Quick starts are always vital. This is a concrete, no-nonsense goal for any team in virtually any sport. But if the Tigers want to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday, which kicks off at 11:45 a.m. CDT, a fast start is important — even imperative — to that outcome. This is evident in both Auburn and the Commodores’ season statistics.

In eight games, Vanderbilt dominates its opponents in time of possession, holding the ball for nearly four hours and 20 minutes of play. Their opponents have had just over three hours and 40 minutes of possession, more than a half hour less.

Vanderbilt also made 503 plays during that span, averaging 62.9 per game. Their opponents have made 484 plays, for a slightly lower average of 60.5 plays per game.

“One of the scariest things, I mean, is you’re basically playing Navy,” Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said of Vanderbilt. “It doesn’t sound like Navy, but Alabama had 44 real snaps of offensive football against them. Last year when we played him, the first time we touched the ball in the first quarter, I think, was with five minutes and five seconds left. It’s uncomfortable.

The then-top-ranked Crimson Tide, who fell to Vanderbilt in a 40-35 loss on October 5 in Nashville, officially played 45 games, 30 fewer than the Commodores. They also only had the ball for 17:52 of playing time.

This becomes even more uncomfortable when you consider Auburn’s success in early practices this fall. Against the Southeastern Conference, the Tigers have yet to score in their first game. They have yet to cover half the field, with their most successful start coming on a 48-yard drive against Arkansas that ended with an interception.

“It feels like we had a penalty on every kickoff that took us back to the 8-yard line, for example,” Freeze said. “That’s what it feels like. But I’m sure we can organize better things and have a better plan. But I think what you just said: that first campaign against Vandy is pretty critical, because you might not get a lot of it. We better have a good plan.

• Save: 5-3, 2-2 SEC
• AP Poll Rankings: VR (41 points)
• Coaches Poll Rankings: Motorhome (13 points)
• History of the series: Auburn leads, 22-21-1
• Last release: Auburn won 31-15 on November 4, 2023 in Nashville

• QB Diego Pavia: What more can I say? The most important player to know on the Commodores roster is someone Freeze and Auburn fans know well. A top-10 passer and runner in the SEC, the former New Mexico State Aggie wasted no time making an impact in the league.
• TE Eli Stowers: Another former Aggie, Stowers was a quarterback at NMSU last year. However, he became Pavia’s main target this season, catching a team-high 36 passes for 496 yards and three touchdowns.
• S Randon Fontenette: Another transfer, Fontenette came to Nashville from TCU, and he was one of Vanderbilt’s most productive defenders. He had a team-high six TD passes, but he also stood out in the backfield, with 5.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

• About Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter: “He has a combination of patience, really good feet in the hole, and making decisions with the ball, quick cutting and getting vertical. He’s also a guy who runs really well behind his pads and seems to run through contact and bounce off tackles. I don’t see any flaws in his game. They do a very good job with him.
• On Auburn’s defense: “You’re talking about defense, where the yards per play they’re giving up are some of the best in the country. Their contested incompletion is among the best in the country. They were very good defensively in the red zone. We see that space is difficult to find.
• On Vanderbilt’s loss to No. 5 Texas: “The biggest flaws in our performance were the turnovers and three-and-outs that gave their offense a short field. These are the things that we have focused on strategically, fundamentally and technically that we need to clean up.