Confident defense ready for its big stage

[Paladin 3,305]

Good read!

Channeling Gene Chizik, confident Auburn defense ready for its big stage

by Nathan King

38 minutes ago

AUBURN, Alabama — Much is being made of Auburn’s offense early in the 2021 season — how it differs from the Gus Malzahn system the Tigers ran for 11 of the past 12 years, how Bo Nix is improving and getting settled within Bryan Harsin’s and Mike Bobo’s schemes, and whether it will be polished enough, early enough, to snatch a top-10 victory on the road this week in only the third game of the season.

Somewhat quietly, however, Auburn’s defense has been clicking since spring practices under its new coaches. Talk to anyone within the program, and there’s a consensus: what Derek Mason is doing with this group has been impressive on a number of levels, and there are lofty expectations for the Tigers’ defense this year.

And the last time Auburn faced Penn State, the matchup put the final touches on a dominating final few games of the 2002 season for first-year coordinator Gene Chizik’s unit. How can the Tigers do the same, this time in Game 3 as opposed to Game 13, with a new philosophy on defense once again — and facing off against Penn State again?

Breaking in Mason as Auburn’s new defensive coordinator after five years of Kevin Steele has seemingly been a, well, seamless process. Sure, the Tigers have faced Akron’s and Alabama State’s offenses, but they’ve allowed less than 200 yards of offense in both games. Auburn pitched a shutout against ASU, blanking the Hornets 62-0, but before Mason began making major substitutions on defense in the opener, his starters didn’t allow any points to Akron, either. 

And since spring practices, there’s seemed to be little-to-no roadblocks in Mason implementing his signature 3-4 scheme. What are the keys to performing at a high level under a new defensive coordinator? According to a former All-SEC defender at Auburn, it starts from the first time the new coach and his new players shake hands.

“Building trust during camp and all that kind of stuff — Coach Chizik did a really good job of keeping a lot of the terms we already knew,” former Auburn safety Travaris Robinson, currently the defensive backs coach at Miami, told Auburn Undercover. “So he did that for us, and then his philosophy he had was ‘run and tackle.’ That’s what we focused on every day. Coach Chizik did a really good job of teaching us to always be physical; that’s always what Auburn’s been about.”

That 2002 Auburn defense, like this year’s Tigers team, faced a brutal schedule, including a stretch to end the season where it faced four top-10 teams in its last six games. Currently on the docket for Auburn’s 2021 defense is also four top-10 teams over the next 10 games.

But Robinson and the rest of Auburn’s 2002 unit — which was the early stages of a what would become a dominating group that helped the Tigers win an SEC championship in 2004 — went 5-1 in their last six games, allowing just 14 points per outing during that stretch. In their last two games — the Iron Bowl and the Capital One Bowl against Penn State — the Tigers gave up a combined 16 points.

As Robinson pointed out, he and his teammates weren’t as controlling of a group at the start of the season under Chizik; they allowed 30 points three times in their first seven games during a 4-3 start.

“When you think about Derek Mason, this guy has always been an energy guy,” former Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell, who also had a new coordinator in 2002 in Bobby Petrino, told Auburn Undercover. “Even when he was at Vanderbilt, he could get the best out of those guys, even if they knew they were overmatched most of their schedule, they fought you to the end.” 

Of course, Auburn’s defenders are not often overmatched. Steele didn’t leave the cupboard bare; there are future NFL players on every level of Auburn’s defense, whether it’s Colby Wooden and Derick Hall along the front lines, Zakoby McClain and Owen Pappoe in the linebacking corps, or Smoke Monday and Roger McCreary in the secondary.

Still, Auburn would run the risk of wasting that talent on defense if it hadn’t made a strong coordinator hire. 

“I was able to play under some really good defensive coordinators,” Robinson told Auburn Undercover. “Coach Chizik was the first one I can remember that really pushed us to focus on the details of our job — the little things.”

Sound familiar? One of the biggest ways Mason has aligned with Harsin is in their philosophy to attack the smaller aspects of what makes a team successful before worrying about the big picture.

“Coach Mason is doing a great job of calling the plays and putting us in the best position to make plays,” junior cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett said.

Added McClain after the Alabama State win: “(Mason) has put us in the right positions and during the week he’s going to let us know what he is going to call on like first, second and third down. We already know what we are going to do on certain plays, and what he’s going to call and the plays that are going to happen so we can stop it.”

Robinson, who coached as a grad assistant and defensive backs coach at Auburn, and most recently was South Carolina's defensive coordinator for five seasons, said that’s the biggest way to find success in the first year of a new scheme: keeping things simple at the start, and making sure defenders play within themselves

“We didn’t run a bunch of coverages; we had three or four different things in our main scheme, but we were going to do them the right way with the right technique,” Robinson said. “And we were going to be a physical unit. 

“It was the same way when I was a coordinator and an assistant, and here at Miami — it’s all about the fundamentals of your job, not worrying about how to beat people every play. It’s about getting really good players to play the right way.”

And that “run and tackle” philosophy from Chizik? Campbell also remembers hearing that in 2002 — and getting hit by it in practice. 

The 2004 SEC offensive player of the year now sees plenty of similarities between the way Chizik coached Auburn’s indisputably great defenses during Campbell’s time on campus, and what the Tigers have shown under Mason so far.

“If you look at their defense now after two games, these guys run to the ball,” Campbell said. “They run to the ball very well; there’s always four or five jerseys to the football. That’s energy and that’s just guys being where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there.

“... That’s one thing I would take on the road in a hostile environment: You give me that linebacking corps we have and that secondary that we have, I think that keeps us in a lot of football games. That’s where this game starts: not giving up points. When you’re playing at Penn State, you’ve got to know these kids will feed off this energy from their fans — the adrenaline. How do you do that as a defense?”

Campbell likened Auburn’s road trip this weekend to the 2004 game at Tennessee. Auburn was ranked No. 9, and the Vols were No. 8. As has been the case this week, Campbell heard all about Tennessee’s crowd and how it would affect the Tigers.

And Auburn respected that home-field advantage; it knew something had to be done about it. Campbell hopes Auburn on Saturday is able to go about it in much the same way he and his teammates did in a 34-10 win in Knoxville.

“We always said, offensively we have to start fast; defensively, we have to get them off the field with a three-and-out,” Campbell said. “And that’s what happened (at Tennessee): defense got a three-and-out, and we went down and punched it in with seven. And we just kept it rolling from there; that’s how you take the crowd noise out of it; that’s how you go into a big environment and control the game.

“On defense, it works in your favor — this is a game you can communicate more because they’re on offense.”

Auburn’s defenders have talked for the better part of a year about how excited they are to play in front of a road crowd again — and to keep said crowd quiet by limiting big plays and, ultimately, pulling out a big win. 

Mason has had his players oozing with confidence for the last nine months. The early returns have been promising, but as both Mason and Chizik preach, Auburn isn’t getting ahead of itself. 

But that doesn’t mean the Tigers can’t be excited for the country to see the fruits of its preparedness on a national stage.

“Our preparation going into this game will be the same as it’s been in camp and these practices two previous weeks for the two opponents that we have played,” Pappoe said. “So we’re just going to go out there and do what we do — not do anything special, not change up anything. We’re just going to go out there and play Auburn football, fast and physical, and you’re all gonna see the results.”

[gravejd 3,281]

Woooo! Can't wait for Saturday night!! This game is going to answer the biggest question i have about this defense. Can they hold up against a big physical OL with big physical RBs running behind them? I've seen some talk from Penn St people that they are worried about how the OL has played so far. But looking at the lineup they are 300lbs+ all across the front. Do we have the guys on the DL that can hold that line of scrimmage and keep those big boys off Pappoe and McClain so they can fly around and make plays? This is going to be a big game for Burks, Fair, and Harris to show that they are going to be able to hold up against the OLs we'll see in conference. And we'll probably need to find a few more guys that can play that DT spot in this game. Taking on double teams from multiple 300lbers will wear you down. And Penn St got stronger as the game went on against Wisconsin. Our guys have been able to take breaks from about midway through the 3rd quarter on in the first 2 games. I'll bet money this is a 4 quarter game we have coming up. So our depth is going to be tested. Ready to see this team take the next step. War Eagle!

[aubiefifty 17,487]

if i was not worried about bo i would say we win big. i think he is improved and can do it but it is a worry. but with so many seasoned and battle tested coaches i expect a win.