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jahcour Pearson	4	101	25.3	0	45
Dontario Drummond	7	79	11.3	1	26
Braylon Sanders	4	57	14.3	0	22
Jerrion Ealy	5	31	6.2	1	14
Dannis Jackson	1	27	27.0	0	27
Snoop Conner	3	18	6.0	0	11
Casey Kelly	1	9	9.0	0	9
Henry Parrish Jr.	2	7	3.5	0	4
Jonathan Mingo	1	2	2.0	0	2

Vanderbilt

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Chris Pierce	10	113	11.3	26
Cam Johnson	4	47	11.8	16
Ben Bresnahan	1	22	22.0	22
Rocko Griffin	2	18	9.0	16
Will Sheppard	2	13	6.5	8
Gavin Schoenwald	1	12	12.0	12
Justin Ball	1	9	9.0	9
Amir Abdur-Rahman	1	7	7.0	7

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Ole Miss

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
A.J. Finley	8	4	0	0	1	0
Chance Campbell	8	3	0	1	0	3
Deantre Prince	7	5	0	0	0	0
Keidron Smith	7	3	0	0	0	0
Mark Robinson	6	3	0	1	0	1
KD Hill	6	1	0	0	0	0
Cedric Johnson	5	3	1	1	0	3
Miles Battle	5	3	0	0	1	0
Deane Leonard	5	3	0	0	0	0
Jake Springer	5	1	0	0	0	3
Otis Reese	5	1	0.5	0.5	0	0
Lakia Henry	5	0	0	0	0	1
Tysheem Johnson	4	1	0	0	0	0
Tylan Knight	3	2	0	0	0	0
Sam Williams	3	1	0	0	0	2
Tavius Robinson	2	1	0.5	1.5	0	0
Isaiah Iton	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jamond Gordon	1	1	0	0	0	0
Mohamed Sanogo	1	0	0	0	0	1
Trey Washington	0	0	0	0	1	0

Vanderbilt

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Anfernee Orji	9	4	0	1	0	1
Ethan Barr	7	3	0	0	0	0
Gabe Jeudy	6	5	0	0	0	0
Michael Owusu	5	2	0	1	0	0
Brendon Harris	4	2	0	0	0	0
Dashaun Jerkins	4	2	0	0.5	0	0
De'Rickey Wright	4	2	0	0.5	1	0
Jaylen Mahoney	4	2	0	0	0	0
Christian James	4	0	0	0	0	0
Max Worship	3	2	0	0	0	0
Malik Langham	3	1	0	0	0	0
Chase Lloyd	3	0	0	0	0	0
Brayden DeVault-Smith	2	2	1	1	0	0
Tyson Russell	2	2	0	0	0	0
Raashaan Wilkins	2	1	0	0	0	0
Lorenza Surgers	2	0	0	0	0	0
Camden Coleman	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jack Barton	1	1	0	0	0	0
Allan George	1	0	0	0	1	0
Nate Clifton	1	0	0	0	0	0
Michael Spencer	1	0	0	0	0	0
Devin Lee	1	0	0	0	0	0
Elijah McAllister	0	0	0	0	0	1

Fumbles

Ole Miss

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Dontario Drummond	1	0	0
Snoop Conner	1	0	0

Vanderbilt

No recorded stats in this category.

Interceptions

Ole Miss

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Deantre Prince	1	0	0

Vanderbilt

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Ethan Barr	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jerrion Ealy	2	65	32.5	39	0

Vanderbilt

No recorded stats in this category.

Kicking

Ole Miss

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caden Costa	1/1	100.0	28	4/4	7

Vanderbilt

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Joseph Bulovas	3/3	100.0	49	0/0	9

Punt Returns

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Dontario Drummond	1	32	32.0	32	0

Vanderbilt

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Cam Johnson	1	-1	-1.0	-1	0

Punting

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Mac Brown	4	169	42.3	1	1	51

Vanderbilt

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Harrison Smith	5	221	44.2	0	1	51

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401282139) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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