A week after moving on from their head coach, Auburn named defensive coordinator DJ Durkin interim head coach and travelled to Nashville to play a frisky Vanderbilt team led by quarterback Diego Pavia, who had won his previous two matchups against Auburn.
The first game of the Durkin era at Auburn felt like the inverse of most of the season so far, as the Auburn offense came out humming (and remained so for the whole game) while their defense couldn’t get a stop when it mattered most.
This one would need extra time to finally settle the score, and Vanderbilt made more plays down the stretch and outlasted Auburn in an offensive thriller.
Auburn lost the football game, so we’ll start with the bad…
1. Defense:
We’ll loop the defense in as a whole for this segment, as unlike most of the year, the defense let Auburn down in this one.
Save for the first game of the season against Baylor, the defense has seldom been a point of issue this season, and hadn’t given up more than 24 points all season long, until Saturday.
Although the game went into overtime so the stats are inflated, Auburn gave up 377 passing yards and 167 yards on the ground, for a total of 544 yards. Whopping numbers. These 544 yards helped Vanderbilt score a whopping 45 total points. Unfortunate display from the defense, which had been stingy for most of the season.
Be it a tumultuous week with the head coach getting fired and their defensive coordinator promoted to interim head coach, Durkin in turn having less time to install a defensive gameplan due to this change etc. the defensive performance was certainly cause for concern.
2. End of first half defense:
The drive started with just under 2 minutes left in the first half. Vanderbilt had only managed 3 points offensively in the game so far and were searching for answers.
They only took three plays to find those answers, as the drive started on the Vanderbilt 25 yard line and ended up in the Auburn end zone 3 plays and 75 yards later.
The only good part about Vanderbilt scoring so quickly was that it gave the Auburn offense enough time on the clock to muster up a drive and score some points of their own before half, but the haste in which Vanderbilt scored on their drive was overwhelmingly concerning.
The Auburn defense was non-competitive on this drive, which only lasted 3 plays. Not ideal.
3. Finishing Games:
Having the “it” factor, players or teams being “winners”” or possessing innate “losing” traits on the flipside feel like lazy takes, but when your team consistently loses close games, these traits become common themes.
Auburn had leads in this game. They had chances to put the game away and keep their foot on the gas so to speak, but they let Vanderbilt hang around with some poor redzone execution in the first half and they ultimately paid the price.
It feels as though Auburn has been on the wrong end of both many big plays and games this season which have decided games, and each clutch situation goes the other way. It’s lazy analysis, but this team unfortunately crumbles in high leverage situations time after time.
And now for the good..
1. Quarterback Play:
Ah, a breath of fresh air to see competent Quarterback play for Auburn this season. It feels like it’s been a while.
Auburn’s offense looked in rhythm, on schedule, and explosive. Limiting pre-snap penalties, and staying ahead of the sticks was imperative, and that all starts under centre.
Backup Ashton Daniels made his second start in an Auburn uniform after transferring to the Plains in the offseason from Stanford, and he showed the leadership and understanding of the offense that Auburn has been coveting this season.
Daniels finished with 2 TDs through the air, and mixed in 2 on the ground as well, while not committing a turnover. He amassed 353 yards on 31 attempts, the first Auburn 300-yard passer this season.
2. Cam Coleman:
Cam Coleman played his best game in an Auburn uniform. Point blank. He showed why he was a highly touted recruit and reminded the country that he’s one of the best players not only at his position, but in all of college football.
Coleman didn’t only make the splash plays, but was also a reliable target volume wise, ultimately catching 10 passes.
On the stat sheet, Coleman caught 10 balls for 143 yards and a touchdown, but just watching him you could immediately see his eye-popping athleticism and dominance.
He made 3 highlight reel catches in this one, the first on the sideline early in the second half, and the other two in the end zone (one resulted in a touchdown, and the second was a two-point conversion).
Coleman utilizes a rare combination of speed, size, strength, and ball skills which when put together can give defensive backs nightmares. He is unrecoverable at times due to his size, and games like today make fans believe he can be a reliable weapon in Auburn’s offense. About time they featured him.
Good to see him take over a game.
3. Turnovers:
A clean game for Auburn in the turnover department. Good to see. Daniels did not throw an interception, and although the Tigers ballcarriers put two balls on the ground, Auburn recovered both of these so the ball did not change hands.
On the road, with a quarterback making his second start of the season, against an opportunistic defense that had forced 11 total turnovers so far, Auburn not committing a turnover certainly helped their offensive prowess in this one, allowing them to stay on schedule and in rhythm.
After a tumultuous week that included the naming of an interim coach and all the distractions that come with that and uncertainty at many of the coaching positions, it was good to see Auburn go on the road and compete.
They showed an effort, relentlessness, and preparedness that had seldom been seen this season. Mental fortitude was on display in droves, shown from both the coaching staff, and the players. Not an easy week for anyone.
All that being said, Auburn unfortunately came up short again and fall to 4-6 on the season. Credit to Vanderbilt, Head Coach Clark Lea has built a playoff contender in Nashville. Impressive to see from a school that historically has been at the bottom of the SEC.
Quarterback Diego Pavia notches another victory against Auburn, increasing his record to 3-0 after the 45-38 victory in overtime in the most recent installment.
The tumultuous season continues, and Auburn still is searching for a permanent Head Coach. As of right now, DJ Durkin is roaming the sidelines so players will have to rally behind him.
The Tigers will have a week off before hosting the Mercer Bears at Jordan-Hare Stadium before the Iron Bowl. This season has been long and felt like it’s lasted forever, but quick at the same time. Weird how that works.
An extra week of practices, game planning, and much needed rest.
Bring on Mercer.
As always… War Eagle!
