What Harsin said after beatin lsu

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What Bryan Harsin said after Auburn snapped losing streak against LSU in Death Valley

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

11-14 minutes

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Bryan Harsin’s first SEC win, in his first league game no less, produced another thrilling finish for Auburn.

Bo Nix led an 11-play, 92-yard scoring drive in the final minutes as No. 23 Auburn defeated LSU, 24-19, on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La. It snapped a 10-game losing streak for Auburn in Death Valley, giving the program its first win there since 1999.

After the game, Harsin met with the media via Zoom to discuss his team’s effort. Here’s what he had to say.

BRYAN HARSIN, Auburn coach

Opening statement…

“Hey, great win. I told our guys: ‘Proud of them for what they did tonight and really everything leading up to it.’ Preparing themselves for this game to come on the road and play against a really good LSU team.

“There’s obviously a lot of history with this game and being here. But the most important thing tonight was what we had to do with this team in order to be successful and find a way to win and those guys did that and we finished, which I’m proud of our team for that. I thought guys stepped up and made some really great plays tonight. That needs to happen in big games like this. LSU’s a good football team, that was a tremendous environment tonight and our guys were able to handle that and focus in and I thought they did a really good job of that. Coaches made adjustments. There was a lot of things that happened in this game that we had to overcome.

“But ultimately, tonight was about this football team. Certainly, about the fans and the people that have been a part of this program for a long time. We’re very happy for them. That was something that our guys are very proud of — they were able to accomplish that. And, I felt it in the locker room, just something that is really important that we have to have on this team is that comradery and that belief in each other and guys supporting their teammates when they’re on the field. And then going out there like I said — we made some plays tonight, LSU made plays and it was just a back and forth, it was a tight ball game. But at the end of it, we were able to finish.

“From my standpoint, everybody did really good work leading into this game and a lot of that stuff showed up. So, we’ve got to continue that. That’s got to be the mentality that we take moving forward. Tonight though, we’re going to enjoy this. We’re going to get on the plane and get home, it’s going to be late and then we’ve got to turn around and get right back to work, but we’re going to enjoy the LSU win and we’re going to enjoy the things we did this week to come in here and find a way to win this ball game.

On aggressive play-calling and Bo Nix…

“Well, first I’ll start with Bo. I think Bo did a great job this week coming off the last game and getting himself prepared for playing LSU and going back on the road. I thought T.J. did a great job this week as well. That was pre-planned to have T.J. come in there on that third drive. He had earned that opportunity through the week of practice. But again, I’ve said this, a lot goes into the attention of the quarterback position. More importantly our team, our defense, our special teams. Things that we did on the offensive side: Tight ends, wide receivers, tailbacks, o-line. Everybody doing their job, that was what I wanted to see and what we all wanted to see from each other in this game. It really came down to just a simple do your job phrase that we said before and making sure that we play one play at a time and focus on that. Take care of what you have to do, make sure that you have the substitutions correct. But still plenty of things that we’re going to have to continue to keep working on.

“The first part of your question, what was the first part?

On aggressive play-calling, including onside kick attempt after halftime…

“Yeah that was, golly, it was there. It was there. Their kid made a good play. We were there, we were there to make that play. That’s something that we had prepared and done a really good job in practice. That’s why we felt confident about it. Our guys had shown that in practice and they had done it at a very high level. I thought they did a good job of seeing it a little bit late, but at the same time, that’s a play that we can make and we know that. At the same time, it put our defense in a difficult situation and we had talked about that coming out of half and the defense stepped up. I think we gave up three points on that drive, which was a difference. That was a huge opportunity for the defense to really step up and they did that.

“As far as the fourth downs, we needed to do that, we needed to be aggressive. When you’re on the road and playing a really good team, you’ve got to find ways to make plays and continue drives and, you know honestly, those plays, it really came down to Bo. Bo scrambled and guys got open and were able to finish. That’s not so much the play call itself. I think the idea behind it is good, but at the end of the day, players made plays and that’s the bottom line.

“If we can continue to be aggressive at times and our guys can make those plays then that’s a key to our success, and it was tonight. I don’t know if that’s something in the future but that’s was certainly something tonight in this gameplan that we felt like we needed to do to win. On defense holding LSU to four field goals after the opening touchdown…

“Well, exactly what you just said, a response. It’s hard. You’re playing against a quarterback that we all think is a tremendous player. You’re playing at their place against a really good LSU team as far as just physical and they’ve got good athletes and they’ve got good schemes. So our defense being able to make adjustments. They did things too, in the game. We prepare a certain way and then they have their adjustments that they make every week. So you’ve got to be able to see, ‘Alright, what is their gameplan?’ That’s always the hardest thing for a defense because offenses are going to gameplan and have different things that they’re going to try to do to attack you. So every single week, you think you know and then you’ve got to get into the game and just dissect what’s happening.

“I thought the defensive staff, the defensive players all did a really good job in the sideline making those adjustment. Making adjustments at halftime that we needed to make to come out there and continue playing that way. LSU throws the ball quite a bit and they were hitting some guys. They had a wheel route there towards the end. He bobbled it a little bit so that helped put them in a fourth-down situation. But they were able to make some plays too. We were in the right position. I thought we did a good job in coverage. I thought we did some things on the defensive side that gave us an advantage. We can capitalize on some of those opportunities from the calls and from the adjustments that we made. There were chances. There was that tipped ball. You really want to have that. That was huge. Their quarterback really did a good job of getting in the mix and knocking it down. That was a smart play by him. It was just overall, really, there were things that our defense did tonight as far as communication and adjustment that I was really happy to see, and they were able to execute them. On Bo Nix using his legs more and that being part of the gameplan… “It was part of the gameplan tonight. Bo is a weapon with his legs. He’s able to make guys miss. He can run and I think that’s good for him. That’s part of his game that makes him the type of player that he is. So I thought the offensive staff had a good plan for him to utilize him in the run game and to utilize some movement. But also for him to stand back there and really be a good thrower. He showed that. He set his feet, did a good job. That’s what I appreciate about any player — things you need to work on. That’s what you go back and watch film on. That’s why you evaluate yourself. That’s why you sit there on Sundays and you assess, ‘OK, where am I at? What am I doing? What are we doing?’

“Every player’s got to really look at themselves and say, ‘Here’s the things that I know I really have to work on. Here’s the things that the coaches think that we need to do a better job of.’ And then you go out there and do exactly that. You work on it throughout the week. Those are things that we had in the gameplan. Those are plays in practice that we made and that’s why we had confidence tonight going into the game because we could see that intentional work that or guys were doing, Bo in particular, to have the type of game he had tonight and be able to call those plays and make the plays that he did.

“This goes back to you don’t just make it up on Saturday night. You work really, really hard. You spend a tremendous amount of time to go out there and be able to do those things. And then you’ve got a defense that’s trying to stop you from doing it. There were things in there, you saw the same game I saw, he made plays. Things broke down and he was able to make things happen. Our line gave him some time. We didn’t have an extra defender where he could make someone miss because he will do that in space. And then guys got open and when they did, they went up, they made the catch. Still an area that we’re improving on but we made the plays that we needed to make in this game to win the game.

On struggles running the ball until the final drive…

“Awesome. Sometimes in a game, sometimes you got to throw. Sometimes you’re throwing the ball. Sometimes you’re utilizing that part of the game, and at some point the run game is going to be there. It never goes away, at least not for us. It never goes away. We’ll have our moment where we’ll get a chance to run the ball, and Jarquez—Jarquez is a true freshman out there playing really well. And know this: He’s learning every single game, but he’s into it. I thought Shaun Shivers tonight made some plays for us—third downs, getting himself open and just utilizing his ability and speed. Shaun is very reliable, and we’re getting him back into the mix. You know, Tank ran hard. So, all three of those guys are able to make plays. It was good to see Jarquez come in there and be able to punch it in.

“But to put that drive together too—I don’t know how many plays it was to finish that drive and score, but we put a string of plays together and we executed. That’s exactly what we’re looking for every time we step on the field on offense. Just execution, making the plays we know we’re able to make. There’s going to be off-schedule plays that we’re able to go out there and create, like we did tonight, but the run game’s always there. Sometimes it doesn’t go like you anticipate it early on, because LSU’s damn good. They got dudes up front, and they’re trying to stop the run, and I’m sure that’s what they say in their defensive meetings: Stop the run. So, they did that, but we were able to get the run game going when we needed it most. There was one run we hit on the left side, and if you look at it, we set an edge. The tight ends did a great job, tackles are pulling, Troxell’s pulling. We got guys around at front. Like, you don’t make those runs if guys aren’t doing their job in front of you and fitting up guys and landing blocks, and that’s exactly what we did. So, without watching the play exactly, I know those guys went out there and were able to do their job in that moment and execute at a high level to create that type of play that we needed. That’s exactly what we have to continue to keep doing, just working on those things so that we can make those in games.”

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