reason to celebrate

[aubiefifty 18,232]

Tank Bigsby, Auburn give packed Jordan-Hare Stadium reason to celebrate

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

4-5 minutes

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Aug 31, 2021; Auburn, AL, USA; Tank Bigsby (4) runs for a touchdown between Auburn and Akron at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood/AU AthleticsShanna Lockwood/AU Athletics

The roar of the crowd amplified as Tank Bigsby broke free early Saturday evening.

Auburn’s star running back shed his strictly-business demeanor and, in atypical fashion, signaled the crowd to get louder. Bigsby was just inside the 20-yard line when he raised his right arm to pop the crowd and pumped his fist on the way to the end zone.

It was an early celebration for an early score — a 32-yard touchdown run on Auburn’s opening drive against Akron — but Bigsby couldn’t help himself. He got caught up in the moment, but who could blame him, given the situation?

“I was just very excited, you know?” Bigsby said. “First one of the season with my teammates. It was a big moment. It was a big moment for Auburn at the time. I just had the energy, and I just celebrated. I felt like I needed to celebrate, and I did.”

Auburn had plenty to celebrate during its 60-10 win Saturday night. The Tigers’ were impressive in their season opener, ringing in the Bryan Harsin era in convincing fashion. The offense amassed 612 yards and averaged a first down every time it ran a play (10.6 yards per play), with quarterback Bo Nix looking comfortable and efficient in the new system, while Bigsby and fellow running back Jarquez Hunter each eclipsed the 100-yard mark on the ground. The defense was suffocating and feasted on an overmatched Akron offense, racking up 11 tackles for loss and six sacks for the night.

Bigsby kicked things off with his 32-yard touchdown run on Auburn’s sixth play of the game. It ignited the crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which was near capacity for the first time since the 2019 Iron Bowl. The program limited capacity to 20 percent last season due to health and safety protocols during the pandemic, and attendance was capped at 17,490 last fall.

On Saturday night, 83,821 fans packed into Jordan-Hare Stadium. It was a few thousand short of a sellout, but it once again felt like a traditional gameday on the Plains. The student section showed up en masse two hours before kickoff, donned in white and as rowdy as ever.

Even though the game was well in hand by halftime, fans stuck around until the final whistle, and the student section remained packed while providing the kind of buzzworthy environment that had been missing during the pandemic-impacted 2019 campaign.

Harsin took it all in after the game. He received a Gatorade bath from Zakoby McClain and Smoke Monday after the final seconds ticked off the clock, and after embracing his family near midfield, he walked to the southeast corner of the field and saluted Auburn’s student section for bringing the energy throughout the night.

“It was awesome to be out there and in front of this crowd,” Harsin said. “They had great energy. That’s something that we can’t simulate in practice, that environment, and it was awesome tonight. It was rocking all the way through the game. I appreciate the students; they stayed the entire time, great energy through the game…. The environment, the fans, just being out there in the stadium, I thought for our guys was exciting and for everybody on that sideline. We enjoyed that, we appreciate it, and it certainly helped aid in the win.”

[AUx 3,165]

Interviewed on her way out of the stadium Saturday night, Ainslee Smith (Fr., Communications) said, "I missed the two times Coach H gave out Chik-fil-a on the concourse. I thought for sure he'd hand out CFA to all of us if we stayed for the whole game. I'm bummed. I'm going back to my apartment to eat some ramen and finish streaming an episode of Riverdale."