The Vanderbilt Commodores are bowl eligible after a 17-7 victory over the Auburn Tigers on Saturday afternoon. The win brings Vanderbilt to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, and should send them to a bowl game for the first time since the 2018 season.

What’s truly astonishing about Vanderbilt’s turnaround this year is how competitive it has been in the nation’s toughest conference.

While the 2024 version of Auburn is just a shell of what it was in its prime, the Commodores have more than held up against every opponent they’ve faced this season. Their biggest win of the season was a stunning 40-35 win over then-No. 1 Alabama, while they also lost to then-No. 7 Missouri and then-No. 5 Texas by just three points each.

They have won in every game they have played, while this is only the fourth time in the last 15 years that they have won at least three games in the SEC.

The subplot of this game is that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia continues to be a gigantic thorn in the side of Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze.

Pavie is now the quarterback of a team that has upset a Freeze-coached team in three straight seasons.

In 2022, Pavie, who was quarterback for New Mexico State, handed Freeze’s Liberty Flames an embarrassing 49-14 loss. Pavie threw three touchdowns in the game.

In 2023, Pavie and New Mexico State managed to gel again in his first year at Auburn with a 31-10 game, with Pavie again throwing three touchdowns in the victory.

Then this season, after transferring to Vanderbilt, Pavie was able to freeze again on Saturday, this time throwing two touchdown passes.

Overall, Pavia is 3-0 against Freeze-coached teams with eight touchdowns to zero interceptions.