AUBURN, Ala. – When it gets to third down and the Auburn defense is on the field, there's this electricity that runs throughout Jordan-Hare Stadium. Music starts blaring from the speakers. The fans typically stand up and start making noise. It's one of the best parts of playing at home.
And the players? They feel it, too. They know what's at stake when it's third down.
"That's the 'Go get it' moment then," Auburn defensive lineman Marlon Davidson said. "That's when you go hunt. You have to go get (the quarterback)."
"Third down is the money down," added safety Jeremiah Dinson. "Everybody is thinking, 'We have to get off the field right here.'"
On Saturday night, in Auburn's first home game of the season, the defense was lights out on third down. The Tigers held Tulane to just 2 of 15 on third down, forced five 3-and-outs, and as a result, they didn't allow a touchdown for the fourth time in the past two seasons.
"That was the key to the game. The defensive effort on third down," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said after the game. "It got us the ball back. There were times that we were playing on our end of the field, and they flipped the field for us."
Some might chalk up the success to the opponent, but this is a Tulane team that was 7 of 12 on third down the week before and scored 42 points in a win over Florida International. The Green Wave feature a former SEC player at quarterback, and dating back to last year, they had won six of their last seven before Saturday's 24-6 loss.
The Auburn defense was up to the challenge, though. Whether it was Noah Igbinoghene breaking up a pass or one of the defensive linemen pressuring the quarterback and forcing a bad throw, the Tigers always seemed to come up with a play on third down.
"On third down, our mentality is 'Get off the field,'" Auburn defensive back Christian Tutt said. "We don't want anybody converting a third down. Coach (Kevin) Steele really harps that a lot with us, like every single day – Monday, Sunday, it doesn't matter. He's talking about third down, third down, get off the field no matter what."
"It's just accepting Coach Steele's challenge," added defensive lineman Derrick Brown. "He wants us to be a dominant defense. We've been good. We want to be able to take it to the next step, and that's what we're looking forward to."
Saturday was certainly a step in that direction. Last week, this defense was caught off-guard early and gave up two quick touchdowns to Oregon. This week, after Tulane scored a field goal on the opening drive, the Tigers clamped down and forced four straight 3-and-outs. They allowed just 83 yards on Tulane's next seven drives before halftime.
Still, it wasn't a perfect performance. And this group is never satisfied.
"The goal was a shutout," Dinson said. "They got six points. Big-picture goal is to come out with a win, so I'm happy. But on the other end, I'm kind of frustrated. I wanted a shutout tonight."
"I think we got better as a whole," Tutt said. "I think we got better in the secondary. I think we got better as an individual unit. We just have to build off this. We can't stop now. We can't be satisfied right now. We have to keep building. We have to go back to work tomorrow."