Auburn vs. Cal, Tale of 2 Halves for Tigers' Defense

Despite the 21-14 loss, the Auburn defense made adjustments vs. Cal and dominated much of the game.

After a dodgy-first half, the Auburn Tigers defense turned the screw against Cal in the second half. / Photo by Zach Bland, Auburn Tigers

Auburn’s 21-14 loss on Saturday to the California Golden Bears of the ACC was a tale of two halves for the Tigers’ defense.

On consecutive drives to begin the game Cal went 75 yards for a touchdown, 45 yards ending with a missed field goal, 21 yards for a touchdown, then 44 yards into Auburn territory before Auburn’s defense was finally able get the Cal offense off the field.

Facing a third and three at Auburn’s 41, Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza had been on fire. He was 16-17 and his only incompletion was a throwaway. Mendoza threw a slant that was Auburn senior safety Jerrin Thompson broke on and broke up. From there on the Auburn defense played a dominating final 35 minutes of football.

“They wasn’t doing anything that we didn’t expect them to,” Thompson said. “We just had to line up and play our ball – our style of Auburn defense. That’s really much of all we did. We just locked in, and we came together and played our style of football.”

Head coach Hugh Freeze stated several times in speaking with the press that he was disappointed on the outcome, but mentioned there was a bright spot in the turnaround that happened.

“The positive, if we can take anything from this,” Freeze explained, “is that our defense I thought really, really improved as the game went on in the second half, and gave us some chances.”

Sophomore defensive lineman Keldric Faulk had a pair of sacks shortly after Thompson’s pass breakup and was credited with another tackle for loss. The Bears’ offensive line had a hard time keeping him out of the backfield throughout the day as Auburn’s pass rush was better in the second half. And aside from a 32-yard touchdown run in the fourth, Auburn’s run defense won the line of scrimmage.

“My pops passed away when I was young,” Faulk said, “And I know that he watching over me giving me the strength I needed to do what I did today. Also, the good Lord above. Without either one of those I wouldn’t have done what I did today.”

Auburn played a mostly a three-man front early on with Buck Jalen McLeod lined up as a traditional linebacker next to Dorian Mausi and Eugene Asante. The Auburn defense played much better when they got out of that look and the defensive backs tightened up coverage. Faulk said that communication had a lot to do with the turnaround.

“I think that our communication in the first half was not as good as it should have been,” Faulk noted. “When we came out in the second half we over-communicated. We were in our right gaps, we covered the right men. We were just honing in on our keys.

“It was really some of the same stuff,” Faulk added of Cal’s play-calling. “College football team runs the same plays. It’s just they may run them a little different. They put the Y on the inside and they were running Insert with it (where the Y WR/TE in the backfield blocks up to the linebackers). That was probably the only thing different that we’ve seen so far.”

Cal’s last drive of the first half went for 12 yards. The Bears’ second-half drives went for 15, 26, 1, 10, 36 (TD), 29, 5, -2.

“We’ve got will,” Faulk said of the D. “With will you can do anything. We’re not backing down from nobody, any challenge, no matter how much we down, how much we up, we’re still going to go out and play our hearts out.”

Auburn’s defense nearly tied it late in the 4th when Kayin Lee read the quarterback and dropped an interception that would have surely been a pick 6. The defense also gave the offense a couple of opportunities to mount a comeback, but it was not to be.

Mendoza was 19-21 for 205 yards in the first half. He was 6-15 for 28 yards in the second half. Much-heralded Cal running back Jayden Ott was held to 11 yards on 10 carries. Despite the hot start through the air, the Bears were held to 332 yards of total offense.