It's fitting that Halloween falls during Vanderbilt-Auburn week, as Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is about to receive his third consecutive visit from the nightmare Diego Pavia.

Across four schools and two time zones, Pavia, now the Commodores' quarterback, stalked, harassed and harassed Freeze. This weekend the two will meet for the third straight time as Vanderbilt travels to the Plains. It's not a match anyone would have circled around before the season, but it's a game both teams desperately need for very different reasons.

Vanderbilt and Auburn are literally mirror images of each other at this point. The Commodores are 5-3, the Tigers are 3-5. Vanderbilt is a historic doormat that has enjoyed unprecedented success in modern times; Auburn is a former national champion who spent a decade searching for answers. Vanderbilt defeated Alabama; Auburn is on a three-game Iron Bowl losing streak. Oh, and while Auburn is still searching for answers at quarterback, Vanderbilt has found a generational answer in Pavia.

“I’m sick of seeing this quarterback,” Freeze joked earlier this week. “I’ve had enough of him.”

You can understand why. In 2022, Pavia and New Mexico State beat Freeze's Liberty team 49-14. All Pavia did was pass for three touchdowns, run for three more, throw for 214 yards and run for 125 yards. As shocking as that was, the next year was even more shocking.

Freeze transferred from Liberty to Auburn prior to the 2023 season. At the end of the year, Pavia's Aggies stormed into Auburn and defeated the Tigers by a score of 31-10. Pavia “only” threw three touchdowns and “only” rushed for 35 yards.

“Last year when we played Pavia, we touched the ball for the first time in the first quarter, I think, with 5:05 to go,” Freeze said. “This is unpleasant. … He moves and makes plays and is smart and clever and tough and forces everyone to do their job on every single play or you'll get burned. Here it’s three yards, even on a broken play, and it’s four yards, and it’s third-and-three, and they get three-and-a-half.”

So if you keep track, Pavia has two wins, nine touchdowns and an overall score of 80-24 against the teams led by Freeze. Yes, we would be pretty sick of him too.

Pavia entered the transfer portal at the end of last season. When former New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill joined the Vanderbilt team as a consultant, Pavia decided his future was in Nashville and moved to the Dores. The move was immensely worth it; Pavia was completely untouchable in Vandy's upset win over Alabama, and Texas struggled to put him and the Commodores away last week.

“What a competitor he is and what a job (head coach) Clark Lea and his staff have done there,” Freeze said. “To be at the Games and have the chance to win every game they play against the nation. Elite is so impressive.”

With two conference losses in a crowded SEC, Vanderbilt is likely on the outside hoping for a playoff spot. But the fact that the Commodores aren't at the bottom and looking up is a huge improvement, and Pavia's improvisational genius and unpredictability have helped burnish Vanderbilt's once-irrelevant reputation. After that win at Alabama, no one is taking the Commodores for granted this year.

Would this also apply to Auburn? Under Freeze, the team struggled greatly and couldn't find any identity on either side of the ball. Before last week's win over Kentucky, Auburn had lost four straight SEC games, and the grumbling in the stands and suites at Jordan-Hare Stadium had begun.

Freeze can point to the next year and be a sign that better days are on the horizon; The Tigers currently have the Rivals' fifth-best recruiting class for 2025. (Caveat: They're still behind three SEC teams — Alabama, LSU and Georgia — and Ohio State.) If Freeze is able to retain all of those recruits, he will he has a wealth of talent to begin the climb.

But he has to get past Vanderbilt first. And if Pavia can get their third win in a row at Freeze, their nightmare will last much longer than Saturday afternoon.