Auburn Holds Off Vanderbilt 21-15 Behind Byrum Brown
Take away the punt return and this is Vanderbilt 15, Auburn 14. Cade Carlson's 10-yard punt return touchdown in the second quarter was worth seven, and Auburn won 21-15.
Vanderbilt did get the first points, a 39-yard Brock Taylor field goal. Auburn answered with Byrum Brown's 33-yard pass to Chas Nimrod, the punt return made it 14-3, and a Sedrick Alexander 3-yard run in the third quarter cut that to 14-9 (the two-point try failed). Brown then ran in from 2 yards to make it 21-9, and that was Auburn's last score. Taylor added field goals of 47 and 45 yards in the fourth, the second with 6:26 left, to get Vanderbilt within six. The scoring ended there.
The yards went Vanderbilt's way and the points did not. Vanderbilt gained 311 yards to Auburn's 291, with 199 passing and 41 carries for 112. Auburn ran only 28 times but got 151 yards from them, and its defense sacked the quarterback four times. Each team threw one interception, and Taylor kicked three field goals to Auburn's none. Three field goals and a touchdown, against three touchdowns. That is the whole difference, and it is a fair summary of why the better stat line lost.
Both teams are 3-1. For fantasy, Brown's 23.3 points came from 18 of 27 for 140 yards and a touchdown through the air, plus 10 carries for 57 yards and the rushing score, and he has now run for three touchdowns this season. Vanderbilt's Junior Sherrill had 6 catches for 95 yards and made the top three without scoring.