Sept. 3, 2017
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- Throughout the offseason, the conversation around Auburn centered on Jarrett Stidham and how he was going to transform the offense. Meanwhile, the defense was supposed to take a hit with the losses of Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams to the NFL.
Somebody forgot to tell the defense. That or the players chose not to listen.
Led by a dominant performance from the front seven, the Tigers held Georgia Southern to 78 total yards -- the fewest by an opponent since 1985 when Auburn held Ole Miss to nine total yards -- en route to a 41-7 win in the season opener. It would've been a shutout if not for a scoop and score allowed by the offense, but the defense won't hold it against them.
"Things happen," senior linebacker Tre' Williams said. "That happened to the offense, and we still went out and kept giving them the ball back. We're the Auburn Tigers. If the offense messes up, `Hey, we've got your back. It doesn't matter because we've got your back.'"
Williams paced Auburn with 10 tackles and was one of four players who finished with two tackles for loss. As a unit, the Tigers recorded 12 tackles for loss and five sacks -- two from Williams and two from sophomore defensive end Marlon Davidson. Georgia Southern didn't make a first down until late in the first half on its seventh offensive drive.
One thing was clear from the first snap -- this was a defense that played angry Saturday night. That chip that was on its shoulder from a year ago when first-year coordinator Kevin Steele came in and turned things around? It was still there.
"There's always a chip on our shoulder," Davidson said. "Nobody respects the Auburn defense, but we're going to try and get that tradition back from back in the day, and we're going to have fun this year.
"We bought in. We bought in to what Coach Steele was saying, and we're having fun. That's all that Coach Steele preaches -- have fun, fly to the ball and make tackles."
Davidson, who didn't get cleared to play until the day of the game, started and finished with four tackles, a quarterback hurry and the two sacks despite playing with a brace on his left arm.
And when it wasn't Davidson providing the pressure, it was Derrick Brown or Jeff Holland or Nick Coe. Even senior safety Stephen Roberts came up and made two tackles for loss. The Tigers were in Georgia Southern's backfield the entire night, and they seemed to have every answer for a triple-option attack that proved ineffective.
Next week should be more challenging. Auburn travels to Clemson to play the reigning national champions who hung 56 points on Kent State in their opener.
"We played up to our expectations, but our thing is we've got to keep it going to get even better," Williams said. "It can't stop here. Yeah, this is the first game, but this is only the first chapter. We've still got a lot of chapters to go."
Greg Ostendorf is a Staff Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter:
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