Bo Nix ‘never flinched’

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Bo Nix ‘never flinched’ after struggles against LSU, and it showed vs. Ole Miss

Posted Nov 07, 2019

6-8 minutes

Auburn Football

AP

Bo Nix had one of the worst games of his young career two weeks ago against LSU. The freshman then responded with what Auburn coach Gus Malzahn believes was his best performance to date.

Nix completed a career-high 30-of-44 passes for a career-best 340 yards during Auburn’s 20-14 win against Ole Miss last week, helping the Tigers improve to 7-2 on the year and earning the freshman quarterback an offensive helmet sticker from the coaching staff for the second time this season.

“Just really, he was comfortable,” Malzahn said. “… I thought he had one of his best games, if not his best game.”

Nix did not throw a touchdown against the Rebels, as Auburn struggled to finish some drives and left points on the board despite racking up more than 500 yards of total offense, but the freshman managed to find the end zone on the ground with a rushing touchdown early in the third quarter. Auburn fumbled the ball on a missed exchange between Nix and running back D.J. Williams that resulted in a turnover, but Nix otherwise made good decisions with the ball in his hands.

He felt more at ease and, for the first time in weeks, more in rhythm as Auburn spread the ball around in the first half and utilized more pace with short passes in space and quick reads to make life easier on Nix after a difficult October stretch on the road.

“Bo bounced back very well,” wide receiver Anthony Schwartz said. “He was just calm and composed. He never really panics, especially after that game with everything that was going on. He was calm and composed with everything. He was pretty much on target.”

Even with his incompletions. Although Nix was credited with 14 incomplete passes, two were throwaways and a handful of those were dropped passes by his wide receivers — including three first-half drops by Schwartz, Will Hastings and Jay Jay Wilson that would have made Nix’s line even more impressive against Ole Miss. Even with those drops, Nix completed 68.2 percent of his passes, which was his third-best completion rate of the season, and according to SEC StatCat, he had an adjusted completion percentage of 81.1 percent.

That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, given how much better Nix has been within the confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium compared to on the road and at neutral sites this season. In four home games, Nix is completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 1,043 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions while averaging 8.8 yards per attempt. Away from the Plains, however, he has completed just 48.5 percent of his passes for 755 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions in five games while averaging 5.8 yards per attempt.

Simply put: Nix has been in the top tier of passers in the SEC this season at home but ranks near the bottom away from it.

“It’s a different world at home, there’s no doubt, whether you’re a veteran or a true freshman,” Malzahn said. “It’s comfortable for him. Like I said, he played well, and that’s very encouraging.”

Nix had his share of difficulties on the road in October, though Malzahn admits he didn’t do well in putting the freshman in better situations — particularly during Auburn’s losses at Florida and LSU. At home, however, the Tigers’ seventh-year head coach didn’t hesitate to put more on Nix’s plate at the line of scrimmage. The freshman changed more protections pre-snap at the line of scrimmage and was sound in his decision-making as Auburn tried to go up-tempo early on against Ole Miss with a pace-and-space style offense.

On throws either behind the line of scrimmage or within 10 yards of it, Nix completed 25-of-27 attempts — with one drop and one wide receiver “error,” according to SEC StatCat — for 154 yards against Ole Miss.

“Bo is a real special kid,” Wilson said. “He's got a lot on his plate. So, it's amazing, more so, to see how he handles everything like a champ, you know? His ability to play football has been there; it's always been there. He was a great Pop Warner player, he was a great high school player, and he's going to be a great college player…. It's crazy to watch him grow as much as he did from summer all the way to now, you know? Some of the stuff that's thrown at him, he takes it on the chin and keeps moving forward.

“You've seen that (Saturday). He made better throws, he went through his reads, he made sure he had the right drop. So, I just feel like -- he's always been a great leader, but I feel like he's coming more so into, like, keeping the outside noise outside. That can be hard to do, especially as a young kid, it being your first year as a starting quarterback in the SEC at Auburn. I feel like he's done an amazing job — better than I could say I could do.”

Following the career performance against the Rebels, Nix said he feels more comfortable with the offense now and is seeing the game a lot more clearly at this juncture of the season. Although Auburn struggled to finish its drives against Ole Miss, the freshman was also confident that coming out of the bye week the Tigers will do better in those “awkward” situations just outside the red zone that will prevent those drives from stalling out.

With three home games remaining, including two against rivals Georgia and Alabama — ranked sixth and third in the College Football Playoff rankings, respectively — Auburn’s offense will only go as far as Nix can take it.

It’s that kind of inexorable confidence that is perhaps the biggest takeaway from the performance by Nix, whom Malzahn said understands how important it was to have a sound bounceback effort in the team’s first home game in more than a month — especially coming off the struggles against LSU a week earlier.

“He really, to be honest with you, coming back off the tough outing against LSU, he really never flinched during practice,” Malzahn said. “He was the same guy and probably more determined. He was just really determined to get on the field and get back in the flow, and he did that. That’s encouraging. Just keep pressing, and he’s had two days of practice (this week). I think every practice and every game, he feels more comfortable.”

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