Alex Golesh Explains Auburn's Defensive Collapse Against Tennessee

The Auburn Tigers had an incredibly strong defensive first half against the Tennessee Volunteers, and the group went into the half up 7-3, largely thanks to the Tigers limiting Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon to three completions for zero yards.

However, things seemed to change in a big way for the Tigers defense around halftime, as the Vols’ backup quarterback, George MacIntyre, managed the game quite well as the Vols’ rushing attack ran rampant throughout the entire second half.

Tennessee RB1 DeSean Bishop totalled 220 yards and three touchdowns against the Tigers, the most production that DJ Durkin’s unit has allowed to a running back this season. MacIntyre was unimpressive but kept the Vols’ offense humming as he ended the day with 86 passing yards on 80% completion.

After the game, Alex Golesh took to the stand to explain exactly what changed at halftime for the Tigers.

“In the first half, I thought the defense very much was in the right spot,” he said. “I mean talking about six negatives or eight negatives in the first half, affected the quarterback, had the turnovers. I certainly thought it was a strength. I thought, when Maclntyre came in they got big, between the missed tackles and the lack of push up front, it just felt like in the run game, we just couldn’t get ahead of it.”

Golesh would likely be the first to tell you that the Tigers’ defense did not perform up to the standard on Saturday, but he also believes this unit could be one of the better defenses in the SEC, provided they are able to clean up a few key aspects of their game.

“It wasn’t good. I still feel like we could be an elite-level defense,” he said. “There’s obviously some things that we have to clean up. I just told these guys that fighting, and by a bunch I mean this team will go fight. The detail that we fight with, the ability to strain in some critical moments. It's not always in sync, and that’s where we have to get focused to where it is consistently the same all the time, and it certainly didn’t look like that tonight.”

Consistency has been a hot topic surrounding the Tigers throughout the season, as the Tigers have shown flashes of top-level play on both sides of the ball, but those flashes are largely surrounded by long stretches of mediocrity that have proven to be the difference in many games.

The Tigers will have plenty of time to tighten things up during their upcoming bye week, but the pressure will be right back on both sides of the ball in the following week, when the Tigers are slated to take on Georgia.

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