Vanderbilt Commodores Defeat Auburn Tigers in Slugfest To Become Bowl Eligible
The Vanderbilt Commodores went into Jordan Hare Stadium on Saturday with hopes of beating the Auburn Tigers to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018.
After a grueling day of offense, the Commodores were able to walk away with their goal in hand with a 17-7 victory.
All eyes were on Diego Pavia in this one after he and a large portion of the Vanderbilt offensive coaching staff went into Jordan Hare last year as members of the New Mexico State Aggies and walked out with a victory.
Pavia and the Commodores offense opened up the game's scoring in the closing moments of the first quarter as he connected with A.J. Newberry for a 28-yard touchdown.
Vanderbilt showed no interest in getting the run game established early, rather opting to air it out. The first five passes that Pavia completed all went to different targets and four of them went for over 15 yards.
That's when the Commodores offense hit a brick was Pavia didn't complete another pass until the fourth quarter.
He finished the game just 9-for-22 with 143 yards and two touchdowns.
The run game didn't answer the call when they fell apart through the air, which meant that the game quickly became boring for anyone who wanted to see points on the board.
Luckily for Vanderbilt, however, the Tigers also failed to cash in on the other side of the ball.
On paper, Auburn should have probably run away with this one. Heading into the final quarter, they had out-gained the Commodores by 100 yards and won the time of possession game, but failures in crucial moments kept this one close.
Khordae Sydnor kept his momentum alive from last week's breakout performance against the Texas Longhorns.
Sydnor picked up his fourth sack of the season as well as a broken pass. He finished the game with three tackles, also looking good in run defense.
Randon Fontenette was a big factor in the second half, coming up with three tackles and 2.5 tackles during crucial moments in the game.
Special teams ended up being a major factor this one after an Auburn leaping infraction turned a Vanderbilt field goal that made it a six-point game into a touchdown that made it a two-possession game.
A missed field goal on the next Tigers possession wrapped this one up as a win for the Commodores.
Now, Vanderbiltcan celebrate making their first bowl game since 2018 and search to close out the SEC season with some positive momentum.
Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders