Quarteraback Diego Pavia threw a 4-yard pass to Cole Spence in overtime as No. 15 Vanderbilt rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Auburn 45-38 in Nashville on Saturday.
The win keeps hopes of a College Football Playoff berth on life support for Vanderbilt (8-2, 4-2 Southeastern Conference, No. 16 CFP). The Commodores had their playoff hopes clinging to life after losing 34-31 at Texas last week.
Pavia threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran for 112 yards and another score. His performance keeps him in the Heisman conversation, although other contenders had stellar games this weekend as well.
Tight end Eli Stowers had 12 catches for 122 yards, and Tre Richardson finished with 124 yards on three receptions. Sedrick Alexander also ran for a pair of TDs in the offensive shootout as Vanderbilt allowed season highs in points and offensive yards well before overtime.
Auburn, which has struggled offensively all season finally had a breakout game, but it was not quite enough. The Tigers hadn’t scored more than 17 points in five SEC games and were held to a season-low 3 points in last week’s loss to Kentucky. They finished with a season-high 544 yards of offense. But they also were flagged 12 times for 91 yards.
Auburn (4-6, 1-6) hadn’t beaten a ranked team on the road since Sept. 21, 2019. This was their first game since coach Hugh Freeze was fired and replaced by interim coach DJ Durkin. The Tigers had lost their first four games against ranked opponents by just 29 points combined. Auburn is continuing its search for a new head coach.
Vanderbilt has an open date this week before hosting Kentucky on Nov. 22. Kentucky manhandled Florida 38-7 in Lexington. If Vandy beats Kentucky they will achieve a nine win regular season record for the first time since 1915.
The ‘Dores close out their regular season against the Vols in Knoxville on November 29.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
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