The stands of Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium were covered in orange on Nov. 4 as the Auburn Tigers took on the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville.

“I literally thought the stands behind us was pretty much all Auburn,” first-year head coach Hugh Freeze said after Auburn’s win over Vanderbilt. “And then there was quite a few orange on the other side like you said. I’m certainly not one to decide what percentage was Auburn, but it did not feel like we were in a typical road game. Our fans are incredible.”

It was a sight that pointed to the Auburn Family being more than happy to make the trip up to Music City to support first-year head coach Hugh Freeze and the Tigers.

Needless to say, the TransPerfect Music City Bowl knew what it was doing when it selected Auburn as one of its teams to play in Dec. 30th’s game from Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.

After tickets went on sale at 9 a.m. Monday morning, Auburn football announced Thursday afternoon that it had sold out of its allotment of tickets for the Tigers’ matchup with the Maryland Terrapins later this month.

And while the news didn’t come as a surprise to many, it certainly didn’t come as a surprise to Evan Thomas, President of the Greater Nashville Auburn Club, who affectionately refers to Music City as “Auburn North.”

“Given how close we are to Auburn, our fans tend to travel well. And they really love coming to Nashville,” Thomas said in an interview with AL.com. “You see the impact that the Auburn fan base had here for the football game against Vanderbilt. Now that we’re poised and positioned to be able to host Auburn again, in the middle of the holidays, at a time where people are available and looking to travel, we look forward to being able to provide an experience that’s on brand with what our local fans and family and then also our traveling fans and family have come to expect us.

“Yeah, we’re pumped.”