Auburn’s win begs question: ‘Is there anything more Auburn than Cody Sigler?’
In the midst of all of the excitement from an upset 27-24 thriller over the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs, Auburn Head Coach Alex Golesh had to take things in and recap what went right in the game for his team.
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Golesh recapped many crucial moments in the game, one of which was a late fumble by Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton that helped lead to the Tigers setting up a game-winning field goal by Alex McPherson.
Who was credited with that forced fumble? It was defensive lineman Cody Sigler.
“Is there anything more Auburn than Cody Sigler?” said Alex Golesh. “Fellow redhead. Half-swallowed his cigar in there. He said, 'That's why I came to Auburn.' Pretty special. That dude works like that, though.”
This season, Sigler is second among defensive linemen in total tackles, putting up 18 to go along with a sack and two forced fumbles.
Upon further look at the tape, the Arkansas State transfer never physically got his hand on the ball. However, he did get the pressure inside to force Stockton to move forward and knock into his center Drew Bobo, which caused the loose ball.
No matter what truly happened, Sigler’s play was a definition of what Defensive Coordinator DJ Durkin has helped him do all year, which was get in a spot to make something happen.
“Durk's always going to put us in the right position,” Sigler said. “That was just the right play at the right time. I was able to stick my arm out and get it. People were saying I couldn't see it. But I could barely see it, and I just punched it out. But we got a long way to go.”
Durkin has seen the work that Sigler has put in ever since he got to the Plains, and to him, it has helped the defense out in a number of ways.
At the end of the day, that work has helped the defense become better, which is what Durkin thinks stands out the most.
“His effort is incredible,” Durkin said. “You take a guy with talent and ability and put that type of effort with it, that’s when you get a dynamic guy, a guy that is incredibly productive. He’s involved in so many things for us… Can’t say enough. That’s probably a great way to put it, ‘who’s more Auburn than Cody?’ We’re so glad to have him. He’s a great teammate. He motivates guys to play better around him, which is pretty cool.”
The Tigers trailed to the Bulldogs 14-0 early, putting them in a severe hole early on the road. Auburn had not beaten Georgia in Athens since 2005, and that mark was putting it in early jeopardy of falling again.
Sigler said though that even with the deficit, the Tigers had been so close in their losses that it felt like something had to come through eventually.
At the end of the night, it did.
“That’s a really good football team,” Sigler said. “ I think we are too. But the last games that we lost, we had them. We either tied ‘er up at halftime, and we let them come back. And I feel like this whole week, they really stressed on it. We knew we were going to be in that position. We start fast, and we gotta finish strong. I feel like that's what we really did.”
Sigler finished with just one tackle and the forced fumble in the win, but his impact felt like so much more than what the numbers show.
Even in the shortcomings of the team on Saturday, Sigler said it was a lesson that not giving up was extremely important.
“Next-play mentality,” Sigler said. “No matter what you got, you always got a chance to win a game. Fourteen points, that's really nothing in the football game. That's just two possessions away from getting back in.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
