Auburn might’ve lost to Clemson, but it wasn’t because Deshaun Watson lit up the Tigers, like many expected.
The Auburn defense managed to keep Watson, Wayne Gallman and the rest of the Clemson offense in check for most of the game, and allowed 399 total yards, well under the 514.5 total yards they averaged in 2015.
Safety Tray Matthews, now a redshirt junior, is one of the more experienced members of Auburn’s secondary along with Rudy Ford, and he emphasized the importance of containing such a high-powered offense.
“I felt like we played a pretty solid game,” Matthews said. “[Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele] emphasized the whole week to keep the top on the coverage, and we just tried to answer and do what he said.”
“We didn’t get the top knocked off of the coverage, there were not explosive, long plays of easy touchdowns over the top of people,” Steele said, echoing Matthews’ sentiments. “Every catch was contested, and we tackled it relatively quick.”
They succeeded for the most part. The longest play Clemson had went for 34 yards, and the longest rush went for 20.
And even though Auburn allowed well over the yardage the defense would’ve liked to, they held Clemson to just 19 points.
“Nineteen points, against that offense, that’s a good number … we’re going to work very hard to build on the positives of the game,” Steele said. “There are some very, very good, positive things on there.”
Despite the positives, there were a few bumps in the road. Matthews started jawing with a Clemson player after a snap early in the fourth quarter which led to a Clemson touchdown three plays later.
“Yeah, I regret it. It was selfish, but I just let my emotions get the best of me,” Matthews said. “It’s just something I got to move on from, and it won’t happen again, it’s that simple.”
As one of the leaders of the Auburn defense, Matthews knows he can’t be committing unnecessary gaffes like that, especially when there are inexperienced members of the secondary looking at him as an example.
“[Steele] was like, ‘You can’t do that, man.’ He talked to me several times about the situation,” Matthews said. “Just, ‘I like you, kid, but you can’t do those kind of things.’ I know I can’t. I’m a vet, so that’ll never happen again. I told the team.”
With Arkansas State up next on the schedule, Matthews and the rest of the Auburn defense have a golden opportunity to prove the performance against Clemson wasn’t a fluke and keep the momentum going as the Tigers hope to notch their first win of the season.
“We know we’re capable of [keeping the defense strong], because coach Steele and coach McGriff, and coach [Rodney Garner] and [coach Travis Williams], they have game plans and they know all about strengths and weaknesses, and they’ll put them together, and we feel like we’ll come back and have another great game,” Matthews said.
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