The Pregame Blogle: Vanderbilt at Auburn

Auburn has suffered their first loss, but has a beatable opponent coming into Jordan-Hare that should allow them to get back on track. The short one isn’t on the roster anymore and his favorite coach to beat isn’t on the sideline, so maybe Saturday will feel a little more normal.

😬 HOW I’M FEELING

Better than most. Vanderbilt is not Florida. Auburn lost by five points to Florida. Vanderbilt will not move the ball on Auburn like Florida was able to do. That performance was a defensive outlier. The offense scored 39 points against a team better than Vanderbilt. So I feel pretty good about Auburn’s chance against a Pavia-less Vanderbilt.

🤷 WHAT WE ACTUALLY KNOW

We know that Auburn’s receivers are better than last years, at least in terms of getting open. The Tigers have two receivers with 17 or more catches, which has them both in the Top 5 in the SEC. Byrum Brown is 4th in the SEC in passing yards. So we know, or should know, that the Auburn passing game is fine. It’s the non-Byrum run game that is a problem. We also know that Vanderbilt is bringing a true freshman 5-star QB into his first SEC road game.

👀 WHAT I WANT TO SEE

I want to see Auburn a hole for any Auburn running back that’s on the field. I want to see the Auburn defense prove that last week was not the new normal, or at least prove that they are good enough to beat Vanderbilt. I want to see a pretty easy SEC home win.

🥱 THE STORYLINE I’M ALREADY TIRED OF

Auburn hasn’t won an SEC home game in 671 days!!!! So they’ve lost 5 whole games in a row at home since beating Texas A&M at the end of the 2024 season. Let’s take a look at those 5 games.

Oct. 11, 2025 — #10 Georgia — Georgia 20, Auburn 10
Oct. 18, 2025 — #16 Missouri — Missouri 23, Auburn 17 (2OT)
Nov. 1, 2025 — Kentucky — Kentucky 10, Auburn 3
Nov. 29, 2025 — #10 Alabama — Alabama 27, Auburn 20
Sept. 19, 2026 — Florida — Florida 44, Auburn 39

THE HORROR. One truly bad loss, one where a ref got suspended, one in double OT, one Iron Bowl, and then this past week against Florida. How are we still a football program?

🦅 RANDOM OPPONENT THING

I’ve already given you a few quirky Vanderbilt things, but here’s a free one:

They’re named after an actual Commodore who wasn’t really a Commodore. Cornelius Vanderbilt got the nickname from his shipping empire, and the school eventually adopted it. So their entire athletic identity basically comes from one extremely rich guy owning a lot of boats. That feels like an Alabama-level of stretching the truth.

📈 BLOGLE CONFIDENCE METER

8.1 out of 10 — I think we’re almost back to regular Vanderbilt. Auburn is better, but we have to see what they’ll look like after their first loss of the season. From what I’ve seen of Alex Golesh, I don’t anticipate a downward trend.

🔒 ONE THING I GUARANTEE

Auburn’s defense will not give up 44 points, 3 wide open runs, a double pass, or 100 3rd-down conversions.

Repeated Bonus until it happens: Alex Golesh will say a funny cuss word to whoever interviews him postgame.

🎯 THE PICK

Auburn 38, Vanderbilt 14

Somehow Florida beating Auburn meant the Gators are good, but Auburn losing to Florida meant they are bottom of the SEC. We can’t help stupid, but regardless of that stupidity, Auburn is better than Vanderbilt, as they should be. That’s all there is to say.