As a swift breeze swirled and a light rain fell around Kyle Field in the fourth quarter of Auburn’s 26-10 win over Texas A&M, many of the 104,625 fans originally in attendance had already exited.
A week after surrendering a season-high 558 yards to Ole Miss, the Auburn defense quieted the Aggie faithful and their offense in the defense’s best performance of the season in College Station, Texas, Saturday night.
The Tigers held dynamic Texas A&M quarterback Kyler Murray in check, forced three turnovers and helped Auburn record its first win of the season over an SEC West team.
Murray was held at bay all night, as the true freshman gained only 105 yards passing and 37 yards on the ground in his second career start.
“He’s like a video game,” said coach Gus Malzahn. “He can really make things happen when things break down. (Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp) had a great plan (to) try to keep him in the pocket and make him play traditional quarterback … For the most part, we did that. He got loose a time or two, but we did a good job.”
The defense coaxed Murray into three interceptions on the night, including one in the end zone and another at the Auburn one-yard line.
“We knew he was going to throw it to us if we made him play quarterback,” said linebacker Kris Frost. “We exploited that part of the game, and it came up in our favor.”
The defense held Texas A&M to only 10 points, the lowest total since Samford scored seven at Jordan-Hare Stadium last November. The Tigers also allowed only 303 yards, the lowest total given up since they surrendered 280 to LSU in 2014.
Though the defensive performances have been underwhelming thus far in 2015, the defense turned a corner after giving up an average of 447 yards per game through the first eight contests.
After continuing to work hard in practice, linebacker Justin Garrett knew the breakthrough was coming.
“The team didn’t feel negative or anything like that,” Garrett said. “We just knew one game it was going to all click together and we were all going to play good.”
As Auburn enters the final fourth of the season searching for bowl eligibility and momentum entering next season, the Tigers will rely on the defense to continue turning in performances such as the one against the Aggies.
Above and beyond the performance in one game, Malzahn was pleased to see his team’s hard work pay off.
“I’m happy for our players, to see the smiles and the good feelings in the locker room,” Malzahn said. “They’ve worked hard, and it’s a lot of fun to see that.”
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