Vanderbilt’s unbeaten start is gone after a 21-15 loss at Auburn on Saturday, but the Commodores did manage to make things uncomfortable down the stretch. After going into halftime down 14-3, Vanderbilt outscored the Tigers 12-7 in the second half.
There was better news on the hardwood. Vanderbilt opened its men’s basketball exhibition schedule with a 78-71 win over Virginia in an outdoor exhibition in Charleston, South Carolina. Mark Byington’s team still has two more exhibition dates left, facing Miami in Coral Gables and UAB in Nashville, before tipping off the season Monday, Nov. 2 against Bellarmine at Memorial Gymnasium.
In the pros, Adam Butler kept making life difficult for quarterbacks for the Las Vegas Raiders. In a 35-27 Week 3 win over the New Orleans Saints, Butler finished with three assisted tackles and helped force Tyler Shough into a late fourth-quarter interception.
Oren Burks also logged work in a losing effort, collecting two solo tackles as the Cincinnati Bengals fell 30-27 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Justin Skule and Julian Ashby were on the field again for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots, respectively. Philadelphia Eagles rookie Eli Stowers is still working back from hamstring and quad strains, and he’ll be eligible to return in Week 5.
Dayo Odeyingbo and the Chicago Bears close out Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football.
The MLB regular season wrapped up Sunday, and Vanderbilt will have plenty of representation when the playoffs and offseason movement arrive. The list includes Boston’s Sonny Gray, San Diego’s Walker Buehler, Atlanta’s Mike Yastrzemski, the Yankees’ Spencer Jones and the Chicago Cubs’ Dansby Swanson.
Now the focus shifts to Athens, where Vanderbilt heads to take on No. 2 Georgia. Kirby Smart is in his 11th season and carries a 121-21 overall record as he guides a Bulldogs program chasing its fourth College Football playoff berth and fifth national championship.
This series has been around a long time. Vanderbilt and Georgia have played 83 times since 1895, with Georgia holding a 61-20-2 edge.
The last meeting came in 2023, when the top-ranked Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt 37-20 in Nashville. The Commodores’ most recent win in the matchup came in Athens in 2016, a 17-16 result.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Has One Urgent Question After An Encouraging SEC Loss
Vanderbilt came out of its SEC opener with plenty to build on despite the 21-15 loss to Auburn, especially on a night when the defense mostly held up and the offense moved the ball well enough to stay in striking distance. Quarterback Jared Curtis finished 22 of 33 for 199 yards, and tight end Cole Spence also made his first appearance of the 2026 season in a limited role, catching two passes for 18 yards.
Still, the result left one familiar issue sitting right in front of the Commodores: getting off the field. Auburn converted 7 of 15 third-down chances, a breakdown that helped keep Vanderbilt under pressure even as the game remained manageable. For a team that could point to some encouraging signs from its opener, cleaning up those critical stops now looms as the next step. [Read more 🡒]