Auburn's defense has "no excuse," and it must play better vs. Arkansas
The Tigers' defensive effort so far won't cut it against the SEC. Here's more on that, along with three young players on the rise.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — This past Saturday marked the fourth straight year that New Mexico played a team from the SEC.
In 2021, the Lobos only had 122 yards of offense in a 34-0 loss at Texas A&M. In 2022, they only had 88 yards in a 38-0 loss at LSU. And, in 2023, they opened their season with 222 yards in a 52-10 loss back at Texas A&M.
But, in 2024, New Mexico had 448 yards of offense and 19 points against Auburn. The Lobos led twice in the first half and entered the second half only down by a few.
“Defensively, we did get two takeaways, but we seemed chaotic and unsure,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said Monday. “Now, I will say, (New Mexico) had an open week, and they threw the kitchen sink at us. Every formation, every motion, every unbalanced (set) — and a quarterback that can run around and make plays.
“But we didn't tackle well. I didn't think our effort was great. Hopefully, that's a good learning lesson for us.”
Perhaps New Mexico is set for a major turnaround with Bronco Mendenhall now in charge and Devon Dampier making plays as its new starting quarterback. Maybe the Lobos’ offense, which put up 470 yards and 39 points at Arizona two weeks ago, is going to be a tricky matchup for whoever it faces this season.
“It was just a lot coming at us pretty fast there in the first half,” Freeze said. “But, there's no excuse for us.”
Although Auburn’s defense stepped up and only allowed one (controversial) touchdown drive in the second half, the standards on the Plains are much higher than that — especially against one of the least-successful FBS programs of the last decade.
The challenges only get tougher from here for Auburn, with the exception of a tune-up against ULM later this season.
They start Saturday afternoon in the SEC opener against Arkansas, which looks “much improved” with old pal Bobby Petrino calling plays and several new faces in the starting lineup. Petrino will square off with Auburn defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, who was on the same staff with him at Texas A&M last year.
“I did ask D.J. if anything's changed, and he said it's very similar,” Freeze said. “What makes (Petrino) so different is, typically, a very, very good mixture of the pro-style offense with some of the college flair in it. Doing it with a lot of big sets, a lot of tight ends that present extra gaps in the run game. He's able to throw all the three-level routes and the play action off of it, also. If you can get into 12 personnel, being effective running the ball, and take shots out of it? That's scary.”
In two games against FBS opponents, Arkansas has averaged 6.85 yards per play and 34 points per contest. Last season, the Razorbacks averaged 4.82 yards per play and 23.9 points per game against the FBS. This is not the same offense that slumped to just 255 yards and 10 points in a blowout loss at home to Auburn last November.
And, so far, this doesn’t look like the same Auburn defense that dominated that game. The Tigers gave up 6.04 yards per carry to the Lobos and an alarmingly high number of explosive passing plays.
“It looked like we were tired,” Freeze said. “I thought we played slow and not very disciplined. Too many penalties.”
Freeze, Durkin and the defensive staff definitely have a lot to clean up and correct in order for Auburn to have a good chance of walking out of its SEC opener against Arkansas with a victory.
Here’s more of what we heard about the Tigers’ defense, along with some important injury notes and several young players on the rise, from Freeze’s press conference to open Week 4.