Auburn’s performance in its 21-14 loss to Cal left a lot of things to be disappointed in.
The offense turned the ball over five times, the passing game looked just as bad as last season, and the defensive backs were consistently losing one-on-ones against Cal’s receivers early on.
Defensively, Auburn looked much better in the second half and throughout the game the defensive line played well.
Cal’s star running back Jaydn Ott was limited to 11 yards on 10 carries, and outside of a 32-yard touchdown rush by Jaivian Thomas, Auburn’s run defense was dominant.
Auburn held Cal to 2.9 yards per carry and under 100 yards overall.
The pass rush struggled to affect Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza in the first half, but constantly got home later in the game, either sacking him or forcing him into rushed throws.
“There was definitely a positive coming out of Saturday, the way they adjusted and played in the second half,” Hugh Freeze said Monday of the defensive line.
Through two weeks, the defensive line has been a strength for Auburn. The run defense has been especially dominant, albeit against an overmatched opponent in Week 1.
There’s been a constant rotation on the interior defensive line, something Freeze said would be the case going into the season. With a unit of primarily newcomers, that group has adjusted quickly.
“Once they just line up and play ball and have a clear mind, they’re really, really good football players,” linebacker Dorian Mausi Jr. told reporters Tuesday.
The unit is made up mostly of transfers, but true freshmen such as Malik Blocton and Amaris Williams have made early contributions too.
“Our young guys are tremendously talented. They’ve got so much talent to do what they do. They just need to watch the film and come back ready to work,” defensive end Keldric Faulk said after the Cal loss.
Faulk, a sophomore, has been arguably the most impressive player on Auburn’s defensive line so far. He had two sacks and three tackles for loss against Cal, with both sacks coming at a critical point in the first half.
“I think Keldric is amazing,” Mausi said. “I like playing next to Keldric.”
Freeze called Faulk one of the best leaders on the team following the loss.
“Keldric is one of the best leaders we have. He plays his heart out,” Freeze said. “He’s one of the guys you can count on when things get tough to hang in there and look for the right way out of it.”
Immediately after the loss to Cal, Faulk was still composed.
“We’ve got to learn how to deal with success and we’ve got to learn how to deal with failure,” Faulk said. “A loss is something you can learn from. If you don’t learn from it, it’s pointless.”
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
