Auburn football's defense struggled in a 44-39 loss to Florida, allowing 262 rushing yards and recording 24 missed tackles. DJ Durkin's unit couldn't get off the field as Jadan Baugh rushed for 162 yards and three touchdowns. What must Alex Golesh's Tigers fix before their next SEC game?
The Auburn Tigers defense was supposed to be the strength of this football team.
And for the first two games of the season, it looked like that might be the case. A first week goal line stand to save the victory in Atlanta against the Baylor Bears certainly made it feel that way.
But Saturday night's 44-39 loss to Florida exposed some serious problems for DJ Durkin's defense, particularly when it came to getting off the field.
Florida converted seven of its 15 third-down attempts and went 3-for-3 on fourth down. The Gators ran 76 offensive plays, controlled roughly 40 minutes of possession and rushed for 262 yards.
That's a lot of football for Auburn's defense to play. And the unit was gassed for the majority of the contest.
And the most frustrating part is that the Tigers had opportunities to get off the field. They just couldn't finish plays.
According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Auburn recorded 24 missed tackles. Xavier Atkins and Da'Shawn Womack were credited with five apiece.
I thought Auburn's tackling was an issue against Baylor, particularly with the linebackers filling gaps and stopping the run. Florida took advantage of those same problems, and the results were significantly worse.
Jadan Baugh finished with 162 rushing yards and three touchdowns, including two big runs where he wasn't touched. Duke Clark, the Gators backup running back also made Auburn pay, including a touchdown run on 3rd-and-20.
How does that happen? Especially on a play where it seemed Florida's Offensive Coordinator, Buster Faulkner, was conceding. Auburn had Florida in a situation where a stop could have forced a field goal before halftime. Instead, the Gators scored a touchdown.
Those are the plays that change football games, and unfortunately, this one was full of them.
It wasn't just the missed tackles. Auburn struggled with defensive communication, allowing explosive plays and failing to get lined up correctly.
"There were some misalignments," Golesh said afterward. "They did a good job with some unbalanced stuff that we didn't adjust as well as we needed to."
Golesh also acknowledged that Auburn's offense put the defense in difficult situations.
The Tigers finished the first quarter with minus-3 yards of total offense, and the defense spent much of the night trying to recover from those early possessions.
Auburn fought back to tie the game at 17, only for Florida to score 17 unanswered points. The defense couldn't stop the Gators when Auburn needed it most.
And that's what concerns me moving forward.
Auburn's offense has plenty of problems to correct, but I expected the defense to give this team opportunities to win games while Golesh figures things out offensively.
Instead, Auburn scored 39 points and lost. Something I never expected.
This was the most points in a loss Auburn has allowed at Jordan-Hare Stadium since 2012, and it happened in Alex Golesh's first attempt against a conference opponent. Not ideal.
The Tigers have to tackle better, communicate better, and find a way to get off the field.
Because if Auburn's defense can't do those things consistently, it's going to be difficult to win SEC football games.
In other words, a lot of what this program has seen over the last 5 years.
