Vanderbilt Football Trails Auburn On The Back Of Nightmare Special Teams Start

Vanderbilt football trails Auburn at halftime after a few big special teams mistake allowed Auburn to extend its lead significantly.

Sep 26, 2026; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea watches his team during the first quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

AUBURN, AL—The difference in Vanderbilt being right there with Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium and being where it is–down 14-3 with 8:56 to go in the second quarter–is in an aspect of a game that the program has generally prided itself on. 

Vanderbilt’s first quarter and a half against Auburn have been defined by a special teams nightmare that’s allowed Auburn to generate a quick touchdown and a short field that it should’ve taken advantage of, but didn’t. 

Auburn’s most impactful special teams play came as its special teams front threw the house at Vanderbilt punter Tyler Ebel, blocked his third punt of the day and scored a touchdown off of it. Ebel’s punt was blocked straight into the air where two Auburn defenders swarmed the ball and ran it into the end zone. 

Vanderbilt also cost itself field position a drive earlier when it attempted a fake punt in which Ebel was supposed to find a receiver downfield, but wasn’t close to connecting with one and had to throw it away as a result. Ebel’s incompletion was Vanderbilt’s first of the day.

The miscues for this Vanderbilt team have also manifested in a running into the punter call on receiver Cole Adams and a poor first punt of the day for Ebel that set Auburn up with better field position than it likely should’ve had. Vanderbilt kicker Brock Taylor missed a kick in Vanderbilt's last offensive drive of the first half, as well.

Vanderbilt's firsthalf has been all but up to the standard it's set--particularly since it's placed an emphasis on having starters play special teams in the hopes of gaining an advantage--in that way.

“We put such an emphasis on ST [special teams] because there’s a standard in our room and that means that we can be the best room in the country. And every year, we expect that,” Taylor said during fall camp. “If I come out and have a bad field goal period, coach Kill and coach Lea come up to me and rip me, which I appreciate because this room’s just as important as an offensive or defensive skillset. I think that the constant chase toward success is really lively in our room and I think people are just hungry.”

Clearly Vanderbilt knows the magnitude of its errors and will place an emphasis on fixing them. The question is whether those errors will be too much to overcome on Saturday.

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