Nix in search of perfect game

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Auburn quarterback Bo Nix in pursuit of the ‘perfect game’

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5-7 minutes

Bo Nix trotted off the field following his rushing touchdown from 1-yard out midway through the second quarter, only to be lambasted by Gus Malzahn on the sideline moments later.

“I was just helping him with one of the things we want to do next time when we get in a certain situation,” Malzahn explained a day later.

It was a sight on the Tigers’ sideline, and Malzahn admitted as much. That’s because Nix is oftentimes his own toughest critic. He knows when he does something wrong or makes an incorrect read, and he’ll be the first to admit when he makes such mistakes.

In Nix’s eyes, there’s always something that needs to be worked on or something he can do better — even after the most efficient game of his fledgling career.

“I was just trying to go out there and be as sharp as I could” Nix said. “And my mentality going into every game is to try to be perfect and to try to hit every pass.”

Nix nearly accomplished that against Kent State last week, completing 12-of-16 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown. Two of his incompletions were dropped passes — one by Will Hastings on a slant over the middle and another by running back Boobee Whitlow on a wheel route out of the backfield — while the other two were misfires by the true freshman.

“You can call them two drops, but I feel like those were on me,” Nix said. “I could have located the ball a little bit better. I can really help out the receivers, and, hopefully, down the road, we can have a perfect game.”

Nix’s ability to use his feet helped spark Auburn’s 467-yard rushing performance, as he had runs of 17 and 18 yards on consecutive plays during the Tigers’ first scoring drive against the Golden Flashes. While his running ability helped open things up offensively for Auburn, his footwork also cost him on two of those four incompletions.

After completing his first six passes of the night, Nix overshot Eli Stove on a deep ball downfield on the Tigers’ final drive of the first half. Five plays later, he overthrew H-back Jay Jay Wilson in the left corner of the end zone for what would have been a sure-fire touchdown.

“It all goes to footwork,” Nix said. “In a throw like that, your feet and your pocket presence and all that stuff — just movement — it can tie into a throw. So, on one, I was a little bit fast stepping up into the pocket, and then the other I just didn’t take the proper drop, so I was out of rhythm.”

Nix made an effort to correct those things going into halftime, and he came out of the locker room and completed 4-of-4 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown, including the longest pass play of his career to date — a 49-yarder to Stove for a touchdown on a flea-flicker.

“I knew where to go with the ball,” Nix said. “And a lot of times, that’s the most important part. If you know where to go with the ball and locate it, then you can complete a lot of passes.”

It wasn’t perfection against Kent State — the Tigers’ weakest opponent of the first three weeks — but it was still the most accurate Nix has been through the first three starts of his college career. He completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes over his first two starts against Oregon and Tulane, going a combine 32-of-68 for 384 yards, three touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.

So, last week’s outing against Kent State, in which he completed 75 percent of his passes, was a marked improvement.

It’s evident that Nix is getting more comfortable within Auburn’s offense, getting more accustomed to the Tigers’ receivers while knowing when and how to efficiently utilize his dual-threat capabilities to help open things up in the run game.

“I have improved,” Nix said. “I think you can see it on film. I’m just a little bit more calm. I know where to look. I know where to get my eyes pre-snap, post-snap, things like that. I’m more comfortable with the offense. I’m more comfortable with how Coach Malzahn likes to call plays. And so just three games in, I feel like I’m in a good spot. And I’m looking forward to growing here in the next few weeks and just keep getting better.”

Nix isn’t the first Auburn quarterback to publicly state his pursuit of perfection. His predecessor Jarrett Stidham shared a similar sentiment a month into his first season as Auburn’s starter when, after five games — including a three-game stretch during which he completed nearly 83 percent of his passes — he admitted his weekly goal was to have a perfect game from a passing perspective.

Stidham never did reach that mark; the closest he got was 32-of-37 (86.5 percent) passing against Mercer in 2017. While perfection may be nearly unattainable—the NCAA single game record, with a minimum of 20 pass attempts, was former Georgia quarterback Grayson Lambert’s 24-of-25 (96 percent) effort against South Carolina in 2015—that doesn’t seem to be stopping Nix from making it one of his goals each week.

His next opportunity will come Saturday against No. 17 Texas AM (2:30 p.m., CBS) in No. 8 Auburn’s SEC opener.

“Of course, each game, he's going to improve,” wide receiver Anthony Schwartz said. “None of us are perfect, so we've all got to improve still. But he's getting a lot better. He's definitely getting the hang of it. He doesn't look like a freshman out there.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.