Auburn loses to Vanderbilt at home – Freeze’s record officially worse than Harsin’s

The Auburn Tigers lost once again, following their first SEC win last week in Lexington over Kentucky — this time in an embarrassing 17-7 home defeat to Vanderbilt in a game they were favored to win by over a touchdown

It’s the latest development in what has been a very long season thus far on The Plains, and perhaps the most damning stat of all is now Hugh Freeze’s record during his time as Auburn’s head coach. Saturday’s loss dropped Freeze to a 9-13 all-time record over the near two seasons while former head coach Bryan Harsin — often demonized as the worst coach in the school’s history — was fired with a 9-12 record during his second season.

In home games as Auburn’s head coach, Freeze is 1-6 against SEC opponents.

Auburn once again found a way to lose despite severely out-gaining their opponent, as Vanderbilt struggled to throw the ball effectively and was held to under 100 rushing yards by the Tigers’ defense.

The Tigers’ offense was ineffective throughout the game, with their first four drives resulting in three punts and a turnover on downs. Auburn missed two field goals in the second half and outside of a 30-yard touchdown from Rivaldo Fairweather, there was not anything for fans to cheer about.

RELATED: (October) The Auburn Corner: Tigers have a chance to make a late run at a bowl game

Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia, who previously torched Alabama and has now beaten Freeze in each of the last three seasons going back to his days with New Mexico State, didn’t even have a good game. Pavia completed a disastrous 9 of 22 passes, just over 40%, going multiple consecutive quarters without a single completion and failing to make significant gains on the ground against Auburn.

Without a turnover fest from Payton Thorne as had been the case in many of the losses so far, Freeze’s team still found a way to lose as it feels like the clock is beginning to tick on his tenure at Auburn. In a best case scenario at this point for Freeze, he will be on the hottest seat in the country entering 2025.

Auburn now enters the bye week needing to win all three of their final games just to get to six wins against bowl eligibility. With a home game against Louisiana-Monroe before hosting Texas A&M and traveling to Tuscaloosa, it’s not looking very likely.