Gritty Vanderbilt (6-3, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) used special teams, third-down defense and late-game clock control to get a 17-7 road upset of Auburn (3-6, 1-5) on Saturday afternoon and become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018.
It’s the Commodores’ first win at Jordan-Hare Stadium ever, and its first road win over Auburn since 1948, snapping a string of nine-straight road losses in the series.
Vanderbilt didn’t complete a pass in the second or third quarter and had a long rushing play of seven yards.
But Commodore quarterback Diego Pavia (9-of-22, 143 yards, 12 carries, 26 yards) sucked the life out of the Tigers at the end, engineering a game-clinching drive that took 8:53 off the clock and ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Eli Stowers with 4:18 left.
Vanderbilt punter Jesse Mirco had eight punts for a 52.9-yard average and had a big hand in handing Auburn poor field position.
The Commodores held Auburn to 2-of-13 on third downs.
With the game tied at 7 in the third quarter, Mirco hit a 44-yard punt that was downed at the Auburn 2. The Tigers failed to move it past the one after their ninth-straight failed third-down conversion.
Auburn punter Oscar Chapman smacked a 59-yard rocket in return, but Vanderbilt’s Martel Hight returned it 39 yards to the Tiger 21, setting up Taylor’s 31-yard field goal from the left hash with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter.
Taylor added a 26-yard field goal with 5:18 left, but Auburn’s Keldric Faulk was whistled for a personal foul for gaining illegal leverage in trying to block the kick.
Exactly a minute later, Pavia hit Stowers in the flat and he banged his way into the end zone from 4 yards out, culminating a 14-play, 78-yard drive.
Auburn’s hopes were effectively snuffed out when Towns McGough pushed a 52-yard field goal to the right, his second miss of the day.
Auburn got an ideal first-half game script, holding Vanderbilt to 29 rushing yards while out-gaining the Commodores, 214-132 and minimizing mistakes (two penalties, no turnovers).
But the Tigers went to halftime tied at 7 due to going 0-for-7 on third downs, allowing three sacks and a fantastic performance from Mirco (five punts, 54.8 yards in the first half).
Vanderbilt struck first when running back AJ Newberry got open on the right sideline behind an Auburn defender and Pavia hit him in stride for a 28-yard score.
Auburn finally strung a drive together midway through the second quarter. On a fourth-and-2 from the Auburn 49, Thorne hit Malcom Simmons with a short throw near the sticks that Simmons ran to the Commodore 30.
A play later, Thorne hit Rivaldo Fairweather down the right side, with Fairweather weaving through defenders, breaking tackles and stretching to touch the pylon with the football for a touchdown that tied the game.
