Auburn Football: How Will the Tigers Stop Melvin Gordon?

AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn's defense returned to the practice field without its coordinator from the entire regular season, under the direction of an interim coordinator whose future with the program is unclear and with its next coordinator observing off to the side.

And, through all of those drastic changes, the Tigers are having to prepare for the nation's best running back.

Melvin Gordon, who leads the country with 180 rushing yards per game this season, will lead a Wisconsin offense, undergoing an abrupt coaching transition as well, against an Auburn defense that struggled mightily to end the season in the Outback Bowl.

"He has a lot of moves in his arsenal," junior linebacker Kris Frost said. "He can get free. He has a lot of breakaway speed. He has a lot of power to his game. It makes him tough to bring him down.

"But it's something that we're up for the challenge, and we'll be ready when it comes time to play."

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Slowing down Gordon will be a challenge for Auburn's defense, but it shouldn't be viewed as an impossible task, if it takes a page out of the Ohio State playbook.

Although the Heisman finalist ripped through opponents throughout the regular season—even breaking LaDainian Tomlinson's 15-year FBS record for most rushing yards in a single game against Nebraska—he is also coming off one of the worst performances of his illustrious Wisconsin career.

Ohio State held Gordon to just 76 yards on 26 carries in an eye-popping 59-0 rout in the Big Ten Championship Game, a victory that helped the Buckeyes make the inaugural College Football Playoff.

"We couldn’t make any explosive plays," Gordon said after the loss, per the Wisconsin State Journal's Andy Baggot. "They really got after us with blitzes and with everything. Our offense as a whole couldn’t get things rolling."

While Ohio State's defense had more success than Auburn's in 2014, its performances against rushing attacks weren't all that different:

Statistic	Auburn	Ohio State
Yards per Game (FBS Rank)	149.50 (46th)	139.85 (33rd)
Yards per Carry (FBS Rank)	4.09 (54th)	3.87 (39th)
Rushing Touchdowns (FBS Rank)	19 (61st)	21 (76th)

But the Buckeyes shut down Gordon and Wisconsin's power-running offense thanks to sound fundamentals and a fierce attitude.

"We leveraged the ball, we were aggressive and we were gap sound," Ohio State linebacker Josh Perry told Cleveland.com's Bill Landis. "Guys came out with a chip on their shoulder and got after them early."

On Thursday afternoon, Frost echoed Perry's keys to stopping Gordon.

"Gap fits and making sure everybody is in the right spot at the right time," Frost said. "Really just bringing your feet on every tackle, never expecting him to just go down and knowing that he's always going to keep his legs moving. So we're going to have to keep our legs moving. When you hit, you have to continue to run."

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

That, of course, is easier said than done, especially for an Auburn defense that struggled to make sure tackles and stay true to assignments throughout the year.

But, according to Frost, the extra practices between the end of the regular season and the Iron Bowl have been beneficial in getting ready for a runner like Gordon.

"The main focus is winning the game and stopping their offense as a whole—the run, as well as the play-action pass and the dropback pass," Frost said. "With how much we're polishing things up and getting after it in practice, I'm sure we'll be ready for it when the time comes."

While Frost called playing against a run-first Big Ten team like Wisconsin "a linebacker's game," his teammates said stopping Gordon would be a total team effort.

"We're going to execute, just make sure all our run-stops are correct, and we're going to be ready for anything that comes by," sophomore safety Johnathan Ford said. "We're going to be ready to stop the ball, defend passes. We're getting ourselves ready. As DBs, we're going to be ready to defend passes, we're going to be ready to stop the run."

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press/Associated Press

As for the attitude the Buckeyes had, Auburn's defensive stars said that has already been created by the presence of future coordinator Will Muschamp.

Outback Bowl practices and the game itself can be viewed as one big audition for Auburn's defense, which will be under the former Florida head coach after the New Year's Day showdown with Wisconsin.

The Tigers know that playing a huge role in stopping the nation's top running back would look great in the eyes of their new coordinator.

"It's going to be competition each and every day, but we've just got to go out and execute," Ford said. "You want to show your new defensive coordinator what you can do. ... Whenever you put stuff on film, people are going to evaluate you."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.