Published:
By: Keagan Smith
It’s Week 4 and there’s plenty of college football action throughout the day on Saturday. Out in the SEC, Vanderbilt and Auburn are set to begin conference play at 4:15 p.m. ET. The Commodores are 3-0 while the Tigers are 2-1, so this shapes up as a quality matchup with both teams looking to get out to a hot start in one of the sport’s toughest conferences.
Here’s a preview, prediction and pick for Vanderbilt vs. Auburn in Week 4 of the 2026 college football season.
It hasn’t necessarily been pretty, but the Commodores are unbeaten heading into a much tougher conference slate. Vanderbilt beat the FCS’ Austin Peay 28-9 in the opener before a 35-26 win over Delaware and a 35-31 victory against NC State – the latter of which saw one of the most improbable finishes in college football history as the Wolfpack fumbled in their own end zone and choked the lead away in the final seconds. Did Vandy snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Absolutely, but they ask how many, not how.
The Commodores’ offense is posting 32.7 points per game with a respectable average of 381.0 yards per contest. The game plan has leaned slightly towards the run, with Sedrick Alexander pacing the team with 152 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. He’s been quite efficient, but one can argue that wideout Junior Sherrill is the heartbeat of the offense with 15 catches for 272 yards and a pair of scores. Jayvontay Conner has been a solid big-bodied target at tight end, too. Quarterback Jared Curtis has a 63.1% completion rate with 547 yards and four touchdowns to two picks; for the most part, the offense is humming behind the true freshman’s play. Vanderbilt’s defense has allowed 22.0 points per game and an average of 320.7 yards to opponents, holding them to 3.2 yards per rush and a 58.2% completion rate. Is the defense stellar, though? Not by any means.
Auburn is 2-1 to start the Alex Golesh era. The team opened play with a 17-16 win over Baylor before a 43-8 blowout over Southern Miss; the lone loss on the record came at the hands of No. 21 Florida last week in a 44-39 finish. Given the difficulty of that assignment, this isn’t a bad start for a program under a new head coach.
Auburn’s offense looks quite formidable, shortcomings in the opener notwithstanding. The Tigers are averaging 33.0 points and 458.3 yards per game with 6.1 yards per play. This is a run-heavy attack that’s posted 191.7 rushing yards per game at 4.7 yards per attempts, relying on the legs of quarterback Bryum Brown (52 ATT/180 YDS/2TD) and halfback Jeremiah Cobb (33 ATT/170 YDS/2 TD) in a dynamic backfield duo. There’s also a pair of standout wideouts with 17 receptions and a touchdown each – Keshaun Singleton has 230 yards while Chas Nimrod has 188. The Tigers’ defense, however, may need some help. They’re allowing just 22.7 points per game but have given up an average of 384.0 total yards, so a shootout type of game script is certainly in the cards.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Auburn enters as a 9.5-point favorite with -375 odds on the Moneyline; Vanderbilt is a +295 underdog to win outright. The game total sits at 55.5 combined points between these teams.
This is a contest in which the over on the total makes plenty of sense. There’s some talent on both sides of the ball for each roster and the teams are averaging a combined 65.7 points per game. Vandy was lit up on the scoreboard last week and would’ve lost were it not for a historically bad mistake from NC State, and Auburn gave up a ton of points to a nationally ranked Florida squad, too. Neither side of the matchup is an actual contender in the SEC, but the competition is still stiff and it’s hard to trust either defense, at least to an extent. This should be a high-scoring affair in the afternoon window.
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