The 5-0 and seventh-ranked Auburn Tigers have weathered the toughest opening stretch of any Top 25 team in college football this season, and that was the easy part.
Auburn does not have any home games this month and will travel to No. 10 Florida and No. 5 LSU – “How about that? Now that’s a schedule,” Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said this week in a news conference – and November’s slate contains visits from No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama. Wins away from home over No. 11 Oregon and No. 17 Texas A&M are now ancient history for Auburn, which again is playing on the sport’s biggest stage this weekend by visiting the also 5-0 Gators.
Fortunately for Malzahn, he has a defensive front under coordinator Kevin Steele and position coach Rodney Garner that could keep the Tigers in the most demanding of tests this side of the NFL.
“We felt like we knew what we were going to get for the most part from our guys through the spring and fall camp, because we had so many guys back,” Malzahn said. “We have a lot of guys who have played in big games before. When you play in those big games, like the SEC championship two years ago, there is nothing like experience that can help you moving forward.
“We have some leaders that have been there and done that.”
Nowhere is that more evident than across a front wall defensively headed by seniors Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson and juniors Nick Coe and Big Kat Bryant.
Brown, Davidson and Coe, who redshirted in 2016, elected to bypass early exits to the NFL and have helped spearhead a unit that is allowing just 95.2 rushing yards per game and 3.09 yards a carry. Auburn also has averaged 6.8 tackles for loss and 2.6 sacks a game.
“I feel like we’re doing well,” Davidson said. “We’re rushing the quarterback with four people, and every team wants to rush the quarterback with four people. As a defensive line, we just feel like we need to finish and get more sacks. We get a lot of knockdowns and pressures, but we need to take that next step.
“We’re getting in the heads of quarterbacks, but there is something about sacks.”
Auburn’s defense was ravaged in the opening quarter of the opening game against Oregon, but the Tigers held the Ducks to 23 yards on 21 carries over the last three quarters and rallied for a 27-21 triumph. The Tigers held Tulane to 223 yards and two field goals in the second game and limited Kent State to 2.9 yards per carry in improving to 3-0.
The Tigers were underdogs in their Sept. 21 game at Texas A&M but quickly made the Aggies one-dimensional by holding them to 56 yards on 21 rushes.
Mississippi State arrived at Jordan-Hare Stadium last Saturday with the league’s leading rusher, but Auburn smothered Kylin Hill, limiting him to 45 yards on 17 carries. Hill had been averaging 137.8 yards a game.
“I don’t think he liked that we were loading the box against him,” Brown said afterward. “He was trying to wait until we unloaded the box. He was getting frustrated throughout the night, and I would have been, too, if I was in his situation.”
Auburn’s run defense could be the deciding factor Saturday, with Florida ranking 11th in the conference with 141.4 rushing yards a game. The Gators faced an experienced front seven in the opener against Miami, when they rushed for 50 yards on 28 carries, but the Tigers may pose an even stiffer challenge.
That’s certainly the hope of Malzahn, who knows he has a quality contingent that has impacted outcomes each week.
“They’ve played very good football all year,” Malzahn said. “You think back to the Tulane game, and offensively we really struggled, but our defense really rose up when we were struggling and allowed us to get to the second half and start moving the ball. There is going to be a time that the offense is going to need to help out the defense, but we’ve got good chemistry and we have some veteran guys.
“They know that we have a freshman quarterback, but he is improving and will continue to improve.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.