Vanderbilt falls to Wake Forest 34-13

With seemingly every reason to play inspired football after their head coach had lost his job on Senior Day, the Commodores were handled by a squad with the nation’s longest losing streak in the Bowl Subdivision. Wake Forest built a comfortable halftime lead and cruised to a 34-13 win before a sparse crowd on a cold evening at Vanderbilt Stadium. Caldwell, in his first and final season as Bobby Johnson’s replacement, gave his resignation Saturday morning and offered his players a full day to digest the news before they took the field for the season finale. This response wasn’t expected against the Demon Deacons (3-9), which had lost nine in a row but finished with a better record than Vanderbilt (2-10). Vanderbilt had two Richard Kent punts blocked in a game for the second time this month, surrendered 226 rushing yards and suffered consecutive 10-loss seasons for the first time since 2002-03. Commodores senior quarterback Jared Funk threw for 277 yards on 27 of 61 passing in his first career start for an injured Larry Smith, but virtually all of it was playing catch-up. Smith never got on the field. Vanderbilt ran 97 offensive plays to Wake Forest's 57 and outgained the Demon Deacons 443-299. It didn’t matter.Wake Forest opened a 24-6 halftime lead and stretched its advantage to 34-6 in the first minute of the fourth quarter on receiver Chris Givens’ 9-yard touchdown run.