Vanderbilt enjoys raucous locker room celebration after beating Auburn, becoming bowl eligible

It’s been a year to celebrate for the Vanderbilt football team. An exciting quarterback, an upset win over the No. 1 team, and now bowl eligible after a road win at Auburn.

And the Commodores appeared to cut loose in the locker room on the road after besting the Tigers on Saturday and moving to 6-3. In a short clip from quarterback Diego Pavia’s Instagram live video from the postgame locker room, a euphoric scene is captured.

From lineman De’Marion Thomas shotgunning a can of Sprite to Pavia having offensive lineman Gunnar Hansen show of a chain to freshman safety Dontae Carter dancing for the team, it was a raucous time for the Commodores on the plains.

De’marion Thomas shotgunning a sprite, Dontae Carter turning up. Safe to say this team knows how to party pic.twitter.com/ddCEzpitA0

— Alex Kurbegov (@Anchordown0714) November 2, 2024

However, the Vanderbilt celebrations for the 17-7 win weren’t appreciated by the vanquished Auburn players.

In three consecutive seasons, Pavia has won head-to-head matchups against Freeze. Saturday was the first time wearing a Vanderbilt uniform, going into Jordan-Hare Stadium to earn the Commodores bowl eligibility.

A few Vanderbilt players celebrated on the field following the game and specifically made it known Pavia is 3-0 against Freeze. Offensive lineman Steven Hubbard was one of them. Showing off their swagger has been a theme for Vandy this season as the program puts together one of its best seasons in a long time.

“He up 3-0 right now,” Hubbard said. “He up 3-0. This same field, last season. He beat that ass. He came in here and beat that ass.”

Auburn defensive back Caleb Wooden was not thrilled with Hubbard’s actions and confronted him. Vanderbilt wide receiver Richie Hoskins was there too as some back-and-forth jawing took place. Thankfully, the moment did not escalate as the two teams were eventually separated.

You can check out the full exchange below.

Tempers flare as Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt celebrate the win at Auburn. Pavia is now 3-0 vs. Hugh Freeze. pic.twitter.com/2aj6K31my5

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) November 2, 2024

But that interaction didn’t deter the Commodores from taking a few other victory laps, too.

And perhaps none were better than the one from Bryan Longwell.

Christmas came a little early for Longwell as the Commodores beat Auburn on Saturday. Longwell got his revenge on the Tigers after they pulled their scholarship offer from him as a high school recruit on Christmas Day of 2022.

Vanderbilt walked into Jordan Hare Stadium to hand Auburn a 17-7 loss in Week 10, however, as Longwell showed that he didn’t let their rejection deter him to chasing his dream. He finished the game with four tackles and had a message for the Tigers on social media postgame.

“Merry Christmas!!” Longwell wrote on X, formerly Twitter, with a screengrab of the text telling him his offer was being pulled on Christmas morning, 2022.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh and Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.