For the first time since 2003, Auburn left a trip to Vanderbilt with a win. The Tigers (5-4, 2-4 SEC) earned a 31-15 win over the Commodores (2-8, 0-6 SEC) to win their first SEC road game in over two calendar years — since beating Arkansas in 2021.
“It has been a long time since Auburn played well up here,” said head coach Hugh Freeze. “I’m thrilled to win a second consecutive SEC game, particularly on the road and get us one step closer to being bowl eligible.”
The day started off with promise for the Auburn offense, the Tigers scored on explosive runs by Jarquez Hunter in two of their first three drives — a 67-yarder on the game’s second play and a 56-yard run in the third drive.
“Yeah, I knew I was gone,” Hunter said. “I mean, it's just a smile on my face. It warms my heart up just to see open grass. “
With his two big runs, Hunter rushed for 121 yards in the first quarter, the most first-quarter yards by an Auburn running back in 11 years — since Tre Mason had 141 first-half yards against Alabama A&M in 2012.
Hunter tallied a career-high 183 yards on 19 carries. His previous best was a 147-yard performance against Alabama State in 2021.
“You've just got to have patience and wait for the hole to develop, and the O-line did a great job of making holes,” Hunter said. “I was more patient this week and hit a long run.”
Though the Auburn offense had periods of struggle in the game, explosive plays defined the offense when it had success. Auburn had four passes of 15 yards or more and four rushes of 10 or more yards.
Vanderbilt scored once in the first half, on a 5-yard pick six thrown by Thorne, but Auburn responded with a field goal right before the break to make it 17-7 going to the half.
The field goal improved Alex McPherson to 9-for-9 this season, with the kicker now successfully converting 15 straight field goals.
The second half started much like the first, as the Tigers scored on their first two drives, building a 31-7 lead with 9:44 to go in the third quarter. The Tigers’ biggest pass play came in the quarter’s opening drive, as Payton Thorne found Rivaldo Fairweather for a 53-yard score.
The Tigers scored on their next drive, then gained just a combined 55 yards in their final four drives.
It was feast or famine for Auburn in the passing game. The Tigers threw for 194 yards and had four explosive pass plays. Auburn’s receivers, however, had five drops, accounting for half of Thorne’s incompletions, and Thorne himself threw an interception out of his own end zone, directly resulting in a Vanderbilt touchdown.
Auburn was called for five penalties and was charged 60 yards. One penalty, however, negated a muffed punt that Auburn recovered and the other caused a touchdown to be called back.
“Truthfully, I really believe without the penalties and the drops the game is out of hand,” Freeze said. “Sometimes you have those, but I felt like there were at least two touchdowns on dropped balls and other simple ones that get us on schedule where we can operate in the manner we want to operate in.”
Though the offense was up-and-down, the defense remained consistent against a struggling Commodore offense. The Tigers held their hosts to 266 yards and 12 first downs. Of the Commodores’ 266 yards, 117 came in the fourth quarter and 148 came after Auburn built its 24-point lead.
The Commodores did not convert a third down until the fourth quarter and finished 2-for-14 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down.
“It felt like we were really good on third down until the second half,” Freeze said. “We gave up a couple of third and long ones, but until that point I thought we were really solid. We only gave up one score.”
The Auburn defense gave up a score just once — a 5-yard touchdown following a seven-play, 64-yard drive with 2:43 to play in the third quarter.
Leading the Auburn defense was D.J. James, who had a career-high seven tackles and broke up two passes.
The Tigers are now just one win away from qualifying for a bowl game, something that is important to the Tigers after missing the postseason last year.
“It would mean a lot. Everybody's working toward it, everybody wants it -- and you can see it,” James said. “From an offensive and defensive standpoint, everybody wants it. Everybody just contributed and did their 1/11th in helping the team out.”
The game was played in front of 28,500 fans at Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium — a sellout for the stadium undergoing construction. In the stands, however, the most prevalent colors were not the black and gold of the home team, but Auburn’s orange and blue.
“I just think our fans are incredible,” Freeze said. “When we got off the bus for Tiger Walk, it was packed. Then you run out and you see… I literally thought the stands behind us was pretty much all Auburn. And then there was quite a few orange on the other side…it did not feel like we were in a typical road game.”
Next up, the Tigers will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in the final road game of the season. Kickoff will be at 3 p.m. CST and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
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Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
