Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea made a surprising decision when he opted to go for fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter against Auburn with the score tied at 38, rather than kick a field goal to take the lead.

Quarterback Diego Pavia took the ball himself on a rush attempt, but that got blown up. No. 16 Vanderbilt football (8-2, 4-2 SEC, No. 16 in CFP) ended up still winning the game, 45-38 in overtime on Nov. 8 at FirstBank Stadium.

Lea said that the decision was made to avoid Auburn (4-6, 1-6) getting the ball back. Both teams finished with more than 500 total yards of offense.

“They had used all their timeouts,” Lea said. “It was fourth-and-1. It was a really tight one. And obviously I’ve got all the confidence in (kicker) Brock Taylor. I just felt like we were going to convert and end the game in regulation, and we were going to drive down . . . I did not want to return possession because . . . I felt like offensively, they had a lot of rhythm.”

Lea said that had the Commodores converted on the fourth down, they would not have attempted to score a touchdown. Instead, they would have kneeled to kill clock and then brought Taylor out for a potential game-winning field goal.

“I made a decision and it didn’t work out the way we wanted it,” Lea said. “That happens.”

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Clark Lea on Vanderbilt football 4th-down decision, not field goal vs Auburn