NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt overcame two early red-zone disappointments and bottled up a high-scoring Nevada offense, winning a critical early-season nonconference game 41-10 Saturday with a dominant second-half performance.

Carrying on from last week's opener against Middle Tennessee, the Commodores (2-0) were rock-solid defensively from the start, holding the Wolf Pack to 124 yards in the first half and 250 overall, a week after coach Jay Norvell's team scored 72 points on 636 yards against Portland State.

But Vanderbilt's failure to score on two promising drives into the red zone to start the game allowed the visitors from the Mountain West Conference to keep things close, tightening the score to 17-10 on a 9-yard Ty Gangi pass to Brendan O'Leary-Orange in the final minute of the first half.

Nevada (1-1) never closed the gap, though, going three-and-out to start the third quarter. Vanderbilt responded with an impressive 11-play, 77-yard drive, draining 6:17 off the clock, ending with a 25-yard Ryley Guay field goal.

In contrast to the game's start, Vanderbilt scored on three straight drives to open the second half with a 46-yard dash from the speedy Ke'Shawn Vaughn and Kalija Lipscomb's second touchdown catch of the day from Kyle Shurmur following Guay's kick, stretching a one-touchdown lead to a 24-point margin.

Shurmur finished 23 for 32 for 258 yards passing with no interceptions for the second straight week. Senior linebacker Josh Smith finished with 10 tackles, three for loss, in a standout defensive performance for Vanderbilt.

Postgame notes – Vanderbilt
-The two teams played to a 0-0 tie after one quarter of play. It was the first scoreless opening quarter between both teams since Nevada played at San Jose State in November of 2016.
-Senior PK Ramiz Ahmed is now 2-for-2 on the year in FG attempts, making a 32-yarder in the second quarter of today's game.
-The Wolf Pack defense forced two fumbles during the game, one by junior DT Hausia Sekona (first career) and the other by senior LB Malik Reed (eighth career). The fumbles were recovered by Dom Peterson (first career) and Justin Brent (first career).
-Junior P Quinton Conaway hit a 57-yard punt in the third quarter, a career long.
-True freshman WR Romeo Doubs made his first career reception in the fourth quarter, a 20-yard catch from Ty Gangi. Doubs finished the game with two catches for 25 yards.
-Nevada had nine players make at least one reception on the day, a season high.
-Redshirt freshman DT Dom Peterson registered his first career sack in the fourth quarter.
-With three tackles on the day, senior DB Asauni Rufus passed John Ramatici for 10^th all-time at Nevada.
-Junior WR Brendan O'Leary-Orange's first reception of the season was a 9-yard TD catch that brought Nevada within seven of Vanderbilt just before halftime.
-Senior TE Trae Carter-Wells made a 13-yard reception in the first quarter, his second career catch and a career long.
-Senior DB Dameon Baber led the Nevada defense with eight tackles and made his first start of the season.
-Nevada went just 4-of-14 on third down but also held Vanderbilt to 4-of-12 of third down.
-Junior DE Adam Lopez made his first career Division I start.
-Nevada was held scoreless in the second half. The last time the Pack was held scoreless in a half was at Washington State Sept. 23, 2017 in the first half.
-The all-time series between Nevada and Vanderbilt is now 1-0 in favor of Vanderbilt. The Wolf Pack is 0-5 all-time against current members of the SEC.