The Auburn Tigers stormed back in the second half of Saturday’s game against the Arkansas Razorbacks to win yet another close game, winning 26-23 inside of Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Tigers were propelled to the win by another game-winning field goal from Alex McPherson, who knocked home a 43-yard kick with 33 seconds left in regulation, marking his second of the season.
Intense defensive pressure on the ensuing Razorbacks drive saw a hook and ladder drill begin, but Auburn forced enough to end the game and send its home crowd home happy.
Tigers Head Coach Alex Golesh spoke to the media after the game in his postgame presser, touching on a lot of subjects in a game that delivered a lot of adversity to the boys in orange and blue.
Here were some of Golesh’s most notable quotes from the conference.
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On the performance from his defense:
“Defensively, I thought we did a really, really solid job. So many guys had to step up. We came in beat up, and we got more beat up. To see some of young guys step up — and I said it earlier in the week — we were going to have to go play some guys that hadn't played a ton. That was a challenge to us. I felt like, a week ago, we just played too many snaps defensively without rolling guys. We were gonna roll anyways. Some of it was forced. But there's a handful of guys that stepped up in a big way.”
On the news of Bryce Deas’ injury:
“Bryce had an injury. It really happened Wednesday at practice. We thought we could club it up and go. He got a second, third opinion Thursday night in Birmingham and ended up having surgery. So he's going to be done for the year. I saw him on the sideline. He had surgery yesterday and refused to stay home against doctor's orders. So he was on the sideline. I'm sure he doesn't feel awesome, but that's who Bryce Deas is, especially when you need him too.”
On his team being able to win close games:
“I just told our guys in there, man, this building a foundation is so incredibly hard, and I know I've said this before. It has nothing to do with me. It's a group of guys buying into this, laying a foundation. whatever that looks like on the outside world, that's hard. There's a lot of guys that ran away from that. There's a lot of guys that ran to it, and sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees. But these examples of just playing the next play, going and finishing, that's what you build a foundation on. Sometimes they're ugly wins, but wins in this league are hard.”
On Alex McPherson:
“He’s what Auburn football is, man. Fight, perseverance, grit like that dude is as special a human being as they come. I said it three weeks ago. He's still the same guy, and to boink an extra point off of an upright, literally the only thing I said to him then was, ‘It's gonna come back down to you, just so you know.’ And otherwise, you leave him alone.”
On Byrum Brown’s perseverance:
“I think the experience for Byrum, I mean, when you've started as many games as he has and has had a consistent voice in his ear as long as he has and a consistent message as long as he has, you kind of like been there, done that. The message to him every single drive was just man, ‘It's about to be your time, dude. It's about to be your time.’ I told these guys coming out of half, I'm like offensively, we're just about to get our swag back, man. You're a big play away from getting your swag back, and he's such a big part of that.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
