aubiefifty 18,231 Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 247sports.com Auburn offense has 'got to feed' Tank Bigsby moving forward ByNathan King 4 minutes Shaun Shivers was dressed and could have played in a pinch for Auburn against South Carolina, which is at least an upgrade over his status from the previous two games where the junior was completely unavailable due to injury. Shivers is Auburn’s starter, technically, but based on the way his replacement has been contributing, it’d be hard to see him unseating Tank Bigsby for Auburn’s top running spot once he’s fully healed. For the third straight game, Bigsby was Auburn’s most effective offensive weapon, turning in 16 carries for 111 yards and his first career touchdown in Auburn’s 30-22 loss to the Gamecocks. He became the first Auburn tailback in 28 games (JaTarvious Whitlow against Alabama State and LSU) to notch back-to-back 100-yard performances. This year’s shortened, SEC-only schedule makes reaching offensive milestones more difficult, but if Bigsby keeps up his pace, he can reignite Auburn’s 1,000-yard rusher streak, and then some. “He ran extremely hard again this week, you know, for the third week in a row,” Gus Malzahn said. “(He) broke tackles, ran with an attitude, so he did a really good job, another 100-yard game. … So yeah, I mean, he’ll be a factor moving forward.” Bigsby wasn’t gifted the same gaping holes by his offensive line that he had last week, but as is so often the case for the true freshman, he didn’t need them to succeed. At 6.9 yards per carry and with a long rush of 30 yards, 6-foot, 204-pound freshman powered over defenders routinely and remains a near-impossibility to bring down on first contact; he seems to be good for at least one broken tackle each play. In the second quarter, he capped a 75-yard Auburn scoring drive by walking in the end zone for his first touchdown in a Tigers uniform — the first of many, many more, Auburn assumes. “I’ve seen a lot of potential in him,” receiver Eli Stove said. “I’ve seen he’s a hard runner. He’s a competitor, too.” Bigsby’s efforts pushed him past the 300-yard mark for the season. He’s the SEC’s No. 5 running back by yardage (303) and No. 4 by average (6.06). In terms of carries per game, however, he falls to No. 13, with a pair of quarterbacks (Ole Miss’ Matt Corral and Kentucky’s Terry Wilson) ahead of him. Granted, Bigsby was rarely used in Game 1 against Kentucky and has been heavily leaned on since he broke out at Georgia. Bo Nix's passing volume has been high early this season mostly because Auburn had to quickly attempt to get back into games against both Georgia and South Carolina. And in fairness, Nix was crisp at the start of the game, working Chad Morris' run-pass-option setup well and spreading the ball to lots of different pass-catchers. But Bigsby's explosiveness and efficiency on each touch was the best offense Auburn had through four quarters. So is it time — with the passing game “not on the same page," Nix tossing three picks and D.J. Williams having another solid day as Bigsby's backup — for Auburn to lean on its ground game even harder, with its freshman rising star at the forefront? “We’ve got to feed him,” Stove said. “We’ve got to feed him. Get him in the end zone, for sure.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TieGrrrr 14 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Agreed. He is a force in the running game, we can feature him and build the passing game around that. He has been moving up these true freshmen rankings the last 2 weeks... https://cfbsaturdays.com/true-freshmen-mountain-2020-october-21-update/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amwest20 139 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Understatement of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.