AUBURN | Auburn broke a four-game losing streak with a fairly decisive 27-13 win over Mississippi State.

But it was just one win and now the Tigers have to go on the road where they’re 1-2 this season and have been out-scored 85-42.

“We’re excited about getting our first SEC win. Now, you have to go on the road and really validate in playing in what I think is a difficult place to play,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze.

“I think Vandy always plays very hard and sound. Clark (Lea) is doing a great job with them being fundamentally good. I think they’re even better at home and we’ve yet to prove that we can really play well on the road. So it’s another step that we can challenge ourselves and hopefully show that we’ve improved.”

Auburn is a 12.5-point favorite at Vanderbilt and has won 14 of the last 16 games in the series. However, the overall series is tied 21-21-1 and AU lost its previous two trips to Nashville, 14-13 in 2008 and 17-13 in 2012.

The losses corresponded with Auburn firing Tommy Tuberville and Gene Chizik at the end of both seasons.

That’s certainly not a concern for Freeze, who is in his first season at Auburn, but it’s important for his players to treat the game as they would any of AU’s more traditional rivalries.

“We have to keep the same mindset that we've had when we're playing teams like Georgia and LSU,” said quarterback Payton Thorne. “Got to keep moving in the right direction, got to keep showing up every day with the right mindset and putting our best foot forward in practice. And then just doing what we can to execute to the best of our ability on Saturday and give ourselves the best chance to win and score a lot of points.

“Does it helps our confidence that we won? Sure, I definitely think it does. That's human nature. But now we've got to build on it and keep that momentum.”

Kickoff at FirstBank Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.