Bryan Harsin meets with media after Auburn downs LSU

proud of them for what they did tonight just in really everything leading up to preparing themselves for this game to come on the road to play against a really good lsu team there's obviously a lot of history with this game and being here but the most important thing tonight was just what we had to do with this team in order to be successful and find a way to win and those guys did that we finished which i'm proud of our team for that i thought guys stepped up and made some really great plays tonight that needs to happen in big games like this lsu is a good football team that was a tremendous environment tonight and our guys were able to to handle that and to focus in and i thought they did a really good job of that coaches made adjustments you know there was a lot of things that happened in this game that we had to overcome but ultimately tonight was about this football team certainly about the the fans and people that have been a part of this program for a long time we're very happy for them so that was something that our guys were very proud of they were able to accomplish that and you know i felt it in the locker room you know just something that is really important that that we have to have on this team is just that camaraderie and that belief in each other and guys supporting their teammates when they're on the field and then make and then going out there like i said i mean we made some plays tonight we lsu made plays and it's just a back and forth it was a tight ball game but at the end of it you know we were able to finish so from my standpoint for everybody uh really good work leading into this game and a lot of that stuff showed up so we have to continue that and that's got to be the mentality that we take moving forward tonight though we're going to enjoy this we're going to get on the plane get home it's going to be late and then we got to turn around get right back to work but we're going to enjoy the lsu win and we're going to enjoy uh the things that we did this week to come in here and find a way to win this ball game so questions super aggressive on play calling and some gambling situations talk about your mindset on doing that and also beau lee leading the team down with 92 yard drive late well first i'll start with bo i think beau did a great job this week coming off the last game and getting himself prepared for playing lsu and going back on the road i thought tj did a great job this week as well that was pre-planned to have tj come in there on that third drive and he had he had earned that opportunity through the week of practice but again i've said this a lot goes into just the attention of the quarterback position more importantly our team our defense our special teams things that we did on the offensive side tight ends wide receivers tailbacks o-line everybody doing their job that was you know what i wanted to see and what we all wanted to see from each other in this game it really came down to just a simple do your job um phrase that that we've said before and you know making sure that we played one play at a time just focus on that take care of what you have to do make sure we got the substitutions correct um but still plenty of things that that we're going to have to continue to keep working on um the first part of your question again i know you talked about bo what was the first part yeah i talked to you uh very aggressive in some young guys and then also the onside kick to start the second half yeah that was uh golly was there it was there and and uh you know their kid made a good play we were there we were there to make that play and that's something that that we had prepared and done a really good job in practice that's why we felt confident about it our guys had shown that in practice and they had done it at a very high level i thought they did a good job of seeing it a little bit late but at the same time that's a play that we can make and we know that at the same time it put our defense in a difficult situation and we had talked about that coming out at half and the defense stepped up i think we gave up three points on that drive which was a difference that's a huge you know just opportunity for the defense to really step up and they did that as far as the the fourth downs we needed to do that we needed to ha to be aggressive you know when you're on the road and you're playing a really good team you got to find ways to to make plays and and continue drives and you know honestly those plays it really came down to bow bow scrambled and guys got open and we were able to finish it and that was not so much the play call itself i think the idea behind it is good but at the end of the day the players made plays and that's the bottom line and so uh if we can continue to to be aggressive at times and you know our guys can make those plays then you know that's that's a key to our success it was tonight i don't know if that's something in the future but that's certainly something tonight in this game plan that we had to do we felt like we needed to do to win brian i want to ask about the defense they scored that touchdown the first quarter after that you guys tell them the four field goals just what did you see from the response as the game went all the way well exactly what you just said a response um you know it's it's hard i mean you got an uh you're playing against a quarterback that i think is and we all think is a tremendous player you're playing at at their place against a really good lsu team as far as you know just physical and they got good athletes and they got they got good schemes um so our defense being able to make adjustments uh it wasn't you know they did things too in the game we we prepare a certain way than they have they have their adjustments that they make every week and so you've got to be able to see all right what is their game plan that's always the hardest thing for defense because offenses are going to game plan and have different things that they're going to try to do to attack you and so every single week you think you know and then you get into the game and you really got to just dissect what's happening and i thought the defensive staff i thought the defensive players all did a really good job on the sideline making those adjustments making things that at halftime making adjustments at halftime that we needed to make to come out there and continue playing that way and you know lsu throws the ball quite a bit and and they were hitting some guys and you know they had a wheel route there towards the end they got you know he bobbled it a little bit and so you know that helped put him in a fourth down situation but they were able to make some plays too we were in the right position i thought we did a good job in coverage i thought we did some things on the defensive side that gave us an advantage and that we could capitalize on you know some of those those opportunities from from the calls and from the adjustments that we made and that you know there were chances there was that tip ball you really want to have that that was huge their quarterback did a good job of getting in the mix and knocking it down that's a smart play by him so it was just overall i mean really there were things that that our defense did tonight as far as communication adjustments that i was really really happy to see and they were able to execute them yeah coach uh i wanted to talk a little bit about um oh nick's was it more of an intent for you all tonight to get him to use his legs a little bit where it seemed like that was just kind of part of the game plan as opposed to previously in the season it was part of the game plan tonight and you know that's something you know bo bows a weapon with his legs um you know he's able to to make guys miss you know he can run and and i think that's good for him that that's part of his game that makes him the type of player that he is and and so i thought the offensive staff had a good plan for him to utilize him in the run game to utilize you know some movement um but also for him to stand back there and and really be a really good thrower and he showed that he set his feet did a good job and that's what i appreciate about any player is just you know things you need to work on that's what you go back and watch film on that's why you evaluate yourself that's why you you you sit there on sundays and and you assess okay where am i at what what am i doing what are we doing and then every player's got to really look at themselves and say here's the things that that i know i need to work on here's the things that the coaches think that we need to do a better job of and then you go out there and you do exactly that you work on it you know throughout the week so those are things that that we had in the game plan those are plays in practice that that we made and then that's why we had confidence tonight going into the game because we could see that intentional work that our guys were doing bo in particular to have the type of game that he had tonight be able to call those plays and and make the plays that he did so like i've said it this goes back to you don't just make it up on saturday nights you work really really hard you spend tremendous amount of time uh to go out there and be able to do those things and then you got a defense that's trying to stop you from doing it and you know there were things in there you saw the same game i saw he made plays things broke down and then he was able to make things happen but our our line gave him some time you know we didn't have an extra defender where he could make someone miss because he will do that in space and then guys got open and and when they did they they went up they made the catch still an area that we're improving on but we made the plays that we needed to make in this game to win the we've got time for game more we'll go to bennett durando and then justin ferguson ryan i asked you last week what was going through your mind on uh tj's fourth down play and you said you probably couldn't share that so i want to ask now what was going through your mind on uh beau's touchdown pass to tyler as he kept alluding guys it's about the same thing really uh and that's that's a credit to our quarterbacks tj the week before made a tremendous play to win the game bo made a tremendous play again tonight and you know you're you're watching as the play unfolds and you know that you know something had broken down and now now you're at that point where okay there's some rules that that we put in when those things happen but it really comes down to to guys you know having an understanding that when that does we're going to try to be in a certain area but he's got to still be able to shake all those defenders and give himself an opportunity to make a throw and that's what tj did that's what beau did tonight and those guys are capable of doing that we've seen it you know we have we have evidence that those guys can do those things which in turn gives our receivers and everybody on the offensive side hope that if it doesn't go perfectly we still can make a play and in football most of the time that's how really good things happen you know you're going to have four or five of those plays in the game where it breaks down like that you make plays you make a throw you make a catch you make a run whatever it is and i was really proud of bo for the effort that he gave tonight he's a competitor tj is a competitor but tonight beau was you know made some things really happen and that was a difference in the game just his ability to extend plays to keep his eyes down field and and i'll just say this from a quarterback standpoint that is hard to do when people are bearing down on you you know it's natural to go put your eyes right on what's right in front of you but to be able to move and elude and make things happen and keeping your eyes downfield to look to your players that are getting open and then execute a throw while you're going through all that that's one of the most difficult things to do and you know those guys were able to make it and i think it goes back to the kind of competitors that we have on this team and the kind of competitor beau is you know you you respond and you you put your team in the best position because you can make plays and you can extend opportunities like that and you give your guys a chance to go out and do what we did in this game tonight let's finish with justin ferguson right it seemed like you guys for a while had a hard time getting the running game going with what else she was doing but on that last drive you get shark west to pop the big one on the perimeter he finishes it all on the ground how big was it for you guys to be able to you know on that final drive get back to the ground game and finish it off awesome sometimes in a game sometimes you got to throw it sometimes you're throwing the ball sometimes you're you're utilizing that part of your game and at some point the run game is going to be there it never goes away not at least not for us it never goes away we'll we'll have our moment where we'll get a chance to run the ball and jar quez jar quez is a true freshman out there playing really well uh and and know this he's learning every single game but but he's into it i thought sean shivers tonight made some plays for us third downs getting himself open and just utilizing his ability and speed and sean is very reliable and he you know we we're getting him back into into the mix uh you know tank ran hard so all three of those guys uh are able to make plays it was good to see jar quez come in there and be able to punch it in but to put that drive together too i don't know which it was how many plays it was to finish that drive and to score but we we put a string of plays together and we executed and that's exactly what we're looking for every time we step on the field on offense just execution making the plays we know we're able to make there's going to be on you know off schedule plays that that we're able to go out there and create that we did tonight but the run game is always there sometimes it doesn't go like you anticipated early on because lsu is damn good they got dudes up front and they're trying to they're trying to stop the run and i'm sure that's what they say in their defensive meeting stop the run so they did that but we were able to get the run game going when we needed it most and you know there was one run we we hit on the on the left side and if you look at it we set an edge the tight ends did a great job we got tackles pulling troxels pulling we got guys around in front like you don't make those runs if guys aren't doing their job in front of you and fitting up guys and landing blocks and that's exactly what we did so without watching the play exactly i know those guys went out there and were able to do their job in that moment and execute at a high level to create that type of play that we needed and that's exactly what we have to continue to keep doing is just working on those things so that we can make those in games coach thank you very much all right thank you hey war eagle

Channel: Auburn Tigers on AL.com

Views: 25,466

Rating: 4.8965516 out of 5

Keywords: Auburn, Tigers, War Eagle, WDE, Auburn Tigers, Alabama

Id: IrRR4S3L9dw

Length: 14min 35sec (875 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021