Auburn’s pass defense still a concern

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Auburn’s pass defense still a concern with Penn State matchup looming

Published: Sep. 12, 2022, 9:21 a.m.

San Jose State wide receiver Justin Lockhart (11) catches a pass as Auburn cornerback Keionte Scott (6) defends during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)AP

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Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Auburn’s secondary left Bryan Harsin wanting more after the season opener. A week later, the second-year coach is still waiting.

The Tigers’ secondary proved to be the weak link defensively for Auburn during its 24-16 win against San Jose State on Saturday. The Tigers gave up 275 yards through the air against the Spartans — the most by a non-Power 5 team against Auburn since Idaho threw for 356 yards in 2015 — as veteran quarterback Chevan Cordeiro completed 60 percent of his passes and kept SJSU’s upset hopes alive for much of the night.

“I still think we’ve got to improve,” Harsin said. “Again, I like the guys we have back there…. But some of those one-on-ones — I believe in our guys. I believe that we can win some of those one-on-ones a little more.”

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The biggest issue for Auburn’s defense against San Jose State was chunk plays allowed through the air. The Tigers gave up seven passes of at least 15 yards; five of those completions went for at least 22 yards, with a long of 40 yards, as Cordeiro managed to find open pockets in the secondary throughout the evening.

“You’ve got to win your one-on-one matchups on the outside, and some guys were put in a tough spot,” defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding said on postgame radio. “… At the end of the day, it comes down to one-on-ones.”

Complicating the coverage issues in the secondary were a pair of defensive pass interference calls against Nehemiah Pritchett and Jaylin Simpson, both of which occurred on the same drive in the second quarter. Pritchett was called for pass interference on a critical third-and-1 play near midfield that extended San Jose State’s drive. Six plays later, Simpson was flagged for pass interference in the red zone on a pass attempt by Cordeiro down inside the 5-yard line.

That led to the Spartans’ lone touchdown of the night on the ensuing snap, as SJSU staked a 10-7 lead at halftime, leaving Auburn in a precarious situation at the break on a Saturday that was littered with upsets.

“The penalties, they’re frustrating, but I’ve got to go back and look at them and review,” Harsin said. “We’ll send some of those in, I’m sure. But we had too many of them.”

The struggles in the secondary came despite an adjusted rotation in the secondary. Keionte Scott got the start at nickel, with Zion Puckett and Donovan Kaufman seeing most of the action at safety, while Cayden Bridges saw a decreased workload in Week 2. Harsin noted he was pleased with how Scott fared in his first start; the junior college transfer has adjusted quickly after arriving on campus just a couple of days before the start of fall camp. He finished Saturday’s game with four tackles, a sack and one of Auburn’s four pass-breakups.

“I did a lot of mental preparing,” Scott said. “I overstressed how hard it was going to be on myself. I overstressed it so much, but it was a lot calmer than I expected.”

Still, Scott acknowledged after the game that the defense—and the team overall—struggled in some aspects against a Mountain West opponent but added that getting the win on a Saturday were several big favorites didn’t was no small feat.

Still, Harsin wants to see Auburn’s secondary compete more in the passing game. The Tigers rank 11th in the SEC and 83rd nationally in passing defense (236 yards allowed per game), 10th in the conference and 63rd among FBS teams in pass efficiency defense (120.06), and they’re eighth in the league and 53rd nationally in passes defended (nine).

That despite playing an FCS team and a Group of 5 opponent in the first two weeks of the season.

“When the ball’s being thrown, at some point, we’ve got to find a way to be in position on the ball,” Harsin said Saturday, echoing comments he made earlier in the week. “…Those balls in the air where we have a chance, those 50-50 balls, we’ve got to find ways to come down with some of those.”

He saw a glimpse of that late in the fourth quarter against SJSU, when D.J. James nearly intercepted a quick pass near the line of scrimmage. James couldn’t come up with the interception, and the play was initially ruled a completion and then a forced fumble by James, which Scott attempted to recover on the sideline before it was ruled out of bounds, remaining with the Spartans. Auburn challenged the call, and upon review it was instead ruled an incomplete pass, with James credited with a pass breakup after his tremendous reaction and effort on the play.

Harsin wants to see more of that from Auburn’s defensive backs moving forward, certainly now as the competition begins to level up. Auburn welcomes No. 22 Penn State to Jordan-Hare Stadium this weekend, and then the start of SEC play follows that in Week 4. Things won’t be getting easier for the Tigers’ secondary moving forward, and the group faces a familiar challenge next weekend in Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford, who completed 28-of-32 passes (87.5 percent) for 280 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the teams’ meeting last season in Beaver Stadium.

“We’re going to get all that corrected,” linebacker and team captain Owen Pappoe said when asked to assess the defensive performance against SJSU. “It’s just little things like guys having bad eyes, using bad leverages, busted coverages. We had a few busted coverages, but it’s Penn State coming up this week; maybe we can get away with things like that versus a team like this, but — but versus Penn State, we’re going to have to come out and correct those things.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media