Leading up to the game, Diego Pavia was the main storyline.

He improved his record against Auburn to 2-0, but it really wasn't because of him.

Auburn's defense held Vanderbilt to 227 yards and outgained the Commodores by 100 yards, but as has been the story all season, Auburn failed to capitalize on its scoring chances en route to a 17-7 home loss on Saturday.

The Tigers are off next week before they face off against Louisiana Monroe the following week.

Let's get into some unit grades.

OFFENSE: D

Auburn won the yards battle but not the scoring battle. Does that sound familiar?

The obvious plan seemed to be to give Jarquez Hunter the ball, and it seemed especially obvious after he ripped off a 15-yard run on the first play.

His next nine carries in the first half went for just 22 yards. He then only touched the ball two more times.

Vanderbilt stacked the box and dared Payton Thorne to beat it, and outside of one touchdown drive, the strategy worked.

Hunter was turned into a decoy, and at times, just a third-down back. He rushed for just 50 yards after a career day the week before.

Whenever the Tigers had a drive that looked promising, they killed it with penalties or a trick play that lost 10 yards.

On the day, the Tigers were 2-of-13 on third down

Just overall, it was an incredibly uninspiring and dull performance from the Auburn offense.

DEFENSE: A-

Look, Auburn's defense held on for dear life for as long as it could.

Outside of one touchdown drive, on which Pavia worked his magic, the Tiger defense had the Commodore offense in a chokehold.

Vanderbilt's opening touchdown was a 28-yard pass, and after that, the Commodores did not complete a pass until midway through the fourth quarter.

Even on Vanderbilt's field goal to take the lead, that was on a short field where the Tiger defense didn't allow a first down.

On Vanderbilt's dagger touchdown drive, it was obvious that the defense was gassed, but even that drive should have ended in three points if it weren't for a special teams blunder.

Pavia completed just nine of his 22 attempts and threw for 143 yards.

Vanderbilt as a team only rushed for 84 yards and averaged 2.2 yards per attempt.

Vanderbilt's EPA per play was -0.22, which would rank in the 13th percentile across the country.

These are all numbers that should lead to an Auburn win, but they didn't.

Auburn's defense did its part.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F

Special teams aren't going to win games often, but they'll certainly lose them -- that happened on Saturday.

Oscar Chapman had a good day but was no match for Vanderbilt punter Jesse Mirco who averaged 53.9 yards per punt and pinned Auburn deep multiple times, one of which set up the field goal that gave Vanderbilt the lead that it'd never relinquish.

On the game-sealing drive, Vanderbilt kicked a field goal to make the score 13-7, but Keldric Faulk attempted to jump over the line and block the field goal leading to a Commodore first down and eventually the dagger touchdown.

Also, Towns McGough missed two field goals to continue what has been a rough freshman season for him.

In the second half, Malcolm Simmons replaced Keionte Scott as Auburn's punt returner, and had some good returns, but that was the extent of Auburn's success on special teams.

Just a disastrous special teams game in what has been a disastrous special teams season.

COACHING: D-

DJ Durkin is exempt here, his group was great just about all day and he had a great plan for Pavia.

Hugh Freeze, Derrick Nix and Tanner Burns have some explaining to do.

After a career day against Kentucky, Hunter carried the ball just 12 times and at times was used as a decoy.

And then there's the play calling. On third-and-seven, Auburn threw the ball short of the sticks to the right hash and kicked a field goal a play after.

They also attempted a trick play on first-and-10 after moving the ball relatively well on that drive. The play ended in a 10-yard loss and led to an Auburn punt.

Just two examples from a play-calling day that can only be described as strange and questionable.

OVERALL: D-

It was simple: beat Vanderbilt and set up a potential night game in Jordan-Hare against what might be a top-10 team in Texas A&M.

That can still happen, but now the positive momentum created by the Kentucky game is completely dead.

The defense played a great game and really only allowed 14 points.

Auburn's offense, once again, won the yards battle, but as has been the story all season, it could not convert when it mattered.

I don't care how good Vanderbilt has looked at times this season, Auburn was at home, matched up well with the Commodores and is the more talented team.

It's an inexcusable loss, straight up.