Auburn’s issues against Florida weren’t just about missed tackles and busted alignments. According to Alex Golesh, the bigger surprise was how emotionally wound up the Tigers were when the SEC opener kicked off.
Golesh said Monday that he expected a steadier group after what he described as a solid week of practice, but instead Auburn looked “So amped, playing like heart-rate-going-crazy amped,” as he put it to reporters. The first-year Auburn head coach said the defense in particular never seemed to settle into the game.
“We use the term ‘settle in’ a lot probably as coaches... Felt like defensively we were that way and never got settled.”
That lack of calm showed up in a rough afternoon for the Tigers defense. Auburn gave up 44 points and 495 yards to Florida, and the Gators repeatedly hit big plays. Pro Football Focus credited Auburn with 24 missed tackles, a number that helped turn routine snaps into explosive gains.
Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin pointed to the same issue from his side of the ball. He said the team’s energy crossed the line into mistakes.
“Playing with emotion is good, but you can’t be emotional,” Auburn defensive coordinator DJ Durkin said on Monday. “I think we were amped up in that game a lot, and it led to some basic mistakes.”
Durkin said the staff tried to settle the group down at halftime, but the problems still showed up early in the second half. Auburn also had a number of players making their first SEC appearance, which may have added to the tension. Still, Durkin noted that several of the mistakes came from players who usually do not make those kinds of simple errors.
Golesh said the week leading into Florida had gone well enough that the emotional response caught him off guard. He believed the team was in a good place schematically, but not in the right place mentally once the game started.
“You feel like, man, schematically, we’re where we want to be, and you end up coming out way more emotional than you want to,” Golesh said. “At least to me, you’ve got to be able to just settle in, and play play-to-play-to-play, and we didn’t do a good enough job.
“And again, that goes back to we obviously somewhere in our process in the lead-up didn’t coach it well enough to be able to just settle down and settle in and go play.”
Auburn gets another shot to clean it up this Saturday with a home SEC matchup against Vanderbilt. The game is set for 3:15 CT on SEC Network.
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The issues have been easy to spot, especially up front and in the running game, where the offensive line has needed attention. Byrum Browns hesitation has also limited the downfield passing attack, and the staff has responded with personnel changes along the line and a push to open things up vertically. Auburn is clearly trying to move past the early inconsistency, but the part of the offense that can change the ceiling still looks like the biggest question. [Read more 🡒]