Being 'better' goal for entire offense

[aubiefifty 17,488]

247sports.com

 

Harsin: Being 'better' the goal for Bo Nix and entire Auburn offense

ByJason Caldwell

4-5 minutes

---

 

2 Minute Drill: Auburn's offense falls flat at Texas A&M

 

AUBURN, Alabama—Coming off of back-to-back strong performances throwing the football, Bo Nix and the Auburn offense had a rough outing against Texas A&M last Saturday in a 20-3 loss to the Aggies. Going six straight quarters without a touchdown, dating back to the second half against Ole Miss two games ago, Auburn’s offense has plenty of issues to go around and it doesn’t stop and end with quarterback play, Coach Bryan Harsin said.

“He didn't have his best game, obviously,” Harsin said of his junior quarterback. “There were things and reasons why. yYou know, it's not always just on that one particular position and I've said that before. I think the quarterback gets way too much credit and way too much blame, and I still believe that.

“It's a matter of going back and making sure that, one, he's playing better. Two, the guys around him are playing better and we have a better plan and we execute those things more consistently throughout the week of practice so come game time we're able to execute it when the game is going fast. And you're playing against a good team, which A&M's a good team and I don't want to take anything away from who they are. Their defense is very good, and those guys play fast. But we can play fast, too. You've got to be able to do that through four quarters.”

Completing just 20-41 passes for 153 yards with no touchdowns and one interception along with a costly fumble, Nix was unable to make anything happen in the passing game against an Aggie defense that was physical at every level. Harsin said the deficiencies on offense against Texas A&M rest on everyone’s shoulders.

“We also had some clean pockets, chances to throw it, and then opportunities in there as well where we could’ve picked some blitzes up and we didn’t pick them up,” Harsin said. “That’s the thing that’s a little misleading for a quarterback is when you get somebody right in your face, and the O-line’s supposed to slow them down and it looks like you’re just running out of there. Well, the guys up front need to do their job, too. There was enough of that so all the way around on the offensive side, it’s not any one player in particular, it’s everybody, execution, the whole plan of just making sure that we’re going to be better at those things moving forward.”

Preparing to face a Mississippi State defense that is one of the best in the country at stopping the run, giving up just 102 yards per game, Auburn’s offense is going to need to make plays down the field to beat the Bulldogs. Harsin said that’s not a focus just when the team rolls into Jordan-Hare Stadium, but it begins on the practice field this week.

“The players on that side of the ball, the coaching staff, it’s pretty obvious that we need to score touchdowns in order to win games and at the end of the day we haven’t done that well enough,” Harsin said. “We have another opportunity this week to go work on that and create that. Those things have to happen every single day for us. What I know about our team and our offense in particular is it doesn’t just happen on Saturday. That’s what I know. If it’s emphasized every day, if it’s focused every day, if it’s executed every day then we’ll have a lot better opportunity to not be at the very bottom and not scoring points on the offensive side.”

2COMMENTS

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 11 a.m. CST with television coverage on ESPN.

*** Subscribe: Receive the latest Auburn intel and scoops***

">247Sports