Maybe he had a valid point.

Or maybe the frustration was mounting.

There was sophomore cornerback Myron Lewis, jumping up and down in protest, insisting he had knocked the ball out of Auburn tailback Mario Fannin's hands.

"I was hoping (the referee would) throw (the red challenge flag) because I felt deep down in my heart that he didn't cross the line at the time I punched the ball out," Lewis said, hoping to overturn the touchdown and give Vanderbilt a touchback.

The way Auburn was moving the ball on the Vanderbilt defense, combined with the ineffective offensive play, having an extra possession likely wouldn't have amounted to much. With the score 21-0 with 14:24 left in the second quarter, the game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

Whatever Auburn wanted to do offensively, it did Saturday. The Tigers used a three-running back rotation to rush for a season-high 239 yards. Brad Lester, back from a suspension, rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns, while the more powerful Ben Tate ran for 96 yards and one touchdown. Fannin added 54 yards and found the end zone once as well.

"They're good backs and they ran hard," said Vanderbilt safety Reshard Langford. "They knew what they had to do to win the game, and they gave a good effort. I don't think we did as well as we needed to and gave the effort we needed to win the game."

Brandon Cox completed 14 of 17 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown. He hit on his first seven attempts. By halftime the score was 28-0, and the Tigers showed mercy in the second half to make the game's final score 35-7. The Commodore defense was on the field for 18 of the game's first 30 minutes.

All this came against a defense that was ranked 17th nationally in scoring defense and total defense, and 11th in passing defense.

"They came out and thumped us in the first quarter and took control of the football game and never let us get back in it," said coach Bobby Johnson. "They were tougher than we were, more physical, and we just didn't have what it took to get back in there."

There was little trickery to the Auburn offense. It was a heavy dose of running with some short passes mixed in for Cox. For Vanderbilt, getting into position and making tackles was the main problem. When Vanderbilt did make tackles, the Auburn runner was usually able to fall forward for extra yards.

"It's not a hard game," Langford said. "We just need to go out and play fundamental football and tackle like we needed to, like we did last week in the previous game."

The focus now for Vanderbilt is getting sharp in its tackling and its scheme, and with Georgia coming to Nashville next weekend for Homecoming, the turnaround needs to be a quick one.

"It's very disappointing," Langford said. "We just need to forget about it and move on to the next week. This game's over and we can't change it; a good defense will bounce back."