PRESSER: Joel Gordon talks about Auburn's offensive struggles

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Nathan King, Auburn 247 AG, was talking about the importance of getting Byron into a rhythm. That's the case for any quarterback. I'm just curious, watching film from Saturday, what did you feel like was the biggest difference between first three or four drives of the game and then how y'all settled in after that?

Joel Gordon (0:19)

Just, I think there is maybe some nerves early on, got rushed a little bit on a couple of things.

When we got a first down, we moved the ball the entire game.

So, that's obviously when you go three and out, three and out and then get the ball on the nine yard line and settle for a field goal, I think everybody is, and that's the first quarter, like, you're pressing. You know, everybody wants to get a first down. And, we hadn't got one yet. So, I think when Chas made the catch on the sideline on third down, I think that was a, you know, a relief, obviously, for him. And, from that point, you know, he played really well, you know, all things considered. So, it's just, you know, the nature of the bees sometimes. You know, I think he's getting his bearings still, getting, you know, just been a little bit different being in that stadium, you know, for the first two weeks, just getting settled in early. But, we're going to get there.

SPEAKER_3 (1:42)

Coach. Coach, Jay Douglas, Auburn Undercover.

Coach Goller said that Vanderbilt's defense likes to attack and, you know, dictate the flow of the game, similar to what Florida did. So, how can you guys on offense take what you saw against Florida and have more success this week?

Joel Gordon (2:00)

Yeah, I think maybe the way that they attack is a little bit different, you know, but one way or another, you know, they force you to deal with some different schemes than probably what we saw last week. But I think, you know, you're always one week at a time, you're trying to understand, you know, the presentations and the challenges that you got from the defense, you know, Baylor was what Baylor was, other miss, and then Florida. And you're trying just to understand, you know, what those things were as an offensive unit, you know, and the coaching staff, obviously, didn't figure out how do we do well against it, man, what do we need to fix? And I think we take the situations that we had, that we did good against Florida, we move on with it, and the things that we didn't do good, you know, you got to address, and you got to get ready, because if you don't get things fixed, you know, people are going to keep, not going to go away, like they're just going to keep trying to expose, you know, the issues that you had. So, we got to build on the things that we did, we did a lot of good things, and we got to fix the mistakes. So, you know, Vanderbilt's good on defense.

Different, uniquely different, you know, than what the last challenge was.

SPEAKER_1 (3:33)

Go for the poke, and then, Mike?

SPEAKER_4 (3:37)

Justin Ferguson, All Reserves. The sacks that you guys have been giving up, especially in this last game, is it kind of a combination of kind of some of everything whenever you give up that many in a game? How would you kind of emphasize it?

Joel Gordon (3:48)

Yeah, it is.

There's a couple where, you know, obviously we just get beat, you know, one on one, don't win a one on one, and there's a free rusher in the backfield quickly. And Byron did a good job of moving in the pocket. I thought it was his best, his best game this season, of keeping his eyes down the field, dealing with the pass rush. There's a couple of times he's got to step up and help with that situation too. So I think it's on both ends, you know, that's what it is. Like, you know, we got beat, you know, we had breakdowns, one on one matchups that didn't go our way. And when we got a body on a body, he's got to do, he just got to continue to grow and work in the pocket.

SPEAKER_5 (4:44)

Joel, we talked about, I mean, buy him a little bit more. How would you assess how he's standing in the pocket, the time holding the ball versus wanting him to run? Like, what's the fine line between standing there, go through your progressions, but then have some kind of internal clock to run?

Is there something you tell him on that?

Joel Gordon (4:59)