Nix on mistakes at A&M

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Nix on mistakes at Texas A&M: 'I shouldn't make those kinds of plays'

ByNathan King

4-5 minutes

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Takeaways From CFB Week Ten (Late Kick Cut)

 

Bo Nix has now faced two of the nation’s best defenses in his last four games. And things were better for the Auburn quarterback against the No. 1 team in the country than they were over the weekend in College Station.

After scoring eight touchdowns in its past two games — both ranked wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss — Auburn’s offense displayed massive flaws across the board in a 20-3 loss at Texas A&M. Nix went 20-of-41 with 153 yards (a paltry 3.7 yards per attempt) with two turnovers, including a fumble that was scooped and scored by Texas A&M in the fourth quarter for the game’s only touchdown.

The protection was porous, Nix looked uncomfortable and his receiving corps didn’t create separation, as the junior QB’s longest completion of the evening went for 15 yards. Of his 41 passes, only five were caught by an Auburn wide receiver.

“They did a good job schematically,” Nix said Monday of Texas A&M’s defense on The Next Round radio program in Birmingham. “I think coming off an off week, they did a good job scheming some things up for us. … We had a hard time getting things going and getting in a rhythm, and it’s all a credit to them.”

Nix said the aforementioned scheme from Aggies defensive coordinator Mike Elko was the biggest similarity from Auburn’s matchup earlier in the season with Georgia, which boasts the nation’s best defense.

“They can kind of make an offense confused just by what they’re doing on third downs and the coverages and blitzes that they bring,” Nix said. “Similar players talent-wise, and then they do a good job; they suffocate you a little bit and do a lot of guessing.”

In a 34-10 home loss to Georgia at the beginning of October, Nix went 21-of-37 for 217 yards and an interception, but his receivers dropped six passes in the game, and his offense wasn’t kept out of the end zone.

According to Pro Football Focus, Nix’s overall grade from the Texas A&M loss (44.3) is the worst of his career. When facing pressure against the Aggies, Nix’s passing grade of 26.9 was the third-worst in all of the FBS in Week 10, ahead of only Middle Tennessee State’s Nick Vattiato and Rice’s Jake Constantine.

Nix found himself in a funk after his fumble for a touchdown. He completed only five of his final 15 passes of the game and threw a pick.

“An experienced quarterback like myself, I shouldn't make those kinds of plays,” Nix said of his unforced fumble. “I should just tuck it and take the loss and live to play another down. That’s completely on me; it should have never happened.”

Auburn continually failed to find a “spark” in the passing game, as Bryan Harsin put it postgame, but the head coach said he did not consider benching Nix for T.J. Finley, like he did in Week 4 in the fourth quarter against Georgia State.

“I felt like Bo could get us back in the game, that we could get that spark,” Harsin said. “That’s something that he’s shown and that we’ve done throughout the season, we just didn’t get it.”

Auburn has now gone its last six quarters without an offensive touchdown. In 18 drives since their most recent trip to the end zone right before halftime against Ole Miss, the Tigers have scored 6 points, punted nine times, missed two field goals and turned the ball over three times.

“All of the offense — we all can do better, starting with myself, and then going along down the line,” Nix said. “We have to do a better job being consistent in all aspects of the game — rushing and throwing, then sprinkling in some creativity in there. We’ve just got to play better. We’ve shown it in the past few weeks; we’ve played well. We’ve just go to do better moving forward.”

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