Auburn gets Vanderbilt on Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium, and the Tigers are carrying plenty of pressure into the SEC matchup after falling 44-39 to Florida in their conference opener. Auburn is 2-1 overall, still searching for its first SEC home win since Nov. 2024, and it has dropped the last two meetings with the Commodores.
The game kicks off at 3:15 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.
Vanderbilt arrives in Auburn at 3-0, but the Commodores had to survive a wild one last week to keep that record intact. NC State pushed them to the brink before Vanderbilt escaped with a 35-31 win, sealing it on a defensive touchdown with one second left.
The spotlight this week also lands on Vanderbilt’s new quarterback, Jared Curtis. With Diego Pavia’s two-year Cinderella run at Vanderbilt over, the Commodores turned to their highest rated quarterback recruit in program history. Curtis, a 5-star prospect and the 2025 Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year, threw for 36 touchdowns and completed 65.9 percent of his passes as a senior while leading Nashville Christian School to a state title.
Curtis has already gotten his feet wet at the college level. He made his debut in Vanderbilt’s opener against Austin Peay, finishing 7-of-9 for 60 passing yards and adding 22 rushing yards.
He followed that with a much bigger outing against NC State, throwing for 277 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Saturday will be his first SEC start.
Vanderbilt also brings back a pair of offensive captains who know what this matchup looks like. Wide receiver Junior Sherrill and running back Sedrick Alexander both have experience against Auburn, and both have production to match.
Sherrill scored in back-to-back games against Auburn and Kentucky during the 2025 season, and he now sits 10th in Vanderbilt history with 15 career touchdown catches. Alexander had a big day in last year’s win over Auburn, rushing 10 times for 39 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the 2025 season with 15 total touchdowns, and his receiving score last week against NC State moved him to 29 career touchdowns at Vanderbilt.
The finish against NC State was as chaotic as it gets. Vanderbilt led 31-28 late in regulation, and NC State chose to run a play on fourth-and-7 with the idea that quarterback CJ Bailey would go down in the end zone for an intentional safety as time expired. Instead, Bailey was hit as the pocket collapsed near his own 4-yard line, Miles Capers forced a fumble, and Cayden Daniels returned it for a touchdown with one second remaining.
That finish helped Vanderbilt move to 3-0 and gave the Commodores their second straight 3-0 start, something the program had not done since the 1946 and 1947 seasons.
In Other News...
Auburns Florida Loss Just Reignited A Bigger Debate Over John Cohen
Auburns loss to Florida did more than deepen the frustration around another SEC setback. It also pulled John Cohen back into the center of the conversation about where the program is headed, with Paul Finebaum pointing directly at the athletic director and tying the defeat to Auburns broader football troubles. The backdrop is familiar by now: since Cohen arrived in October 2022, the Tigers have been trying to climb out of a rough stretch, and the results have not matched the expectations that come with the job.
What makes the latest round of criticism sting is how close Auburn reportedly came to landing Jon Sumrall in December, before the deal fell apart amid a swirl of rumors. For fans already looking at the Tigers 6-19 mark in SEC play and 18-21 overall under Cohens watch, that near-miss has become more than just a footnote. It has turned into part of the larger debate over whether Auburns biggest problem is on the field, or in the decisions being made above it. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Florida Loss Looks Worse Once You See What Broke Down
Auburns loss to Florida was bad enough on the scoreboard, but the deeper look makes it sting even more. The Tigers scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and still came up short in a 44-39 game, a reminder that the late rally could not erase how much ground they lost earlier with the defense unable to get stops and the offense forced to fight through pressure all day.
The numbers behind the performance point to a breakdown on both sides of the ball. Auburn missed 24 tackles, and the offense had trouble finding rhythm when the passing game was under duress and the rushing attack could not consistently move the chains. The snap counts and Pro Football Focus grades only sharpen the picture, and they leave plenty for Auburn to sort through as it tries to turn a frustrating loss into something more usable going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Has A Defensive Problem Golesh Did Not See Coming
Auburns SEC opener against Florida left the Tigers searching for answers on a side of the ball that has usually been a point of pride. Instead, Alex Golesh said he did not see the emotional, unsettled defensive performance coming, as Florida rolled up 44 points and 495 yards in a game that exposed issues Auburn rarely wants to carry into conference play.
DJ Durkin said the defense was too amped up, and it showed in the basics, from missed tackles to shaky communication. Auburn now has to reset quickly before Vanderbilt comes to town, because the next SEC matchup is less about explaining what went wrong in Gainesville and more about proving the problems can be cleaned up fast. [Read more 🡒]