NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee States high-scoring offense will run into one of college footballs best linebackers Saturday night.Vanderbilts Zach Cunningham leads the Southeastern Conference with 81 tackles and 13 tackles for loss and ranks in the top five nationally. Now the 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior will try to disrupt a Tigers offense ranked 16th in the Football Championship Series scoring 36.3 points per game.Cunningham was named the national defensive player of the week by two organizations and the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the week honors for his career performance last week. Cunningham had a career-high 19 tackles, including a game-saving stop, in last weeks 17-16 upset at Georgia.That last tackle was Cunninghams best coming on fourth-and-1 to preserve Vanderbilt coach Derek Masons first SEC road victory in his third season. Its the kind of play Mason has come to expect out of Cunningham, especially against Georgia. Mason remembers how Cunningham tackled Todd Gurley, now with the NFLs Los Angeles Rams, three times when the linebacker was a freshman.Theres still guys in the NFL still trying to tackle Gurley, and they still cant get it done, Mason said. I knew then that he had the potential to be a special player.Vanderbilt (3-4) hasnt won consecutive games this season, but Mason hopes his Commodores pick up momentum from their win at Georgia.That was a snowflake, and were trying to turn it into a snowball, Mason said. Were trying to make sure we push this thing in the right direction. We felt going in we could win. Nobody else probably had that idea, but we did.TSU coach Rod Reed is hoping Vanderbilt will overlook the Tigers (5-1).Im just hoping theyre still partying and celebrating after that win because when you watch them on tape they are extremely stingy on defense, said Reed, whose team is ranked 25th in the FCS. Its going to be a tall task for us.---Here are some other things to watch for Saturday night when Vanderbilt hosts Tennessee State:CUNNINGHAMS FUTURE: Cunningham already is showing up on NFL draft projections as a first-round pick if he leaves Vanderbilt after his junior season. Cunningham said he really tries to tune out that speculation so he can focus on helping the Commodores. Obviously, thats something Im thinking about, but its not my main focus, Cunningham said.DANGEROUS RETURN MAN: Darrius Sims needs 44 yards to set Vanderbilts career record for kick returns. The senior was named SEC special teams player of the week after returning the opening kickoff 95 yards setting up the Commodores first touchdown against Georgia. Whoever didnt see that hole is blind, Sims said. Four of Sims former high school teammates play for TSU: wide receiver Patrick Smith, offensive linemen Thomas Burton and Igor Misigaro and defensive tackle Michael Perry III.PICKOFF ARTISTS: Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur played a turnover-free game against Georgia but must be wary of TSU cornerback Ezra Robinson, who already has four interceptions. The senior transfer from Michigan State picked off two passes, one he returned 93 yards for a TD in last weeks 35-28 win over Eastern Kentucky. Tigers defensive back Terrell Bonds has three interceptions.MORE GAMES? Vanderbilt is less than 5 miles from TSU, but this is only the second game between the Nashville schools with Vandy winning 38-9 in 2006. Rods a good friend and I do believe it does make sense every, maybe, five or 10 years to play this ballgame, Mason said.RUSHING RECORD: Vanderbilt running back Ralph Webb is 355 rushing yards away from breaking Zac Stacys career school record. 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Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. LAS VEGAS -- Maryland trailed for much of the game, grew frustrated by its miscues and needed to make key plays down the stretch under pressure.Just what the No. 6 Terrapins were craving.Brionna Jones had 20 points and a career-high 20 rebounds and Maryland pulled away late to beat Washington State 79-69 on Saturday.Maryland (6-0) entered having won each game by at least 32 points. The Terrapins largest deficit was 2-0 and it had trailed for less than 2 minutes total in five games.This team is really, really competitive, so I think theyd much rather play in games like this where youre tested to be able to see how to work through a game, coach Brenda Frese said. We really enjoyed it.The Cougars led by six in the first half and for much of the third quarter. With game tied at 61, Jones hit two free throws and Destiny Slocum added a 3-pointer and two free throws in a 10-2 run to put Maryland ahead 71-63 with 1:39 left at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout.I think this just shows how hard we have to compete going forward, Jones said.The senior centers offensive rebounds helped keep her teammates in it in the first half. She delivered clutch plays down the stretch as her teammates found a rhythm.She was huge, Frese said. We knew we were going to be able to go inside, but her presence, they had no answer for her on both ends of the floor.Kaila Charles scored 19 points, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 15 and Slocum 11 for Maryland in its final tuneup before its showdown at No. 4 Louisville on Thursday.Borislava Hristova scored 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting for Washington State (4-2). The Cougars were 7 of 21 from the foul line.Im really proud of our team. I thought we had a good tournament here, Washington State coach June Daugherty said. We played very well the other night against Nebraska and I thought for about three and a half quarters, we played pretty well against the No. (6) team in the couuntry.ddddddddddddBIG PICTUREMaryland: Winning games by 56, 45 and 64 points before routing No. 23 Arizona State by 41 Friday may have led to a lack of intensity. There were plenty of missed layups and poor passes allowing the Cougars to gain confidence in a physical game.Washington State: The Cougars, picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12, have plenty of contributors. For the sixth straight game, 12 players saw action. Daugherty, in her 10th season, had her players diving for loose balls and drawing charges in an inspired performance.POLL IMPLICATIONS:Maryland could move up a spot by jumping over the loser of Sundays game between No. 3 South Carolina and No. 4 Louisville. Thursdays matchup with the Cardinals in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge figures to be the top game of the week.JONES DOMINANCEJones said she maybe had a 20-20 game in high school, but not recently. Her previous career high was 19 rebounds.HRISTOVA SHINESHristova, the Pac-12s second-leading freshman scorer last season, was held to nine points against Nebraska and previously suffered through 4-of-13 and 5-of-14 shooting games.She has not been happy with her play on both ends of the floor, Daugherty said. To her credit, she just relaxed a little bit and let the game come to her for a while. Then she got some confidence and she tried to take over the game, which is great to see.FREE THROW WOESDaugherty looked at the stats sheet and the 14 missed free throws and declared, Thats ballgame.Caila Hailey went 2 for 8 from the line.UP NEXTThursday will be Marylands first trip to Louisville since beating the Cardinals to advance to the 2014 Final Four.Washington State returns home to face San Diego on Friday, its fourth West Coast Conference opponent of the season. The Pac-12 opener is Dec. 27 at No. 15 Washington. ' ' '