The Auburn Tigers will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday to take on No. 16 Vanderbilt at FirstBank Stadium.
And things will look a bit different for the Tigers on the sidelines this week.
Saturday will mark the first game without Hugh Freeze crewing the operation since 2023. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin is set to take over for the remainder of the season.
Auburn sits at 4-5 overall with just one win coming in SEC play. The Tigers are coming off a brutal 10-3 loss to Kentucky at home.
Vanderbilt, led by fifth-year head coach Clark Lea, is 7-2 overall with its only losses coming in conference play. The Commodores are returning home after a 34-31 loss to Texas last week. They scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, but came up short in the final minutes after they failed to corral an onside kick attempt in the final minutes.
Here is a look at the Tigers’ Week 11 opponent:
Not your Vandy of old
Auburn will undoubtedly have its hands full on Saturday when it takes the field against a ranked Vanderbilt squad for the first time since 2008.
Vanderbilt boasts of the nation’s most explosive offenses, averaging 37.6 points per game (13th nationally while averaging 432.4 yards per game.
Defensively, the Commodores are giving up 334.3 yards per game. They give up just over 100 yards per game on the ground and are 12th in the SEC in pass defense, relinquishing 232.7 yards per game.
Photo By Austin Perryman
Offensive players to know
QB Diego Pavia
Auburn fans are all too familiar with Vanderbilt’s star quarterback.
Pavia boasts an undefeated record against the Tigers in two games, dating back to the 2023 season when he led New Mexico State to a 31-10 win over Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Pavia has put up astounding numbers in his second season in the Music City. He is coming off a career-high 365-yard performance through the air in the Commodores’ loss to Texas. He added 43 rushing yards – with a season-long touchdown run of 25 yards – to tally 408 yards of total offense. That is the highest mark by a Commodore since 2015 and the most against an SEC foe since 2006.
All of this came against Texas, whose defense boasts the No. 2 scoring defense in the league and sixth-best total defense.
For the season, Pavia has thrown for 2,063 yards while completing 69% of his passes. He also leads the team in rushing with 501 yards and six scores on the ground. He is 10th nationally with an 82.8 quarterback rating.
TE Eli Stowers
Stowers, who was at New Mexico State when it took down the Tigers in 2023, is in his second year with the Comodores and leads the team with 531 receiving yards.
An All-SEC First Team selection in 2024, Stowers is coming off a career-high performance against Texas. He hauled in 146 yards through the air, marking the fourth-most yards receiving for a tight end in the FBS this season and the most by a Vanderbilt tight end since 1996.
He is a vital part of the Comodores’ offensive game plan, as Pavia’s favorite target, and could certainly give Auburn some problems, much like Baylor tight end Michael Trigg did in the season opener.
Defensive players to know
S CJ Heard
Heard, a transfer from Florida Atlantic, where he led the Owls with 82 total tackles, is continuing his tear this season.
The sophomore safety leads the Comodores with 47 tackles, notching one sack and one interception on the season.
LB Byran Longwell
Longwell started all 13 games for Vanderbilt a season ago and notched a team-high 89 tackles.
This season, he’s tallied 46 tackles and one interception. He notched 13 tackles two weeks ago against Missouri, marking a career high.
Game overview
Spirits are high on the Plains with Durkin leading the Tigers for the final three weeks of the season. But first on the list is a feisty Vanderbilt squad, looking to keep its College Football Playoff aspirations alive with three wins of its own to close out the season.
Durkin noted on Monday that he will continue to call plays defensively. Can Auburn continue its historical tear on that end with Durkin wearing two hats – and against one of the better offenses in the SEC?
On the flip side, Saturday will mark the first time, at least this season, that offensive coordinator Derrick Nix will call plays on every down. Durkin said the Tigers would evaluate the quarterback room and weigh all their options heading into Saturday. Auburn desperately needs to pair a strong offensive outing with its strong defense. Will it happen on Saturday?
No one knows until the lights come on. Auburn certainly has a lot of questions to answer on Saturday, but there’s no doubt that Auburn believes it can take the fight to Vanderbilt under Durkin’s leadership.
Kick off is set for 3 p.m. CT on SECN.
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