AUBURN, Ala. — SEC football coaches met with the media Wednesday to discuss their teams' seasons, upcoming matchups, and areas for improvement as conference play continues.
Auburn head coach Alex Golesh and Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea both offered insight into how their teams are preparing for Saturday's head-to-head matchup.
Golesh addressed Auburn's loss to Florida before turning his attention to Vanderbilt's defense.
“Vanderbilt presents a huge, huge challenge there because what they do defensively, very much an attacking defense,” Golesh said.
Vanderbilt enters Saturday's matchup following a win over NC State, while freshman quarterback Jared Curtis presents another challenge for Auburn's defense.
“You’ve got to be on high, high, high alert in terms of his ability to scramble,” Golesh said. “He can certainly make every throw. Off schedule, on schedule, different arm angles.”
Curtis will make his first SEC start of the season at Jordan-Hare Stadium, adding another challenge for Vanderbilt as the Commodores prepare to play in one of the conference's more difficult road environments.
“We know we’re gonna need to play better football if we’re gonna have a chance. Certainly in an environment against a team like Auburn,” Lea said. “This is a really talented defense that we're playing against.”
Jordan-Hare is widely regarded as one of the toughest environments to play in inside the SEC, and Lea didn’t shy away from his thoughts on the game.
“This is one of the more challenging places to play in our conference,” Lea said.
Saturday's matchup is Auburn's next SEC game as the Tigers continue through a conference schedule that includes several ranked opponents. Auburn will also face No. 4 Ole Miss on Oct. 31 in Oxford, Mississippi.
With Auburn set to face Ole Miss, Rebels head coach Pete Golding also spoke about keeping his team focused after its recent “Kiffin Bowl” success.
“If you want to throw away everything you did all offseason and all summer because you beat one team in September, man, you came here for the wrong reason, Golding said. “Am I proud of the effort that they played with last Saturday? Absolutely. But you’re going to have to do that again.”
Golding emphasized that Ole Miss will need to maintain the same level of effort as the season continues.
For Auburn, the immediate focus remains on Vanderbilt before the Tigers turn their attention to the rest of their SEC schedule, which includes a road matchup against the No. 4 Rebels.
