Vanderbilt Football Gears Up For Auburn’s Quarterback Situation

NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt football has a unique challenge heading into this week’s matchup against Auburn.

As Vanderbilt returns home to face the Tigers on Saturday, the Vanderbilt defense is going to have to prepare for two different quarterbacks this weekend. With Auburn’s offensive struggles, it has reverted to using both starting quarterback Jackson Arnold and backup quarterback Ashton Daniels through its past two games against Arkansas and Kentucky.

After struggling to get anything going in its Oct. 25 game against the Razorbacks, Arnold was benched for Daniels in the second half. Daniels provided a spark for Auburn and led a double-digit comeback by outsourcing Arkansas 23-6 in the second half.

But against Kentucky, the offensive woes showed up once again for Auburn despite starting Daniels. Daniels started the game, but was benched for the first two Tiger possessions in the fourth quarter for Arnold. After Arnold could not get anything going, Daniels was sent back into the game for Auburn’s final drive of the game, but was unable to send the game to overtime.

The quarterback struggles over the past two weeks is evident of a quarterback controversy within the program, and it should be no surprise to Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea and his team if they see both Arnold and Daniels this weekend.

So, how does it affect preparation for Saturday, if at all?

“I don’t think it changes much but just study both quarterbacks and get a feel for them both,” Vanderbilt safety Marlen Sewell said. “I mean, a coach is going to coach the quarterback the same, so they play similar. They have their own nuances, but just study both and find their similarities and their differences to allow us to have an advantage on both of them.”

Arnold is more of a running quarterback, and Daniels leans toward a pocket passer that has the capability to take off if he does not find anyone downfield, which Sewell did notice on film. Vanderbilt has seen both styles throughout this season. The Commodores have faced mobile quarterbacks in Kyron Drones of Virginia Tech and Beau Pribula of Missouri. Both times Vanderbilt was able to contain the mobile quarterback as Drones ran for just 37 yards and a touchdown and Pribula just had 10 yards on the ground before he sustained an injury in the third quarter.

Against a pocket passing quarterback in Garrett Nussmeier of LSU, Vanderbilt’s defense allowed 225 passing yards and two touchdowns in the Commodores’ win over the Tigers. With past experience of facing differing styles of quarterback play, it should serve to help Vanderbilt in its preparation.

But as Clark Lea would say, do not forget about the other 10 guys on the Auburn offense. Despite its lack of offensive production, Auburn has two skillful wide receivers in Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr. as well as a talented running back in Jeremiah Cobb, who is nearing 800 rushing yards this season.

“These guys are very talented and capable guys, but you know, how are you going to contain eight [Coleman]? How are you going to limit one [Singleton Jr.]? How are you going to structurally defend the run game? Because they got a really good running back back there,” Lea said.

The most glaring difference in this weekend’s matchup in which Vanderbilt should have a clear advantage is its defense going up against Auburn’s offense. Auburn ranks 108th in the country in total offense and 102nd in the country in scoring offense. The Tigers have scored more than 17 points in a game just one time since it beat South Alabama 31-15 on Sep. 13, and have scored more than 17 in a game against a power conference team just two times all season.

Vanderbilt must be careful though, and the team knows that. If Vanderbilt’s defense is able to stay the course it has been on the majority of the season, the Commodores will give themselves a strong chance to win on Saturday.

Kickoff between Vanderbilt and Auburn is set for 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

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