Saturday afternoon, the Auburn Tigers took the field on offense having allowed the most sacks in the nation through three weeks of the regular season.
While there are a multitude of reasons to point to as to why that mark was a reality, the Tigers left Pat Dye Field on Saturday night having put together a much better effort on that front, only allowing one sack after giving up seven a week ago.
“Perfecting our process during the week, better day-by-day,” said Auburn offensive lineman Kenneth McManus IV. “Just perfecting and just keep getting better every day. That's what we preach in the O-line room.”
That one sack drove the Tigers just back just two yards, and it came in the second quarter just before the half.
More importantly for Auburn, it did not come in the fourth quarter in the critical moments of the game, allowing Alex Golesh’s offense to run the clock out and escape with a victory.
“I don't know if there's a better feeling than forcing the ball down the throat of the defense and just seeing them lose hope as we get next first down, next first down, next first down,” said Tigers offensive tackle Stanton Ramil. “It's a great feeling to do it with the guys that you've been working hard with all year, so we love an ending like that.”
However, even despite that feeling, guys like Ramil say that just the one sack that was given up was one too many for the day.
“To be honest, one sack is still really unacceptable, and we've gotta keep Byrum off the ground,” Ramil said. “Can't have any of that. Was it a little cleaner? Maybe. Does it need to be a lot better? Hell yeah.”
A performance like that is something McManus stated was a testament to the close relationship that the entire offensive line has.
No matter the performance, he said each player in that room gets to practice ready to roll and try and improve.
“Everybody comes in there everyday and puts their hard hat on, goes to work every single day and we push each other every single day,” McManus said. “So I know we will keep pushing each other to get better.”
The challenge that lies ahead though is one that will test the Tigers front more than any team has brought in the early season.
A road trip to Tennessee stands next up on the schedule, and the Volunteers defense currently holds the most sacks in the country.
While a performance like the one Saturday was nice for Auburn, Ramil said they have to get back to work immediately for the next game up.
“It's hard to win games,” Ramil said. It's hard to win conference games. It's hard to win in the SEC, so having that confidence after a tough game like that, finishing the way that it did, being able to run the ball, it's very big. We just have to have a really big work week, go back to what we do best, go back to our process and be locked in.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
