From the Other Sideline – Vanderbilt
Tom Stephenson blogs about Vanderbilt sports at Anchor of Gold and is also a lawyer because to go to Vanderbilt and care about sports you have to be a lawyer. It’s the rules. This is Tom’s 4th time on the Blogle and he’s good at staying calm despite my attempts to rile him up. 
1. What is a Vanderbilt fan’s first thought of Auburn football right now?
Unknown? We know they have a new coach, but Alex Golesh isn’t a known quantity like Gus Malzahn or Hugh Freeze were. We assume they’re at least decent, because they’re Auburn and we have no reason to think otherwise at this point.
2. What’s the vibe like in Nashville now that Diego Pavia is gone?
Well, now that Jared Curtis is confirmed as the quarterback, vibes are decent. A lot of fans have sort of written off this season even though we’re 3-0 because frankly the team looked like crap against Austin Peay and Delaware, and everybody realizes that Curtis is going to make mistakes that might cost the team a game or two (unless, of course, NC State fumbles in the end zone and bails him out). People are excited about 2027. Fans are starting to question Clark Lea again after the Pavia years convinced fans he was the guy.
3. What does it feel like to have a Michigan-like win on the resumé?
I am still laughing a week later that we got away with one.
4. What are your thoughts on Alex Golesh and the job he’s done at Auburn so far?
Well, Auburn appears to be functional again, which is more than you could say at any point in the Freeze or Harsin era. The kind of team that will win a game they shouldn’t and finish 7-5 and go to a bowl game and make you feel good about next season. That’s about as far as I’ll go right now based on three games.
5. Who are two unheralded Commodores that Auburn fans should look out for and why?
We’re probably well past the point that I can just say “hurr durr all of our players are unheralded Auburn fan” and just name our two star players. But I am surprised that WR Kayleb Barnett hasn’t been a bigger factor in the offense so far. Defensive lineman/linebacker Nick Rinaldi is a former walk-on who’s kind of a jack of all trades on the defensive side of the ball.
6. Who are two Auburn Tigers that scare you the most and why?
I kind of blame being three games into the season in the portal era, but I’m not sure I could name two Auburn players without looking at a roster. So, um, yeah, one of them ends up being Byrum Brown kind of by default because he’s the entire offense. Andre Jordan has two picks already and had 10 pass breakups at UCLA last season? Yeah, that qualifies as somebody who scares me when my team has a true freshman playing quarterback.
7. Where do you see each team having an advantage over the other?
It’s weird that I don’t think much of Auburn’s defensive front but they’ll probably have an advantage over the Vanderbilt offensive line, which hasn’t looked good at all this season. That probably matters more in the run game (where Vanderbilt hasn’t gotten much going this season) than the pass game, where Jared Curtis seems a bit impervious to a bad offensive line from what I’ve seen. But on the other end, I don’t know that Auburn’s receivers concern me.
8. What’s your analysis and score prediction for this game?
Seeing the above analysis, I’m thinking this one will probably be a bit on the ugly side. Curtis can win games for Vanderbilt and he can also lose them with ill-timed interceptions, so… I think this is gonna be one of the ones he wins and I’ll say Vanderbilt wins 24-17.
9. Where do you see Auburn and Vanderbilt ending up this season?
These both feel like 6-6 teams that will go to the Independence Bowl, at least spiritually if not in fact. Either could whiff on a couple and finish 5-7. Neither is as bad as Arkansas, who remains on the schedule for both.
10. Lastly, doesn’t it feel like the pressure is off with Pavia gone and we can go back to Vanderbilt being where they should be?
Maybe near-term that’s true, but in the medium-term Curtis probably ends up being a better quarterback than Pavia was, in that Curtis might actually be a first-day NFL Draft pick as opposed to a guy who might’ve gotten a mini-camp invite. Whether that translates into a 10-win season at any point remains to be seen. He probably has the most pure talent of any quarterback who’s ever played at Vanderbilt and yes, I know who Jay Cutler is. The flipside to that is now it feels like Vanderbilt fans have… expectations? Going 4-8 will be a huge disappointment after that.
