Auburn football is four games into the Alex Golesh era, but the Tigers are still searching for their identity. With Byrum Brown, the rushing attack and tackling still inconsistent, Auburn's first road test against Tennessee could reveal how quickly this team is developing.
The Auburn Tigers are four games into the Alex Golesh era, and we still do not completely know what the identity of this team is yet.
And apparently, Golesh doesn't either.
That's what made one of his comments about Tennessee interesting to me Monday.
"I think they know who they are from an identity standpoint," Golesh said. "We've talked so much about our identity and as we continue to build what that looks like."
That could be an issue as they are preparing to go on their first road game of the season to Knoxville to take on his former team, the Tennessee Volunteers. It seems pretty clear that Josh Heupel knows what he wants his team to be, and Auburn is still figuring it out.
We have certainly seen that on the offensive side.
Auburn rushed for 343 yards against Southern Miss, couldn't consistently run it against Florida, and then had to get increasingly creative to find rushing success against Vanderbilt.
The offensive line has already changed, and left tackle was a rotating door on Saturday.
The Tigers are still figuring out exactly how much they want to use Byrum Brown as a runner. And the answer they come up with will likely be not enough.
The slow starts have also continued to follow them throughout the first four games of the year.
But Golesh also made it clear that Week 5 is around the time when some of this needs to start coming together.
"Good football teams go get better week to week to week," Golesh said.
That's really the challenge for Auburn now, especially in a tough environment like Neyland Stadium.
On defense, they must fight their kryptonite and slow down missed tackles.
The Tigers missed 24 tackles against Florida and 16 against Vanderbilt. They were better on third down against Vanderbilt, but Vanderbilt went 4-for-4 on fourth down.
Those mistakes didn't prevent Auburn from winning 21-15.
They might eventually, especially when you're playing a more talented unit like Tennessee, who only lost by a field goal to the number one team in the country last Saturday.
The defensive front is creating disruption, and young players like Jourdin Crawford are starting to earn bigger roles and making the most of every rep they're on the field.
Special teams essentially decided the Vanderbilt game with a blocked punt for a touchdown, but that area of the game needs to be seen more as a complement, not something that keeps you battling for the lead against a tough conference opponent.
Golesh said Tennessee plays on all three sides of the ball like it understands exactly what its identity is. So far, we can't say exactly the same for the Tigers.
It's smart to remind ourselves it's only been four games into a brand-new coaching regime, and we're starting to see pieces of what Golesh wants it to become. Now those pieces have to start showing up together, especially in their toughest stretch of the year.
