Auburn football leads Vanderbilt at halftime.
Here is what the Tigers need to do in the second half to pull away from Vanderbilt:
- Pick Up 1st First Down Of Drive / Get In A Rhythm On Offense
The importance of picking up the first first-down on a drive for the Auburn offense had been preached throughout the week. The inability to do so in this game, forced the Tigers to get off to another slow start. The Tigers' first drive ended in a punt. Auburn's second drive ended in a Byrum Brown interception. Once Auburn picked up its first first down of the game, the drive ended in a Byrum Brown touchdown pass to Chase Nimrod. Unfortunately for Auburn, there was not much rhythm established by its offense outside of its scoring drive.
- Keep Putting Pressure On Jared Curtis
Auburn is dialing up the pressure and attempting to make the freshman very uncomfortable in Jordan-Hare Stadium. While the pressure has led to Curtis spilling outside the pocket at times, it is easy to see the pressure had the young quarterback feeling uncomfortable. It is going to be very important that the Tigers get to Curtis while Blitzing due to what Alex Golesh has praise and has described as something Curtis has continued to get better at, and that is his ability to create.
- Consistently Make Sound Tackles
Missed tackles were a huge problem for Auburn against Florida. The Tigers look better in this area this week, but there is room for improvement. There were some big hits landed by the Tigers in this one, but there were also some missed tackles, primarily created by Jared Curtis. Auburn's defensive coordinator DJ Durkin talked about the importance of not having missed tackles and how they led to explosive plays against Florida earlier this week.
- Get Run Game Going
Auburn football's running backs were not able to have much success against Florida. However, throughout the week players and coaches have talked about the importance of running the football. While the Tigers have not had much success running the ball against the Commodores, they have stayed committed to it more than they had in their previous games. Reporters were told there was a huge emphasis being putting on running the football in practice by the Auburn Tigers.
- Contain Jared Curtis
Golesh discussed Jared Curtis' ability to create throughout the week, and the running back put his ability to make plays with his feet on display against Auburn in the second half in flashes. The Tigers do not want the quarterback to get active with his feet and make plays consistently in the second half that keep drives going or that lead to a score.
