Auburn’s defense looked sharper against Vanderbilt, but Cody Sigler wasn’t interested in handing out too many compliments.
The Tigers had just given up 44 points to Florida a week earlier, a game that featured a huge performance from Florida running back Jadan Baugh. Against Vanderbilt, Auburn steadied itself and allowed 15 points, with the Commodores finding the end zone once and kicking three field goals. Still, Sigler said the standard inside the room is much higher than that.
“We still could have done better. We feel like they shouldn’t have even scored.
I feel like when they score, we are doing stuff we shouldn’t be doing. We weren’t urgent.
That is the biggest thing we are trying to fix. When we are urgent, I feel like we can be the best defense in the country.”
Sigler helped set that tone on the field, too. The Arkansas State transfer blocked a Vanderbilt field goal late in the second quarter and finished with four tackles.
Safety Sylvester Smith-Reed saw enough progress to call out the defense’s ability to hold up when it mattered most. For him, the key was the same old formula.
“It was big. It was bend, but don't break defense,” he said.
“You get all the way down there and just stand tall and hold them to three. That's always big… It gets pretty tough, but in the same sense, that's what we train for and being in those types of situations, running a long time, it's just difficult.
So, mentally staying locked in, and not wavering is one of the bigger things.”
Auburn limited Vanderbilt to 311 total yards, including 199 through the air and 112 on the ground. The biggest improvement showed up on third down, where the Tigers held the Commodores to 4-for-17 after the issues that plagued them the week before.
There were still cracks to clean up. Vanderbilt went 4-for-5 on fourth down and was perfect on both red-zone chances, so Auburn’s defense was better without being finished.
Even so, it was a step in the right direction, and Auburn will try to carry that into next week’s matchup with Tennessee and the rest of its SEC schedule.
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