Nix adjusting approach

[aubiefifty 18,222]

Auburn’s adjusted approach helps Bo Nix find rhythm against Ole Miss

Posted Nov 02, 2019

5-6 minutes

Auburn Football

After Auburn’s offense was stuck in neutral during a disappointing loss at LSU last weekend, Gus Malzahn went back to the drawing board. What he came back with was a pass-first gameplan to try to kickstart an offense that struggled for much of October.

It worked against Ole Miss on Saturday night, to an extent, as Auburn racked up more than 500 yards but struggled to finish off drives. With an adjusted plan of attack, freshman quarterback Bo Nix came away with one of the best performances of his fledgling career, completing 30-of-44 passes for 340 yards. while he didn’t throw for a touchdown, he found the end zone on a third-quarter keeper as the 11th-ranked Tigers held on to defeat the Rebels, 20-14.

“We felt good about a few things, that we could have some completions to get us in tempo,” Malzahn said. “So, that was kind of the plan as far as we had some short throws, we had a little bubble, we had some short throws to get us in tempo. We felt like if we could get them in tempo and spread them out a little bit there were some opportunities with some bubbles and things like that on the perimeter.”

It was a career high in completions, attempts and yards for Nix, and it marked the second 300-yard passing performance of Nix’s career, joining his 335-yard showing against Mississippi State on Sept. 28 — in what was Auburn’s last home game prior to Saturday.

The 19-year-old freshman benefited from a gameplan that saw Auburn call more first-down passes and worked to get the ball out of Nix’s hands quickly to find receivers in open space. The Tigers, who entered the game passing on just 33 percent of first downs this season, drew up passes on 18 of their 38 first-down opportunities against the Rebels.

“It got us into a rhythm, it got us getting into going fast and Coach likes playing fast,” Nix said. “Once we do that, that really plays to his strengths.”

On those first-down plays, Nix completed 12 of his attempts for 95 yards, helping spark an offense that mustered just 287 yards a week prior. Against the Rebels, Auburn racked up 507 yards of total offense as the first-down passing plan helped open things up offensively in a game during which the Tigers averaged just 2.5 yards rushing on first down.

“I felt like I was in a great rhythm,” Nix said. “We had some short passes and low, intermediate passes I could feel comfortable with and they were open, so it was just playing catch with my guys. And they did the rest. I feel like that really opened up the rest of the offense. We moved the ball great, we just got stuck there in the high red zone, which it happens sometimes.”

Nix was quick with getting the ball out of his hands, too, as Auburn tried to move quickly offensively and get the ball in the hands of its receivers in space. Nix was able to spread the ball around with that approach, as six receivers saw at least three targets and four players finished with at least three receptions.

That group was led by Anthony Schwartz, who had nine catches for 89 yards on 12 targets, and Seth Williams, who finished with six receptions for 46 yards on 11 targets. In all, five players finished with at least 40 yards receiving against Ole Miss. Harold Joiner had one reception for 78 yards on a wheel route that set up Auburn’s first touchdown of the night. Eli Stove had five receptions for 44 yards, while H-back/tight end Jay Jay Wilson finished with two catches for 47 yards.

Nix, whose numbers would have been even better had it not been for some early drops (receivers had three in the first quarter alone as he went 10-of-14 for 129 yards), was particularly efficient on third downs against Ole Miss. The freshman completed eight of his 11 pass attempts on third downs, converting five of them — including two key ones on Auburn’s final drive as it tried to run out the clock with the lead late.

It was a welcome and needed bounceback performance from Nix — even if Auburn’s offense struggled to finish drives in the red zone — coming off one of the worst games of his career and a week in which more was placed on his shoulders following the transfer of backup Joey Gatewood.

“I thought he did some good things, I really did,” Malzahn said. “He protected the football; that’s No. 1. We were close on a couple that could have been more. It’s good to have an off-week and clean some things up but I thought he played well.”

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

[Auskip 196]

Final score wasn’t pretty but they were rolling Toomer’s Corner last night!

[Never2Yield 1,043]

54 minutes ago, Auskip said:

Final score wasn’t pretty but they were rolling Toomer’s Corner last night!

Might be the last time, this season, we get roll Toomer's against a quality opponent. Excluding Samford, of course.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

That writer used a lot of words to say Nix looks better against bad defenses. 

[Farmer Brown 2,461]

It would have been nice to see a short intermediate pass on 3rd down, instead of a high percentage, long developing pass play. Especially when 2 or 3 yds. Is all was needed for a 1st down. 

[bigbird 60,939]

@cole256 this is what I was mentioning. 

[cole256 17,085]

I thought he did very nice to start the game, and who knew that this was going to be a dog fight? 😳  If he had messed up we probably would've lost.

[cole256 17,085]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

@cole256 this is what I was mentioning. 

I thought about it when I actually saw it happening. And when he hit in later on in the game I was thinking that play wouldn't happen with a bad start. Good call!

[bigbird 60,939]

8 minutes ago, cole256 said:

I thought about it when I actually saw it happening. And when he hit in later on in the game I was thinking that play wouldn't happen with a bad start. Good call!

Thanks. Don't know why it took so long for another to figure it out.

[aucanucktiger 1,889]

Not to sound irresponsibly optimistic 😉 but 500+ O yards this week w/ whacky few points is just the most recent suggestion parts are coming together for a Purdue-like offensive showing. Bo & Seth are looking closer to being  on same page too. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

6 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

Not to sound irresponsibly optimistic 😉 but 500+ O yards this week w/ whacky few points is just the most recent suggestion parts are coming together for a Purdue-like offensive showing. Bo & Seth are looking closer to being  on same page too. 

A Purdue-like showing if we get to play....Purdue...

[japantiger 4,116]

46 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

Not to sound irresponsibly optimistic 😉 but 500+ O yards this week w/ whacky few points is just the most recent suggestion parts are coming together for a Purdue-like offensive showing. Bo & Seth are looking closer to being  on same page too. 

Man, it's a good thing we play in a PPR fantasy league....oh wait...

[Sizzle 3,948]

The offense was rolling just didn’t finish and special teams didn’t help. Jay Jay would’ve had a TD but he dropped it and Joiner would’ve had a TD too all he had to do was just hold on to the ball and fall and he was in there.

Clean up the mistakes and we can finally look competent against the good competition and win

[alexava 6,974]

Running game is what held us back. We need to run better. But the missed field goals kept it closer than I was comfortable with. Other than the dropped interception where Will was targeted and the under throw to Sal I thought Nix threw much better. I hated running the clock before half and a third and short we threw a deep fade once, I didn’t have any issues with play calling. The offensive line is just not strong enough to hammer the ground game. I would also ran worm and joiner more. DJ was good but I would cut back from 24 carries. Defense is still awesome Plumlee is the fastest white boy in the sec. 

[bigbird 60,939]

I asked it in the game thread. Why can every other team's receivers consistently catch the ball? Easy catches, tough catches, catches in traffic, wide open catches, catches where they have to dive, catches where they have to jump, they seem to catch them all and our receivers are 50/50 on every type at best. It doesn't matter if we hit them in the chest, hands, or helmet it's always 50/50

[alexava 6,974]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I asked it in the game thread. Why can every other team's receivers consistently catch the ball? Easy catches, tough catches, catches in traffic, wide open catches, catches where they have to dive, catches where they have to jump, they seem to catch them all and our receivers are 50/50 on every type at best. It doesn't matter if we hit them in the chest, hands, or helmet it's always 50/50

Was that rhetorical or sarcastic?

[Tiger Refuge 6,781]

6 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I asked it in the game thread. Why can every other team's receivers consistently catch the ball? Easy catches, tough catches, catches in traffic, wide open catches, catches where they have to dive, catches where they have to jump, they seem to catch them all and our receivers are 50/50 on every type at best. It doesn't matter if we hit them in the chest, hands, or helmet it's always 50/50

Watching that SMUvMemphis game last night...some pretty nice catches there.

[bigbird 60,939]

3 minutes ago, alexava said:

Was that rhetorical or sarcastic?

No sarcasm intended

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

2 minutes ago, Tiger Refuge said:

Watching that SMUvMemphis game last night...some pretty nice catches there.

There were some really good ones for sure. 

[Tiger Refuge 6,781]

4 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

There were some really good ones for sure. 

Especially those SMU receivers. One for a TD as he fell down and the ball passed through the defenders hands, and the one handed, fingertip catch for the two point conversion.

[alexava 6,974]

8 minutes ago, bigbird said:

No sarcasm intended

Other teams dropped balls against us quite a bit this year 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

1 minute ago, Tiger Refuge said:

Especially those SMU receivers. One for a TD as he fell down and the ball passed through the defenders hands, and the one handed, fingertip catch for the two point conversion.

Yep, goes to show that sometimes the best players aren’t always in the Power 5. Entertaining game.

[bigbird 60,939]

1 minute ago, alexava said:

Other teams dropped balls against us quite a bit this year 

Do you watch other games besides Auburn?

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

29 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I asked it in the game thread. Why can every other team's receivers consistently catch the ball? Easy catches, tough catches, catches in traffic, wide open catches, catches where they have to dive, catches where they have to jump, they seem to catch them all and our receivers are 50/50 on every type at best. It doesn't matter if we hit them in the chest, hands, or helmet it's always 50/50

Coaching by our Co-OC, imo. 

[alexava 6,974]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Do you watch other games besides Auburn?

Yes but not start to finish. They drop balls too.