'Our Guys Didn't Quit': Southern Miss DC Joe Bolden Speaks on Late Defensive Stand at Auburn

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Things are not always going to go your way in college football. That's just the nature of the beast, especially when playing against a team like Auburn in an intimidating SEC environment like Jordan-Hare Stadium.

In Southern Miss' case, there are quite a few things that didn't go right during Saturday's 43-8 loss on the Plains, but when the dust settled, there were also some positives to take away from the experience.

Southern Miss Football — Southern Miss defenders make a tackle during Week 2's game at Auburn. | Russ Cloy Photography

One positive came at the end of the second quarter, when the Golden Eagles put together a 14-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in their only points of the game. One of the biggest positives on the defensive end, though, came early in the fourth quarter when the game was already well out of reach.

In the opening minutes of the final quarter, Auburn had already built its 43-8 lead and was knocking on the door again, having a first-and-goal from the seven-yard line. At that point, it would've been easy for guys to throw in the towel on what had been a tough first road outing in hostile territory. Instead, though, the Southern Miss defense showcased its mental toughness amid difficult circumstances and forced Auburn into a turnover on downs at the goal line after linebacker Melvin Spriggs forced a fumble on fourth-and-goal that went out of bounds.

On Monday, we asked defensive coordinator Joe Bolden about what that specific defensive sequence on Saturday night meant for his players going forward.

Avery Sledge, Joe Bolden, Southern Miss Football — Southern Miss LB Avery Sledge (#33) with DC Joe Bolden going over last-minute adjustments before a fall camp scrimmage at The Rock. | Josh House

“I think that's something you can control. … Your attitude, your effort, your enthusiasm when you play," Bolden said. "It goes to show you our guys didn't quit. You watch college football across the country, and you may see a team or two that's quit. To me, defensively, it's important that it doesn't matter where you're at in a fight, you're going to keep swinging. You're going to keep standing back up."

As a defensive coordinator, Bolden was frustrated that his defense allowed Auburn to drive the ball that deep in the first place, but he was also happy to see some guys "bowing their necks" and executing calls in order to get a small win in a game that ended up being a tough learning experience for a team that has only played two games together now.

"For us on that series specifically, number one, we can't allow them down there. They were four of five in the red zone, which is just god-awful for us. It's an 80-percent success rate, which we got to fix," Bolden said. "But our guys did a good job bowing their neck in that situation and really executing those calls down there. And as long as we got an inch to stand, we can play great defense. And that's a mindset we got to have. I talk about edge to our defense all the time. That's your mental edge that you have to have when you get down in those situations is, ‘hey, you can't quit on anything.’"

Bolden acknowledged that he had some players in who hadn't played much in the first half during that sequence, but the goal-line stop still showed some grit that could potentially carry over into this coming weekend.

"They still got to execute and get the ball in the end zone. We still got to execute and keep the ball out of the end zone. So that drive in itself, specifically, I think showed where our guys are at mentally and their efforts, their want-to," Bolden said. "We had a decent amount of guys in there that maybe hadn't started the game or played as much at the beginning half of that game, [but] the expectation for the defense is to execute. So those guys went in there, they executed at a high level. That was a big-time stop for us, just keeping points off the board. I know [Auburn HC Alex] Golesh wants to score a lot of points. So being able to do that was kind of a bright spot, if you want to find a bright spot.”

Although the final score read 43-8, Bolden's defense allowed only 34 points, which is still not ideal, but it's at least better than the final score might indicate, especially considering the rowdy environment the Golden Eagles were playing in. Auburn got those extra nine points from Southern Miss quarterback Ethan Hampton throwing a pick-six on the very first play of the game and then getting called for an intentional grounding call in the endzone late in the third quarter.

Nobody in that Southern Miss locker room is happy with how things unfolded at Auburn over the weekend, but you can't just throw away the tape. And it's just as important to find positives to build on as it is to focus on fixing the negatives. Saturday will give us a first look at how Southern Miss bounces back following a disappointing loss.

The Golden Eagles will take on UConn at Renasant Stadium in Hattiesburg at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more football coverage throughout the week.

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