Florida’s 44 points were the most a DJ Durkin defense has given up in his tenure on the Plains. Both Durkin and head coach Alex Golesh feel some of what contributed to the gaffes was being too hyped up for the SEC opener.
“We never felt like we were able to get our cleats in the ground, communicate, adjust, and then be perfect in our fits. I thought from a focus standpoint we were off,” Golesh said.
Durkin put it this way, “It led to some basic mistakes, not typical, guys who normally don’t do that either. It kind of felt crazy that way. I kept waiting for them to just settle in and play and it didn’t happen that way.”
Both coaches added because the team was playing “too emotional,” it led to guys not getting lined up in time and a breakdown in communication when Florida changed up their looks offensively.
“It is an emotional game. You can’t play emotionally. It can’t be where I’m out of whack and out of control. To where you can’t get lined up and snap the ball. That’s the part I was really surprised with,” Golesh said.
“For the most part when there is an explosive play someone wasn’t where they were supposed to be or there was a tackle missed. Both those things we harp on a lot. They showed up big time in that game,” Durkin added.
Auburn missed a season-high 24 tackles on Saturday. Some of those directly resulted in points for the Gators. Golesh talked about what the coaches have done, over the past two days, to correct those mistakes.
“Obviously we work tackling drills every single day. We work leveraging balls every single day. The urgency with which you do that has to continue to get better as you go. When you are in position and aligned, you’re confident in your assignment way less chance of that happening. I would say over 90% of the missed tackles from Saturday were truly guys getting to spots late and then not being able to be in position to make them,” Golesh said.
Regarding his unit’s approach since Saturday, Durkin said, “It was the response you’d want. There are a lot of guys in our room that take pride in how they perform and what our standard is. I think obviously they are affected by it in a positive way and they are going to respond.”
Looking ahead to Vanderbilt, Golesh said the Commodores could rotate quarterbacks on Saturday. Highly touted freshman Jared Curtis has played in all three games while senior Blaze Berlowitz has played in two. Durkin shared with Auburn Undercover how the defense is preparing to face their first two-QB rotation.
“They do a good job of changing what they do based on how the game is going, based on who they are playing. Everything they do is schemed up. You see a lot of personnel groups you see a lot of formations. Potentially new plays in the game you are playing because it’s based on what your defense does. We’re preparing in a lot of ways,” Durkin said
Auburn will be looking to end a two-game losing streak to Vanderbilt on Saturday for homecoming. The Tigers have only lost one career home game in the series. That came in 2024, when Vandy and Diego Pavia triumphed 17-7. Auburn looks to get its season back on track ahead of an October gauntlet, when the Tigers and Commodores meet on Saturday, inside Jordan-Hare Stadium at 3:15pm.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
