The Auburn Tigers handled business in a dominating win over the Alabama A&M Bulldogs on Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium, scorching the Bulldogs 73-3.
Large part of that was the intensity brought on the defensive side of the ball from DJ Durkin and the veteran presence along the defensive front.
“All in all, we got a lot of kids in. Held out Isaiah (Raikes) and got his ankle some rest. So, hopefully we can learn from the mistakes we did make and be improved next week,” said Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze.
The Tigers’ lived in the backfield early and often, recording 11 tackles for loss including three sacks on A&M quarterback Cornelious Brown and forcing five three-and-outs in the first half. Jalen McLeod led the way for the defense with five tackles and recorded his first sack on the season.
The addition of Keyron Crawford and having a guy like Keldric Faulk able to wreak havoc on the inside is large part in McLeod’s success.
“It’s a lot of versatility,” McLeod said. “You can’t just focus on me. You’ve got to focus on two more people. It’s four people that we’ve got that can rush the quarterback this year. So, that right there, just put on film that we’ve got people that can move any way.”
Dominating an overmatched Alabama A&M offensive line, the Tiger’s defense held the Bulldog rushing attack to under 40 yards in the game, giving Durkin and his squad a lot of momentum riding into the season.
“With much tougher games ahead, it gives us a lot of confidence, McLeod said. “We put in a lot of work during the summer for stopping the run, emphasizing that, and that’s what we did tonight. We’ve got to keep doing that when we play big opponents.”
With the dominating performance, the Tigers’ do have a few miscues to clean up heading into a week two matchup with a tougher opponent. Committing two crucial 15-yard penalties, and a few miss-alignments defensively, Freeze and Durkin know that’s something to emphasize in the coming week.
“I think DJ would agree that we misaligned too many times, and you expect some of that in the opener, because you’re really not sure what you’re going to see and you may not have worked everything that you see, but we’ve got to be able to adjust and line up correctly,” Freeze said.
The Tiger’s look to carry their dominating performance into week two as the California Golden Bears make the cross-country trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CTS and will be televised on ESPN2.
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Logan Fowler is a Senior from Sumiton, Alabama and is majoring in journalism. He joined the Plainsman in Spring 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @loganffowler
