AUBURN, Ala. – Fast. Physical. Relentless.
Those three words come up time and time again when talking about the mentality of the Auburn defense. It's the standard they play to every time out. But it doesn't stop there. Unshakeable, perseverant and resolute are also fitting. Take Saturday night for example.
On more than one occasion, the Tigers had their backs against the wall. Tennessee was marching down the field, threatening to score. But this unit never yielded. They never gave in.
"Just because they get into the red zone, you can't start pouting and all that. You've got to finish," Auburn linebacker Owen Pappoe said.
With Tennessee in the red zone late in the third quarter looking to score and possibly take the lead, it was Pappoe who came through on a blitz and hit quarterback Jarrett Guarantano. The contact forced an errant throw, which was intercepted in the end zone by Smoke Monday and then returned 100 yards the other way for an Auburn touchdown.
"I just knew my guys were fighting that whole drive," Monday said. "I knew, as the man I am, I had to make a play."
"We needed that," added Pappoe. "The game was close, and that shifted a lot of the momentum toward us. We took off from there."
Following the pick six, the Auburn defense trotted back out. There was adrenaline running after the big play, but they had also been on the field for the last five minutes. They were gassed. And it showed as the Volunteers put together another long drive and moved down into the red zone again. A touchdown would make it a 3-point game again.
However, on third-and-4 from the Auburn 15, Colby Wooden sacked Guarantano for a 5-yard loss. The Volunteers had to settle for a field goal and proceeded to miss it, keeping the lead at 10 points.
"The only thing I can say about the mentality of our defense is relentless effort," Auburn defensive back Jamien Sherwood said. "You guys already know that. And it's just fast. We get to the ball. We get the ball in our hands, and we're gone. Wherever you look, someone is going to be there. And if you see someone there, you know 10 people are coming to clean up."
Back in the first quarter, on the opening drive of the game, Sherwood came through on a blitz and sacked Guarantano on a critical third down. It not only forced a field goal, it also moved the kick back five yards. Sure enough, the 50-yard attempt sailed wide left.
"That's the sign of a good defense," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. "We really buckled up in the red zone. We pushed them back, they missed two field goals. That was huge. We put a little pressure on the kicker. I thought our defense, they fought their tail off. That's a good offensive line with a couple good running backs, but our guys adjusted and fought and kept them out of the end zone a lot."
On the season, Auburn is ranked third in the SEC allowing opponents to score just 76 percent of the time they get in the red zone. Since 2016, the Tigers are one of four FBS teams to allow a touchdown on fewer than 50 percent of their opponents' red-zone trips.
"It just shows the importance to keep playing, to not give up," Pappoe said.
