Auburn, AL--For the first time ever Vanderbilt did it.

Clark Lea's team walked into Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium and won, something that has never been done in program history. Vanderbilt also snapped some streaks with the win as it became bowl eligible on Saturday for the first time since 2018 and took down Auburn for the first time since 2012.

Saturday was another feather in Vanderbilt's cap in a season full of accolades.

The Commodores have been ranked in the AP top 25 and may be again on Sunday, they're bowl eligible and now they've taken down Alabama's two premier football programs in one season.

The last time it took down both Auburn and Alabama in a season was 1955.

Each of Vanderbilt's wins stood out in their own, different ways.

A few weeks ago it was the game of Vanderbilt's season as it played nearly flawlessly to take down Kalen DeBoer's Alabama team. Perhaps what made Saturday so unique is that it didn't take a performance like that for Vanderbilt to get the job done.

It came on the road and took down a team that seemed to have its offense's number in a sloppy game. Vanderbilt was banged up and turned in one of its worst performances of the year, yet it won inside one of the SEC's best venues.

That's because it knows how to win. It's a group full of winners.

That group full of winners isn't flawless, that was clear on Saturday. But, they know they don't have to be.

Vanderbilt punted in the majority of its drives on Saturday, it killed some drives as a result of penalties and it seemed to struggle to consistently run the ball. Add that in with its inefficient downfield passing game and it'd look to be a recipe for disaster.

It wasn't, though.

In spite of its offensive struggles, Vanderbilt was the better team on Saturday.

Its defense picked it up and surrendered just seven points despite giving up over 300 yards of total yards of offense. Its special teams looked far superior to Auburn's units and it won the margins in terms of penalties and time of possession.

A performance like that won't beat a good portion of the SEC and Vanderbilt will have to find a way to up its level of play relative to what it's shown the last month, but it is 3-1 in its last four games.

In that span it has continued to defy odds and history. It did that again on Saturday as 7.5-point underdogs.

Vanderbilt is the real deal, even when it's not at its best.