page_title: 1923 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
section_title: Week 4: Tulane
hierarchical_section_title: 1923 Vanderbilt Commodores football team / Season summary / Week 4: Tulane
caption_attribution_description: English: Lynn Bomar, All American end and tackle for Vanderbilt University, pictured in 1922.
context_page_description: The 1923 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1923 Southern Conference football season. The team's head coach was Dan McGugin, who served his 19th year in that capacity. Members of the Southern Conference, the Commodores played six home games at Dudley Field in Nashville, Tennessee, and finished the season with a record of 5–2–1 overall and 3–0–1 in Southern Conference play, outscoring opponents 137–33.
  Vanderbilt won its conference for the third straight year, tying with Washington & Lee for the Southern Conference championship. Most sportswriters listed the Commodores as the outright winner of the mythical Southern crown, resulting in their receiving the Champ Pickens Trophy as champions of the South. It is to date the last conference title for Vanderbilt football. The team suffered losses to the national champion Michigan Wolverines and the undefeated Texas Longhorns.
  The offense was led by captain and quarterback Doc Kuhn and All-Southern halfback Gil Reese. The defense which averaged 2.33 points per game at home, was anchored by All-Southern ends Lynn Bomar and Hek Wakefield.
context_section_description: The next week saw a match back at Nashville between two teams which had lost to Texas — Vanderbilt and Tulane.   Tulane had lost to Texas on October 13, 33-0.  Vanderbilt beat Tulane 17-0  with scores mostly due to blocked punts.
  Tulane showed considerable optimism going into its road trip with Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Auburn.  Ed Hebert of the Times-Picayune wrote of  underdog Tulane, "Handicapped through the absence of their captain "Little Eva" Talbot, through an injury, the Greenbacks have become more determined to upset the dope kettle and completely bathe the Vandy eleven in a contest that points every way to a victory for the powerful crew that held the Michigan Wolverines to a 3-0 victory recently at Ann Arbor." On having played similar foes in Texas, he went on, "Thus if Vandy can be so outclassed by a club that Tulane has already fought every inch of the way it stands that there is going to be fur-flying in copious quantities when the Commodores and Greenbacks meet Saturday." Tulane had a renowned backfield of Lester Lautenschlaeger, Brother Brown, Ellis Henican, and Peggy Flournoy. The "Greenies" were coached by Clark Shaughnessy.
  Vanderbilt was without its quarterback and captain Doc Kuhn as well as halfback Gil Reese. Reese had hurt his knee, and during the previous week's game against the Texas Longhorns, Kuhn was hit on the head and had still yet to gain his mental composure.  Hek Wakefield was shifted to quarterback.  Red Rountree took Reese's place.
  The first score came on a punt off the toe of Flournoy. Vanderbilt drove all the way to Tulane's 7-yard line before four unsuccessful runs at Tulane's line by Rountree gave the Greenbacks the ball back deep in their territory. On the ensuing punt, Tulane's line was broken by Tom Ryan, Bob Rives, Bo Rowland, and Lynn Bomar. Bomar blocked the kick. In the ensuing scramble, Alf Sharp dove to recover the football in the end zone. The second came when Lynn Bomar helped Vanderbilt run to the 33-yard line, where Wakefield drop kicked a field goal. After this Tulane drove right down to Vanderbilt's 5-yard line when the whistle sounded to end the half.
  In the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt got the ball due to a Tulane fumble.  Bomar ran for many yards, and Vanderbilt was at Tulane's 1-yard line. Four dives at the line from Bomar were all for naught and again Tulane had the ball near its own goal. Bomar again blocked the punt, but Henican recovered and rushed to the 20-yard line before being stopped.  On the next punt, Flournoy fumbled the ball and fell on it at his own 5-yard line. From there Rountree got the score on fourth down.
  Lynn Bomar's play was exemplary.  "Take Bomar out of the Vandy lineup", said Hebert, "and Tulane would have won the game by three touchdowns."  Bob Rives was also given praise, called "No. 1 gallant in the line." Blinkey Horn of the Nashville Tennessean, wrote of the outcome, "Back up the slope the Commodores have started. They did not scale the rim in their 17-0 triumph over Tulane, but they shook from their feet much of the muck which mired them in Texas. They did not reach the splendor of the sunlight,  in harvesting two touchdowns and a field goal out of the fog. Vision of the peak is denied the Commodores but no longer is there so thick a blur over the binoculars."
  Vanderbilt's starting lineup for Tulane: Roland (left end), Rives (left tackle), Kelly (left guard), Sharp (center), Lawrence (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Bomar (right end), Wakefield (quarterback), Meiers (left halfback), Rountree (right halfback), Ryan (fullback).
caption: Lynn Bomar
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