Entering Auburn and Vanderbilt‘s Saturday afternoon matchup, all the hype was surrounded by Deigo Pavia’s dramatic return back to Jordan-Hare Stadium.

However, Auburn football’s defense had other plans for the Commodores quarterback limiting him the best they could. But his two touchdowns led to their 17-7 victory over the Tigers.

After a 7-7 halftime score, Vanderbilt outscored Auburn 10-0 to close out the game.

Here are three takeaways from Auburn’s loss to Vanderbilt:

Auburn defense pressures Diego Pavia all game

In the first half, Diego Pavia completed 5-of-14 passes for 103 yards and one touchdown. He was held to only 11 first half rushing yards as Auburn’s defense made it difficult for him to extend plays with legs early in the contest.

Keldric Faulk’s three tackles in the first two quarters led the Tigers defense holding Vanderbilt to just 132 yards in the first half. Jay Crawford was huge on third downs breaking up two Pavia passes leading to punts.

Linebacker Austin Keys was everywhere for Tigers finishing with two tackles one pass breakup and a quarterback hurry that led to a Pavia stop behind the line of scrimmage.

After his first quarter touchdown, Pavia did not complete another pass until 09:56 left in the fourth quarter game clock. He finished the day completing 9-of-22 passes for 143 yards. He added 26 rushing yards to his final stats.

Rushing game never sparks for Tigers as offense struggles

Auburn did not convert on a third down all first half finishing 0-for-7. Despite their 214 yards of offense through the first two quarters, they only had 76 yards on the ground entering the third quarter.

The Tigers averaged 6.0 yards per play in the first half and needed to lean on its playmakers in the second half to take the lead. But the Tigers struggles carried into the second half finishing with just 327 total yards of offense.

With only 88 rushing yards all afternoon, Vanderbilt dominated against Auburn’s ground game and forced them to throw the ball.

Payton Thorne completed 20-of-29 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown to Rivaldo Fairweather. Despite not turning the ball over until the final minutes of the game, Vanderbilt’s three sacks halted several key offensive drives for Auburn.

Auburn’s kicking game continue to haunt Tigers

Auburn kicker Alex McPherson was ruled out of the matchup with Vanderbilt, according to the pregame availability report.

He was originally listed as questionable earlier in the week but was downgraded to doubtful Friday evening.

Auburn did not attempt a field goal in the first half as they elected to go for it on fourth down three times converting twice.

On the Tigers first drive of the third quarter, Auburn had a chance to take its first lead of the game. however, freshman Towns McGough could not connect on the 44-yard field goal attempt.

Late in the fourth he missed another one from 55-yards out putting him at 5-for-12 on field goals this season.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X @Jerryhump3 or email him at [email protected]