The Auburn defense was on the field for a long time against Vanderbilt on Saturday after the Commodores won the time-of-possession battle.
The Tigers' defense had to overcome some long drives by the Commodores to beat Vanderbilt 21-15. The Vanderbilt offense had possession of the football for 37 minutes and 28 seconds to Auburn's 22 minutes and 32 seconds. Staying locked in during Vanderbilt's long drive was a tough task, according to Auburn's Sylvester Smith-Reed.
“It gets pretty tough, but in the same sense, that's what we train for and being in those types of situations, running a long time, it's just difficult," Smith-Reed said. "So, mentally staying locked in, and not wavering is one of the bigger things.”
The Auburn defense was able to keep the Vanderbilt offense out of the endzone on several drives where the Commodores were moving the ball down the field.
“It was big," Smith-Reed told reporters. "It was bend, but don't break defense. You get all the way down there and just stand tall and hold them to three. That's always big.”
The Tigers had a bounce-back performance against Vanderbilt on Saturday after having a performance to get against Florida, and Auburn's payers remain hungry to get better.
“We still could have done better," Auburn defensive lineman Cody Sigler said. "We feel like they shouldn’t have even scored. I feel like when they score, we are doing stuff we shouldn’t be doing. We weren’t urgent. That is the biggest thing we are trying to fix. When we are urgent, I feel like we can be the best defense in the country.”
Auburn returns to action Saturday to take on Tennessee.
