Tiger defense playing with ‘relentless’ mentality

Before anyone could blink, Auburn was up 21-0 on Alabama A&M.

Since the Tigers went up big early against an outmatched opponent, it’d have been easy for Auburn to relax a bit, especially defensively.

But that’s not how this Auburn defense is wired. They’re looking to make a statement whenever they take the field.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” said linebacker Dorian Mausi. “We need to put our stamp on who the Auburn Tigers are on defense every time we go on the field because it’s not acceptable for anything but our best on the field.”

Every time the Tigers take the field defensively, all 11 defenders on the field are playing with the same mentality — one that helped them hold the Bulldogs to three points.

“Play with relentless effort, violent tackling and elite mental execution,” Mausi said. “As long as you have effort, violent tackling and elite mental execution, the plays will come our way.”

On the night, the Tiger defense held the Bulldogs to 38 rushing yards on 36 attempts while also limiting 182 yards through the air.

Auburn also held Alabama A&M to a total EPA** of -35.15 which worked out to an EPA of -0.47 per play.

And despite all of that, Auburn’s defense knows it has more to work on.

“We’re going to go back in the meeting room and there’s going to be a lot of things to correct,” Mausi said. “You can’t let up at all, it’s just not acceptable.”

EPA = expected points added — a measurement of how a team performs relative to expectation. The closer a team is to the end zone on offense, the higher the EPA is.