DJ Durkin delivers emotional postgame comments after Auburn comes up short vs. Vanderbilt
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The Auburn Tigers suffered their 5th 1-possession loss of the year on Saturday, 45-38 against Vanderbilt in overtime. The defeat was the latest in what has been a painful season on The Plains. And nobody knows that better than DJ Durkin.
Durkin, Auburn’s interim head coach, has been with the team all year. He lived the early highs and has absorbed the recent lows, same as his players. Amidst a time of trials and tribulations for them as individuals and the program as a whole, he applauded them for continuing to battle for each other after this latest setback.
“There’s some character in that [locker] room. Every coach in the country is calling this team, trying to drag them in the portal and go in other directions,” Durkin said. “And those guys… they stuck together.”
Saturday’s game was Durkin’s first as a head coach since the 2017 season. Quarterback Ashton Daniels produced 442 total yards of offense against the Commodores, but Diego Pavia countered with 489 total yards of his own. Pavia’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Cole Spence in overtime proved to be the difference in the end.
Auburn hosts Mercer on Nov. 22 (2:00 p.m. E.T.) before ending the regular season versus Alabama on Nov. 29.
