The big question going into Auburn’s game against Vanderbilt was whether or not the Tigers could contain Diego Pavia, the quarterback that torched them in a New Mexico State jersey last season.

Auburn answered that question emphatically, holding Pavia to 143 yards through the air on 9-of-22 passing and 26 rushing yards on 12 attempts. It even held Vanderbilt to 227 total yards, the Commodores’ lowest mark in a game this season.

The defense did all of that, and still lost by double digits.

Auburn‘s 17-7 loss to Vanderbilt was its sixth of the season, fifth in conference play and first ever to the Commodores at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Much like many of Auburn’s losses this season, the theme was similar.

“Whether it’s finishing drives with points from our field goal unit or whether it’s us not converting third downs, we struggled at all of that today,” Hugh Freeze said after the game.

Finishing both drives and games has been a problem for Auburn all season. Against Vanderbilt, the Tigers were 2-for-13 on third down and didn’t convert their first third down until the third quarter.

Auburn outgained Vanderbilt 327-227, but only scored on one of its 12 drives in the game. The defense gave the offense plenty of opportunities too.

One concern for Auburn coming into the game was time of possession and Vanderbilt not giving Auburn’s offense many chances to score. Other than an almost nine-minute drive in the fourth quarter, Auburn consistently got the Commodores off the field quickly and only ran three less plays than Vanderbilt.

“It feels like we’re kind of letting those guys down,” offensive tackle Dillon Wade said after the game.

“If I was on the defense, I would be frustrated, too,” Payton Thorne said. “I feel bad, being on the offense and obviously being the quarterback of the offense, that we’re not helping them out more.”

Thorne threw for 239 yards and a touchdown on 20-of-29 passing. His numbers weren‘t bad, but his performance wasn‘t perfect. It didn’t help that he was sacked three times either.

The more disappointing sight was Auburn’s lack of a run game, something that carried the Tigers in their win over Kentucky. After rushing for 328 yards the week prior, Auburn finished with 88 rushing yards against Vanderbilt, averaging three yards per carry.

Meanwhile, the defense held Vanderbilt to 84 rushing yards on 2.2 yards per carry. Freeze said after the game that the defense is “playing well enough to keep us in games‚” but in every game except one, the offense couldn’t do the little bit that’s asked of it to finish the game.

Early in the season, it was turnovers. Now, Auburn just can’t score.

“Again, this has been too often a story this year for us,” Freeze said. “I thought our defense played their guts out and played well enough to win and probably did the best job against that squad of anyone all year and outgained them again for like the fifth time this year it feels like and don’t have anything to show for it because we’re just not able to finish.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m