Bo Nix has best game of college career

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Bo Nix has best game of college career by longshot

Posted Sep 28, 2019

5-6 minutes

Bo Nix has been looking for a perfect game.

His performance in Auburn’s 56-23 win over Mississippi State wasn’t perfect, but it was close.

“This week was an emphasis for him,” receiver Sal Cannella said. “You could tell he was really focusing on connecting on all those balls when we go over plays, and it paid off.”

Coach Gus Malzahn said that Nix has gotten more comfortable each week, and it translates to his play on the field. Nix had the best performance of his career in every category Saturday against the Bulldogs. His 335 passing yards beat his previous high of 207. He rushed for 56 yards, which tops his 42-yard performance against Oregon. He had two touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown for a career-high three touchdowns. And he had no interceptions.

“I feel like today I was seeing things about as good as I’ve seen them at the college level,” Nix said. “The coaches did a really good job of preparing me for what to see in that situation with a bunch of film study, so the game is slowing down for me. I think that helps a lot, as far as the passing.”

Nix finished 16-21 before he was taken out in the fourth.

“He's a great quarterback,” receiver Seth Williams said. “Y'all should see that by now. He can pass, he can run, he can make the plays. He can change a call at the line. He can do anything. He's a great quarterback.”

Nix’s growth shows in more than just the numbers. It shows in the way he practices, the way he commands the huddle and his comfort in the pocket. He even stayed in the pocket as the Bulldogs defense was crashing on him — and threw a pass while taking a hit.

“I didn't see it, but they said he stayed in the pocket and took a hit when he released one,” Williams said. “That's good to know. A freshman can stay in the pocket and take a hit and throw the ball? That's good.”

Nix got the offense off to an incredibly quick start Saturday. He led the offense to score five touchdowns in a row and seven on the first eight drives. He directly contributed on three of the touchdowns by rushing in the second and connecting with Williams for the fifth and the eighth.

The 9-yard rushing touchdown was Nix’s second rushing touchdown of the season.

The game was full of sweet connections between Nix and his receivers. Over the course of the night, Nix completed passes to six of his teammates.

“They are finally healthy,” Malzahn said. “In his defense, I don’t think we had a lot of that up until this past week.” The receiving corps has been rehabbing injuries sustained both before and during the season.

In the past few games, some of the connections between Nix and his receivers have been off because of lack of reps between the quarterback and his injured receivers and because of their changing speeds as they get healthier.

“It takes a little while to get our timing with deep balls,” Williams said. “We're working on that at practice. You could see it clicking now. We're going to be good with that.”

Williams was Nix’s main target throughout the game. He had eight catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns while Nix was the quarterback.

Last game, Nix overthrew Anthony Schwartz as he ran undefended towards the end zone. On Saturday against Mississippi State, Nix placed the ball directly in Schwartz’s hands for a 48-yard completion before Schwartz stepped out at the three. Schwartz had two receptions for 67 yards as well as three carries for 25 yards and a touchdown.

Will Hastings and Cannella stepped up in the third quarter. Hastings had a 21-yard catch that moved Auburn into Mississippi State territory on the drive ending in Williams’ second touchdown while Cannella had a 31-yard catch to help set up Kam Martin’s rushing touchdown at the end of the quarter. Hastings caught two of Nix’s passes for 25 yards, and Canella finished with two for 39 yards.

Tight end Jay Jay Wilson also added a 16-yard reception to Nix’s list of completed passes.

Nix completed three of these passes on third down, helping Auburn to go 5-8 on third down conversions while he was at the helm.

The rush was one of Nix’s seven carries that helped open up the running game, which accounted for 217 of Auburn’s 578 total yards. The quarterback finished as the leading rusher.

“He hurt them with his feet," Malzahn said. “That opens up everything.”

Nix’s 30-yard, third-down run both added to Nix’s impressive performance and prevented it from being perfect. As he was headed out of bounds, he lost control of the ball and fumbled it. Auburn kept possession of it, but it was a close call.

He recovered quickly though and connected perfectly with Williams for the 39-yard touchdown two plays later.

Although Nix fumbled once, was sacked once and had five incompletions that prevented the game from being deemed “perfect,” it was by far the freshman quarterback’s best performance of the season. He’s continued to improve in each game, despite the shift into conference play.

“I think it’s just understanding football and knowing that, if I did one thing that didn’t work, then just learning how to handle it, because mistakes can kill a drive, especially sacks and, obviously, interceptions and turning the ball over,” Nix said. “So just try to learn from every mistake so you don’t do it again.”