Vanderbilt football is officially going bowling!

The Commodores clinched bowl eligibility with a strong road win over Auburn Saturday afternoon. Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia didn’t have his best outing of the season, but he was able to do just enough to lead his team to a 17-7 win in Week 10.

Vanderbilt now looks to keep stacking wins with an upcoming battle against South Carolina in Nashville. In the meantime, here are 3 takeaways from Vanderbilt’s gritty win over the Tigers.

Diego Pavia completely owns Hugh Freeze

As stated above, Diego Pavia had far from his best performance on Saturday. However, he was able to do just enough to clinch the Commodores’ 6th win of the year.

Pavia completed just a few passes in the second half after starting the game very well. Despite this, Pavia led Vanderbilt down the field to score a touchdown with just over 5 minutes remaining, a drive that lasted just under 9 minutes across 14 plays. The score put Vanderbilt up 17-7 and ate up most of the 4th quarter.

Here’s a look at Pavia’s score to all but seal it:

Pavia threw for a touchdown earlier in the game, finding AJ Newberry for a 28-yard score. The New Mexico State transfer was under some intense pressure and off platform while delivering this beauty:

Pavia finished 9-22 for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns with 26 rushing yards. And with that, Pavia will finish his college career 3-0 against Hugh Freeze.

Vanderbilt football: Going Bowling!

And with that, the Commodores are going bowling for the first time since 2018, looking to collect their first bowl win since 2014’s Compass Bowl victory over Houston.

The Commodores finish the season with a tough stretch, but they have a chance to post their first season above .500 since 2013, when they finished 9-4 under James Franklin. They face a sneaky tough South Carolina squad at home next weekend before finishing the year at LSU and vs. Tennessee in Nashville.

Now, the Commodores have danced with every team they’ve played this season. They had Texas on the ropes and of course upset Alabama earlier in the year. And in their battle at Mizzou they fell by just 3 points. Because of that, it’d be unwise to count Vanderbilt out against either the Tigers or Volunteers.

Commodores defense put heavy pressure on Payton Thorne, Tigers offense

Vanderbilt’s defense was lights-out on Saturday against, admittedly, a bad Tigers offense.

The Commodores got to QB Payton Thorne 3 times and totaled 7 tackles for loss. Vanderbilt’s defensive line was all over Auburn’s from the jump and held an offense that was totaling 178 yards per game on the ground to just 100 rushing yards. Most notably, Auburn was a dismal 4-15 on 3rd and 4th down combined.

Randy Fontenette was Vanderbilt’s top performer on defense. He totaled 4 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss. Six separate Vanderbilt defenders contributed on a tackle for loss Saturday.

Fittingly, Vanderbilt ended the game with a fumble recovery, stripping Auburn TE Rivaldo Fairweather.