Instant analysis: Auburn avoids scare

[aubiefifty 18,248]

Instant analysis: Auburn avoids scare against San Jose State, pulls away late

Published: Sep. 10, 2022, 10:04 p.m.

6-8 minutes

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For the second straight season, Auburn flirted with disaster against a Group of 5 opponent. For the second straight season, the Tigers managed to avoid embarrassment at home.

Auburn trudged through the first half against San Jose State, trailing at the break before pulling away from its Mountain West opponent for a 24-16 win Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Like last season, when the Auburn mounted a second-half comeback against Georgia State in Week 4, the Tigers stumbled out of the gates. Auburn committed two first-quarter turnovers — an interception each from T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford — and went three-and-out on its other two opening-period drives. The Tigers scored on just one of their six first-half possessions, with Jarquez Hunter accounting for the team’s only points at halftime, as they went into the locker room trailing the Spartans 10-7.

Unlike last season’s scare against Georgia State, though, Saturday night didn’t require any last-minute heroics. Still, it was the steadying hand of Finley at quarterback that helped Auburn avoid the upset. The junior settled in after his first-quarter interception and finished the game 13-of-20 for 167 yards, helping lead each of Auburn’s scoring drives on the night.

The Tigers’ ability to pull away in the second half saved the program from its first regular-season loss to a non-Power 5 opponent since 1991 against Southern Miss. It wasn’t pretty, but Auburn took care of business, and now attention turns to next week’s marquee nonconference showdown with Penn State.

Here are AL.com’s takeaways from Auburn’s 24-16 win.

Quarterback intrigue

Bryan Harsin made it no secret this week that Auburn planned to utilize both quarterbacks again against San Jose State, but there was some mystery about the Tigers’ plans in the hours leading up to the game after the gameday flip-card — which includes an official depth chart — listed T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford as co-starters at the position.

Finley wound up getting the starting nod, but Auburn’s offense stumbled out of the gate, going three-and-out on its first possession and committing a pair of penalties. Ashford entered to start the second drive, rotating wit Finley for a couple of plays before picking up a first down with his legs and then throwing an interception on his first pass attempt of the night. Finley took back over on Auburn’s next two drives, which produced another three-and-out and then another interception, Finley’s third of the season.

Despite the interception, Auburn stuck with Finley at quarterback for much of the rest of the game, with Ashford rotating in on occasion. After starting the game 1-of-5 for 9 yards and an interception, Finley settled in. He completed 12 of his final 15 passes for 162 yards

While Ashford’s snaps were limited after his first-quarter interception, he still played a key role in the fourth quarter. He took the first snap of Auburn’s opening drive of the final period, breaking off a 30-yard run on the first play to get across midfield and into San Jose State territory. Finley put the finishing touches on the drive, first with a 24-yard pass to Ja’Varrius Johnson to get Auburn down inside the 5-yard line, then punching it in himself for his first rushing score since last year’s season opener against Akron. Ashford also converted a third-and-7 inside the final two minutes to help Auburn salt away the final moments of the game.

Penalties an issue

Against a team which features gold as one of its primary colors, Auburn was responsible for producing the most yellow on the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Tigers were beleaguered by penalties against the Spartans, finishing the game with nine for 86 yards. The abundance of laundry on the field came a week after Bryan Harsin lauded his team for playing a relatively clean game from that standpoint (three penalties totaling 20 yards) — most notably saying Auburn didn’t commit any “stupid penalties” against Mercer in the season opener. That wasn’t the case Saturday night against San Jose State, though, as Auburn shot itself in the foot with untimely flags throughout the game.

Auburn had more penalty yards (33) than total yards of offense (31) in the first quarter, which saw the offense go three-and-out twice and have two other drives end in interceptions. The second quarter wasn’t much better, with Auburn flagged four more times for 42 yards. The costliest of those penalties was a defensive pass interference call against Jaylin Simpson, which set SJSU up with first-and-goal at the Auburn 3-yard line. The Spartans scored two plays later to take a 10-7 lead into halftime. It was the second of two pass interference calls against Auburn’s defense on the drive, with Nehemiah Pritchett flagged earlier on a third-down play.

To their credit, the Tigers cleaned things up after halftime, committing just one penalty in the second half.

Defense makes key red-zone stops despite uneven performance

Auburn’s defense struggled at times with the quick passing attack from San Jose State, with Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro completing 24-of-40 passes for 275 yards (the most allowed by Auburn against a non-Power 5 opponent since 2015) and keeping his offense in Tigers territory far more than Auburn defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding would have liked.

Despite that uneven play at times — with the secondary allowing seven passes of at least 15 yards — Auburn’s defense produced some crucial stops, especially in the red zone. San Jose State made five trips into Auburn’s 20-yard line and came away with just one touchdown on the night, three times settling for made field goals and failing to come away with points on another red-zone trip.

The Tigers had a near-herculean defensive effort to open the second quarter after Finley’s interception on the final play of the first period. San Jose State had first-and-goal at the Auburn 1-yard line, but two goal-line stops, followed by back-to-back false starts against the Spartans, and then a third-down sack by Marcus Harris forced SJSU to settle for a short field goal instead of 7-0 lead. Auburn had another key red-zone stop to open the fourth quarter, forcing an incompletion by Cordeiro on third-and-8 from the Tigers’ 10-yard line. San Jose State again settled for a field goal, which cut Auburn’s lead to 17-13 at the time.

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