Blaze Berlowitz booed after fumble, blocked punt give Delaware lead vs Vanderbilt football

Vanderbilt football seemed to have control of its Sept. 12 contest against Delaware , leading by 11 late in the second quarter, but things quickly turned.

After several drives led by 5-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis, including two touchdown drives, the Commodores opted to take a successful field goal off the board and attempt a 4th-and-2. Curtis' pass was complete but short of the sticks, and Delaware (1-0) scored a touchdown on the subsequent drive.

After that touchdown, Vanderbilt (1-0) switched quarterbacks, going back to Blaze Berlowitz , who had run the first two drives of the game. Berlowitz drove the Commodores to midfield, but he attempted to hurdle a defender on a run play and fumbled, recovered by the Blue Hens.

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Vanderbilt got the ball back after forcing a Delaware punt, but the Commodores stuck with Berlowitz on the next drive and he threw two incomplete passes then rushed for one yard, going three-and-out. Boos rang out for the first time from the crowd at FirstBank Stadium.

Things went from bad to worse when Tyler Ebel's punt was blocked and recovered by the Blue Hens for a touchdown with 17 seconds to go until half. Cheers of "Let's go Hens" rang out from a sizeable portion of Delaware fans in the stands.

Boos continued when Berlowitz came out to take a knee on the final play before half.

The Blue Hens took a 17-14 lead into halftime.

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson .