It looked like disaster was on its way after Auburn’s lackluster start defensively against Kentucky on Saturday night.
The Tigers gave up 10 first-quarter points – a field goal and a touchdown – on their first two defensive possessions, allowing a total of 100 yards, and had no answer for Kentucky wide receiver Dane Key who hauled in a couple of miraculous catches for 55 yards to lead the scoring efforts.
“There were a couple of mental mistakes. A couple of things where we really just need to lock in on our job. And once we lock in our job, we look really good,” defensive end Keldrick Faulk said postgame. “I feel like we figured that out. We are really good when we hone in on what we’re really supposed to do.”
After the explosive start, the Tigers’ defense held Kentucky to just 36 yards in the second and third quarters – six yards in the third – and forced five total punts and two interceptions in a phenomenal defensive effort that held the Wildcats to just 224 total yards.
The underlying question heading into the fourth quarter was if the Tigers’ defense could hold on and make enough plays to hold on to their lead after struggling to finish in last week's game against Missouri in which they allowed a 95-yard game winning drive in the end.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” cornerback Kayin Lee said postgame. “We just knew, the whole week. We just wanted to fight and just finish, especially when we got up in the game. I just kept telling everybody ‘Let’s just finish.’ That’s our biggest thing, we’ve got to finish.”
It was Lee who put the dagger in the hopes of the Kentucky faithful as he hauled in an interception on a goal line stand late in the fourth quarter.
“I saw 6 (Key) go in motion. I knew they wanted to get him the ball. So, I knew they were going to throw it the whole time, and I was like ‘let me go make a play.’ And that’s what I did,” Lee said.
“That play by Kayin Lee was -- we were in man coverage and they motion all the way over and all the way back. You see it stopped some, but to get there and pick it? It was a pretty phenomenal effort,” head coach Hugh Freeze added.
Lee was not alone in turning the Wildcats over on Saturday as his true freshman defensive counterpart Jay Crawford hauled in his first career interception after taking on a bigger role within the Tigers’ defense recently.
“That’s my brother,” Lee said. “We talk about this all the time, so that means a lot that we were both able to do it. For his first one, that’s big. That made me so happy, I was like ‘I’ve got to go get one for my lil bro now.’”
Faulk, who leads the Tigers in sacks now with seven after adding two to his total tonight – his third game this season with multiple sacks – continues to prove that he is a force to be reckoned with for opposing offensive lines.
“Just confidence being more confident when I step on the field,” Faulk said of his defensive surge this season. “Last year, it was my freshman year, and I still should have grown up a little sooner than what I did… Now I feel like I’m playing more confident once I step on the field. It just feels more natural to me now.”
Dorian Mausi, a senior linebacker transfer from Duke, made his presence felt often and early, leading the team with a season-high 10 tackles – seven in the first half – and making plays all over the field.
But the senior knows that in the SEC, it’s on to the next.
"Honestly, it's a good win — we'll be happy about it tonight," Mausi said. "But when we get back in that building, we’ve got to go play. It's a great feeling we won. But it's on to the next."
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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
