Auburn football improved on third down against Vanderbilt, but DJ Durkin's defense went 0-for-4 on fourth-down stops. Opponents have converted 11 of 16 fourth-down attempts through four games, creating another defensive issue Alex Golesh wants fixed.
The Auburn Tigers defense actually got better on third down against Vanderbilt.
Now it has to figure out fourth down.
Because it doesn't really matter whether Auburn gives up the conversion on third-and-6 or fourth-and-1.
The defense still isn't getting off the field.
"Third and Durkin" has been a pretty consistent frustration through the first few weeks of the season. And defensive coordinator DJ Durkin has received his fair amount of criticism.
But against Vanderbilt, Auburn was much better on third down.
"We were really good on third down," Golesh said.
The problem is Auburn repeatedly followed those stops by giving Vanderbilt another opportunity.
And Vanderbilt took advantage of them.
"We had four fourth downs and didn't convert on any of them," Golesh said. "We had three fourth-and-ones, we had a fourth-and-three, and didn't get a stop on any of them."
Golesh views those situations as something bigger than simply another defensive snap.
"Those are turnovers that need to go our way," Golesh said.
And he's right, especially when Auburn has already done the work necessary to force fourth down.
And this isn't simply a Vanderbilt problem. Auburn has already faced 16 fourth-down attempts through four games and thier opponents have converted 11.
That just isn't good enough.
Seven of those attempts have reportedly been fourth-and-1.
That's a pretty unusual amount of fourth downs to defend this early in the season, but they still need to be more effective in those situations.
And obviously, fourth-and-1 isn't exactly an ideal situation for a defense.
But Auburn can't just accept that.
If teams are going to continue going for it against this defense, Auburn has to eventually make them pay for it, because one fourth-down stop can completely change a game.
It's essentially a takeaway without forcing a fumble or interception, and Auburn had four opportunities to create those moments against Vanderbilt. To immediately hand the ball back to Byrum Brown and the offense, but instead the team continued to lose the battle against time of possession.
The encouraging part is Auburn took a step toward solving the original problem. It got Vanderbilt into fourth down. Something it certainly struggled with in the SEC opener against Florida.
But now, it has to finish.
