FAYETTEVILLE — In the battle of the beatens, the visitors proved to be the best of the SEC bottom feeders on Saturday.
Ke’Shawn Vaughn rushed for 172 yards, Kyle Shurmur was 13-of-19 for 192 yards and tight end Jared Pinkney caught both of his touchdown passes as Vanderbilt rolled over Arkansas 45-31 before 41,800 fans at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The Commodores (4-5, 1-4) ended a four-game losing streak, moved out of the Eastern Division basement at least for the afternoon - depending on the Missouri-Kentucky game - and kept alive hopes for a bowl bid.
The Razorbacks (2-7, 0-5) remain in the SEC Western Division cellar with the loss, which ended their slim hopes for a bowl appearance under first-year head coach Chad Morris.
“First of all, I would like to say shout to Coach Morris and Chief (Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis) - they are class acts,” Mason said. “Those coaches and that coaching staff are class acts. Their team competed hard.
“I am proud of my team. I thought our effort today was exactly what we needed. At times, moving the football was extremely good. I thought our offense did a great job of focusing and taking the ball down and putting it in the end zone when we needed to. That’s a great sign for us.
“I challenged this football team to be about challenging themselves. Whatever doesn’t challenge you doesn’t change you. The challenge of this ballgame at times helped this team grow up.”
While Arkansas outgained Vanderbilt in total offense 447-442, the Commodores took advantage of two turnovers and turned them to points to essentially provide the winning margin.
“…I thought our three-headed monster - so to speak - of Ke’Shawn Vaughn, (wide receiver) Kalija Lipscomb (4 catches, 44 yards) and Jared Pinkney did exactly what they were supposed to do. I thought they played well. I thought they played hard.
“Kudos to the offensive line. I thought they played extremely hard. Defense came up with timely turnovers. The offense didn’t give the ball away, defense took the ball away and really when you look at the ballgame that was the difference in the ballgame.”
Vanderbilt, scoring its most points in an SEC road game since 1971, took advantage of an aggressive Arkansas defense by tossing out screens to its running backs and tight ends.
“When you try to bring the house to get sacks, you can leave yourself vulnerable to the screen game,” Mason said. “That being said, that was just part of it. We knew that they were going to come. They came with Animal, Cross, Dog on the first one they got the sack on.
“Obviously when you bring the house like that, you leave yourself open or vulnerable to opportunities in the screen game. Again, that is the gamble you take - the sort of high-risk, high-reward stakes that are at risk when you are doing it.
“Being a defensive coordinator - or having been a defensive coordinator (at Stanford) - I understand that as well so I am trying to get our guys that we are not all gas, all brake all the time. Because when you do that, you put yourself in harm’s way.”
Mason credited Vanderbilt offense coordinator Andy Ludwig with a gameplan that spread the ball around.
“These tools have been available all season,” Mason said. “It is just at some times that we can be slightly predictable. So with that being said, let’s change the game a little bit. Let’s add a little spice to the life. I thought they did that.
“Kudos to Andy and the offensive staff. They came up with a game plan that gave us a great chance to move it around to several people while understanding who we want to get the ball to.”
But Mason mostly wanted to credit his players with the win.
“Our football players won this football game,” Mason said. “It wasn’t about what the coaches called. The coaches always call solid stuff. But at the of the day, the kids executed and really carried the day.”
Shurmur, the son of New York Giants head coach Pat Shumar, was the trigger man for an offense that rushed for 250 yards and passed for 192 more.
“I challenged Kyle (Shurmur) today,” Mason said. “I got at him and I challenged him and he responded. That is what it was about. These guys were tough minded, but in tough times you have to take it a little deeper.
“The production of this offense has to flow through Kyle. He calls the plays and he is the one managing the game. With that being said, I thought he did a good job of managing the game today. We ran the football like we needed to and that is a strong formula around here at Vanderbilt when you go back and look at Vanderbilt’s history.
“You can do that and take some play-action shots and keep people off you with the screen game, man, it gives you a chance for success.”
Shurmur was pleased with the balanced offense.
“I think, as an offense, everything is cohesive and works out with each other,” Shurmur said. “If you’re running the ball well, it sets up the play action. When you drop back to pass, it really gets those pass rushers going fast to where you can throw screens, so everything is really cohesive when you’re really running the ball. I think we really did a good job.”
The 172 yards rushing on 26 carries were Vanderbilt career highs for Vaughn, a Nashville native and Illinois transfer who raced 63 yards for a score on his team’s opening series.
“I just take advantage of when I get the ball,” Vaughn said. “Over my college career, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve grown a lot, I’ve matured a lot. I know I’ve gotta control what I can control. Whenever I get the ball, I’ve gotta make a play.”