Four wins. Six losses. A coach is gone. And a fresh sting from Vanderbilt. The Auburn Tigers’ patience should be hanging by a thread. Looks like the quarterback, Ashton Daniels, feels the frustration. However, he confirmed the locker room’s faith and fire are stronger than the noise outside. While Auburn’s season looks cooked from the outside, with the interim head coach, DJ Durkin, being caught amidst a troll storm, Daniels gave a glimpse of the locker room’s mental state. 

Durkin saw some hope. But the tables turned last minute. The Tigers managed to force overtime before falling to the Commodores, 45-38. Daniels faced the press post-game and poured his heart out. “It hurts,” the quarterback said. “But to be honest, we know that we’re taking a step in the right direction in the locker room.” Well, we can feel where Daniels comes from. Now give it a thought.

You play your best game of the season on November 8 in Nashville, and what do you get in return? The Tigers went home with a loss. Auburn pushed No. 16 Vanderbilt to the brink, forcing overtime in Nashville. But Diego Pavia’s clutch RPO strike to Cole Spence sealed it, and with no Tiger response, the Commodores escaped FirstBank Stadium with a 45-38 win. The scoreboard said loss, but Daniels and his squad knew they’d battled with every ounce they had.

After weeks of sputtering, the Tigers’ offense roared back to life. They scored on four straight drives in the first half, cooling off briefly after halftime, then reigniting with a clutch fourth-quarter touchdown to force overtime. While Auburn’s offense finally showed signs of life against the Commodores, the defense couldn’t keep pace. Pavia repeatedly carved through on key shotgun runs to move the chains, and though the Tigers racked up a season-high 563 yards of offense, 12 penalties for 91 yards told the other half of the story.

Looks like Durkin’s gamble to start Daniels paid off. After stepping in, the interim head coach refused to start Jackson Arnold, since he comes off as not the right fit for the current Auburn offensive line. And Daniels came up with his season high record of 353 yards and two touchdowns. While he stole the spotlight, Auburn had two receivers, Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr., who hit the century mark in receiving yards. 

The scoreboard didn’t go their way, but Daniels and his teammates are feeding off those flashes of brilliance to keep Auburn’s fire burning. Now, will this tone down the heat of Durkin’s seat?

Ashton Daniels and Co.’s feat got shadowed by DJ Durkin’s blunder

It’s party time in the Vanderbilt camp. There came moments when Daniels and Co. had pushed them into a corner. But in the end, it’s the Commodores who were able to boast a proud smile. And guess how their victory tasted sweeter? Pavia now owns Auburn, having sealed back-to-back three wins against the Tigers with a completion rate of 63%, completing 53 of 83 passes, 894 yards, 9 touchdowns, and no interceptions.

However, back in Auburn, things are tough for Durkin because of their costly blunder. With 7:44 left in the fourth, Pavia dropped a dime, a 57-yard strike to a wide-open Tre Richardson, who had the Auburn secondary lost in the fog. That blown coverage handed Vanderbilt a 24–23 lead and Auburn a defensive nightmare. This made fans drop hate comments about how Durkin forgot about the defense. 

As Covers shared a clip of the game and wrote, “Not one Auburn player within 15 yards of Tre Richardson as he gives Vanderbilt the lead!” Now, the Auburn fans did not expect this since DJ Durkin is a defensive coordinator himself. But with motivated and confident players like Ashton Daniels waiting for him in the locker room, can he write a comeback story?