10/4/22 Auburn Articles

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Harsin goes solo on Monday; No players available to media

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by Jeff Speegle

Monday, October 3rd 2022

 

Auburn-Georgia week is usually a week where several players are made available to the media because the Auburn roster is loaded with Georgia natives. There are 23 Georgians on this year's roster. However, for the first time this season, Auburn made no players available for the Monday media availability. Bryan Harsin went solo as the Tigers kicked off Georgia week.

"As far as Georgia, very good football team, they're 5-0, I mean we've seen these guys play," Harsin said. "Defending National Champions, so overall, as a football team they're well coached, starting with the tight end Brock Bowers, He is a fantastic football player. He shows that. He plays extremely hard, makes plays for him. They try and utilize him in a lot of ways."

Edge Rusher Eku Leota is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle suffered in the loss against LSU.

“Eku’s a big loss. He’s an emotional leader,” Harsin said. “He’s one of the smartest football players we have.”

Harsin also confirmed quarterback Zach Calzada won’t return this season. Calzada will have shoulder surgery. T.J. Finley’s status remains unknown. Harsin confirmed walk-on quarterback Trey Lindsey is now on scholarship, giving the Tigers three scholarship QBs. Ashford, freshman Trey Lindsey, and Lindsey are the active scholarship quarterbacks with Calzada out and Finley’s status unknown.

While Auburn made no players available Monday, tight end John Samuel Shenker did make an appearance on The Next Round, an NIL obligation he fulfills every Monday. Shenker is an Albany, Georgia native and a team captain. Shenker says the uncertainty about Harsin's future at Auburn hasn't affected the way Harsin does his job on a day-in, day-out basis.

"No, I don't think he lets it get to him," Shenker said. "I think he's done a really good job, focusing on the team and what we can do to win football games, which is truly what matters for this program, for this university. I think he's done a great job just keeping us motivated through some tough times, but we're still early in the season. There are still a lot of games in front of us, but I think he's done a great job as the leader of this team."

Shelly Poe, who handles publicity for the Auburn football program, said there is a possibility players will be available Wednesday.

 

 

 

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What ESPN’s College Football Power Index says about Auburn after LSU loss

Published: Oct. 04, 2022, 6:25 a.m.

NEW!

By

Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com

Auburn moved up four spots in the ESPN College Football Index despite losing 21-17 against LSU on Saturday at Jordan-Hare. The Tigers are 48th in the latest FPI after dropping to 52nd following the previous week’s overtime win against Missouri.

ESPN developed the College Football Power Index in 2013 to predict game and season outcomes. FPI also measures team strength on offense, defense, and special teams. Auburn was ranked #11 in the preseason. The Tigers to #27 after beating Mercer and to #40 after a comeback win against San Jose State before losing by 29 points against Penn State.

Auburn (3-2, 1-1 SEC) plays #2 Georgia (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (2:30 CT CBS) for the team’s first road game. It’ll also be quarterback Robby Ashford’s third start and his first in hostile territory.

“You’re going to go into a hostile environment; you’re not going to be favored when you get in there,” Harsin said. “That’s part of the mental side of playing that position. That goes for everybody, and then the noise becomes the factor. I think for Robby, it’s still to continue playing within himself. He’s learning; he’s growing, he’s developing.”

FPI gives Georgia a 93.9 chance of beating Auburn, and Vegas sportsbooks have the Tigers as a 29.5-point underdog at Sanford Stadium.

Auburn entered the season with a projected 7.4 wins to 4.6 losses record. Five games into the season, the projected win total dropped to 5.2 wins versus 6.8 losses, with a less than 40% chance of winning six or more games this year.

A recurring theme of Auburn’s losses under Bryan Harsin’s tenure is a shortage of second-half scoring. Auburn blew a 17-point lead against LSU and scored zero points in the second half. Auburn didn’t score a point in the second half during the Missouri win.

“I mean, it’s really not one thing, in particular, that’s just the glaring reason why. We all have to improve on and get better at things,” Harsin said about the second-half scoring. “And then our adjustments coming out of the half, we’ve got to find ways to continue to put points on the board. It’s not just the half of football; you’ve got to play all four quarters.”

Not scoring in the second half correlates to Auburn’s 87th ranking (40.8%) in offensive efficiency, whereas Georgia ranks 10th at 85.5%. Auburn faces a Georgia defense that’s fifth in the country, according to the ESPN FPI.

“Defensively, they’re top five in the SEC in every category. They lost a lot of really good players last year. They’ve replaced those players with some really good players,” Harsin said. “It starts with the front seven, those guys on the defensive line and the linebacker position, play fast, physical. Those guys have done well all season long. The back end is very strong. I think those guys do a very good job in coverage, and then they’re also going to be involved in the run game as well.”

Anders Carlson missed field goals at the end of the first half against Missouri and last week versus LSU. His misses factor into Auburn’s special teams’ 48.4 efficiency rating, which is 78th in the nation.

‘We have faith in Anders,” Harsin said.“That’s not anything from practice. He’s been very good in practice. Anders is a consistent guy, and we still believe in him.”

Auburn has an uphill battle against Georgia based on the metrics. However, UGA trailed most of the game against Missouri and struggled against Kent State. An Auburn win would require the Tigers to reverse a trend of getting outscored in the second half.

Harsin believes it’s possible.

“We’ve got to focus on us,” Harsin said. We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing things on the offensive side of the ball that we can control and then just handle the environment when we’re there.”

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Ashford prepares for life on the road for the first time

Jason Caldwell

3-4 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama—The last time Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford started a football game on the road the date was November 23, 2019. On that night Ashford and the Hoover Bucs fell just short of making the 7A title game with the Thompson Warriors winning 35-21 behind quarterback and Ashford’s current teammate Sawyer Pate.

This week Pate is one of the guys helping the Auburn defense get prepared for No. 2 Georgia while Ashford is getting ready for his first playing time away from the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Improving each time out with his best performance to date last week in a loss to LSU, Ashford will have an opportunity to showcase his skills against one of the most talented defenses in the country when he steps on the field against Georgia. Before that happens, Coach Bryan Harsin said there’s plenty of work to be done beginning with working on communication.

“You try to prepare through the week and provide noise, right, that’s really what you can do,” Harsin said. “We’re not going to bring in extra fans to yell at him and things like that. You’re going to go into a hostile environment; you’re not going to be favored when you get in there. That’s part of the mental side of playing that position. That goes for everybody, and then the noise becomes the factor.

“I think for Robby, it’s still to continue to just play within himself. He’s learning, he’s growing, he’s developing. He did some really good things in that game. He’s a playmaker, and he can do more, and I think the confidence that he took away from the LSU game—we have to build on that, and then obviously be better going into this one. But the noise is really the biggest factor, and then just handling, really, every play when you’re on the road.”

Playing in all five games this season, Ashford has completed 46-85 passes (54 percent) for 709 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions. Much of that came against LSU when he completed 19-38 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Also second on the team with 223 rushing yards this year, Ashford is set to take on the biggest challenge of his young career on Saturday.

While working on the noise and staying calm under pressure is the ultimate goal, Harsin said it starts with focus and taking care of your business one step at a time.

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“Just handle each and every play,” he said. “Focus on the sideline, get the call in, communicate that, make sure that everybody’s on the same page. Know that you’re not going to be able to yell out information to guys so you’ve got to make sure that either it’s a hand signal or whatever you have to do to make that adjustment. Keep everybody on the same page and then execute the play that’s in front of you.”

Ashford and the Tigers will be looking for the first Auburn win in Athens since 2005 when they take the field for the 2:30 p.m. CDT kickoff on Saturday. The game can be seen nationally on CBS.

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Cole Cubelic addresses fan base frustrations about Auburn’s offense

Keith Farner

2-3 minutes

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Cole Cubelic has heard from the Auburn fan base, and as a former Auburn offensive lineman, the SEC Network analyst and WJOX co-host has taken time to offer an explanation.

The problem is Auburn doesn’t have bread and butter-type plays like a counter or power to lean on.

“I don’t think Auburn has that to be able to go back to,” Cubelic said on “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning.” “So if you don’t have that to go back to, what else do you do? You have to come up with different and creative ways to try to move the football.”

Cubelic said he’s heard from fans on social media, and understands the frustrations, but that Auburn fans should still support the players. The problem is there’s not a foundation of offense.

“There is not a baseline of offense that operates successfully,” he said. “Therefore, what can you build upon? The answer to that is probably nothing.”

The stretch play, for example, couldn’t get going against Missouri, so Cubelic had a simple question.

“Where do you want them to go,” Cubelic said. “You can’t install the triple-option this week, it can’t happen.”

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Walk-on quarterback Trey Lindsey awarded scholarship by Bryan Harsin

Updated: Oct. 03, 2022, 4:41 p.m.|Published: Oct. 03, 2022, 4:41 p.m.

2-3 minutes

How Bryan Harsin is preparing for trip to #2 Georgia

By

Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin confirmed the team awarded walk-on quarterback Trey Lindsey with a scholarship during Harsin’s Monday press conference.

Lindsey is from Montgomery and grew up as an Auburn fan. He had offers at an FCS school, some Division II and III, but chose to walk on at Auburn in 2019 out of Montgomery Academy. He graduated as the school leader in touchdown passes in a career (48), season (24), and game (5) and was a star on the basketball team.

“He’s out there every single week, and this guy’s a future coach,” Harsin said about Lindsey. “And he brings a tremendous amount of value and a lot of really positive things to this team.”

Read More Auburn Baseball: Auburn edge Eku Leota out for season with pectoral injury

Statistically speaking: Auburn committing turnovers at alarming rate

What Bryan Harsin said during Monday’s press conference to preview UGA

Lindsey will likely be third on the depth chart when the Tigers (3-2, 1-1) travel to play No. 2 Georgia (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (2:30 CT CBS) at Sanford Stadium. Harsin told reporters that Zach Calzada wouldn’t return because he’s having season-ending shoulder surgery. T.J. Finley’s status remains unknown since he got injured during the 29-point loss against Penn State.

Robby Ashford started the win against Missouri and the LSU loss. Freshman Holden Geriner saw some action against Missouri and was the backup quarterback in both games.

“As far as our quarterbacks, you have Robby (Ashford) out there, you have Holden (Geriner) out there, and we’ll see where T.J. (Finley) is at this week,” Harsin said. “Those guys are getting prepared to play. They are ready to play. They’re going to get out there. We can worry about depth and those things. That’s certainly a concern when you don’t have four guys like you want to have on scholarship that are available to play.”

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Kickoff time, broadcast information released for Auburn vs. Ole Miss

Taylor Jones

2 minutes

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Auburn will continue their SEC road trip as they travel to Oxford to face the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels on October 15.

The matchup will come bright and early, as ESPN has picked up the game for its’ 11 a.m. CT.

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Last season’s game was a match between two top-20 teams, with Auburn running away with a 31-20 win over the Rebels. Bo Nix combined to score three touchdowns, with two coming through the air. He completed 22-of-30 passes for 276 yards and rushed for an additional 30 yards. Tank Bigsby carried the football 23 times for 140 yards and a touchdown.

Auburn currently holds a six-game winning streak over the Rebels, with Ole Miss’ last win over the Tigers coming in 2015. Auburn leads the all-time series, 35-11, and is 13-3 in games played in Oxford.

Here is a rundown of week seven’s SEC slate that was announced Monday by the league office:

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Kickoff time: 2:30 p.m. CT

Network: CBS

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Kickoff time: 2:30 p.m. CT

Network: ABC or ESPN

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Kickoff time: 2:30 p.m. CT

Network: SEC Network

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Kickoff time: 6 p.m. CT

Network: ESPN

Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

Kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. CT

Network: SEC Network

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Auburn Tigers edge rusher Eku Leota, transfer QB Zach Calzada to undergo surgery

3:11 PM CT

• Associated Press

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he Tigers are set to visit No. 2 Georgia on Saturday in their first road game of the season.

Harsin also confirmed previous reports that transfer quarterback Zach Calzada will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. The former Texas A&M starter hasn't played this season.

A 6-foot-4, 257-pound graduate transfer, Leota has 17 tackles, including five for loss, and two sacks. He had seven sacks last season after transferring from Northwestern.

Auburn has switched to a 4-2-5 defense on the depth chart, with Derick Hall as the only starting edge rusher.

"Eku is a big loss," Harsin said. "He's an emotional leader. He's one of the smartest football players we have."

 

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Auburn failing in crucial 'middle 8' moments under Bryan Harsin

Updated: Oct. 04, 2022, 8:10 a.m.|Published: Oct. 04, 2022, 7:05 a.m.

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Bryan Harsin is a big believer in momentum and the role it can play on Saturdays. Unfortunately for the second-year Auburn coach, his team has a poor track record of generating it — and, conversely, keeping opponents from gathering some of their own — just before halftime.

In each of Auburn’s five games this season, opponents have scored a touchdown inside the final two minutes of the first half. In the last four games, those opponent touchdowns have either put Auburn behind heading into halftime, tied the game or — as was the case last weekend — trimmed the Tigers’ lead to a field goal at the break.

Read more Auburn football: Anders Carlson still has Auburn’s “full support” despite recent field goal struggles

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“That’s a big one,” Harsin said. “That’s probably one of the biggest in my opinion, right? You don’t want anybody to score, and you want to score points going into halftime. I think it’s all about momentum. And that’s one area, when you’ve got the ball, it’s not just about scoring touchdowns, it’s just about scoring points, alright? Try to create some momentum, especially if you get the ball back in the second half…. So, being on the losing side of that, yeah, I mean that’s — you go in, they scored, alright, really that’s the momentum that they’ve got. And when you come into halftime, you’ve got to find a way to get that back.”

The problem for Auburn is that it largely has been unable to get those points back coming out of the locker room, as the team has struggled in the “middle eight” — the four minutes on either side of halftime, which often play critical roles in the outcome of any given game.

Auburn has been outscored 42-7 in the middle eight this season, and Harsin’s team has failed to win those crucial eight minutes in any game this year. Auburn has lost the middle eight in four of its five games, while it managed to come out even in that period of gametime in Week 2 against San Jose State (the Spartans scored a touchdown with 58 seconds left in the first half to take a 10-7 lead at the break, but the Tigers responded with a Tank Bigsby touchdown with 11:45 to go in the third to cap their opening drive coming out of the locker room).

It’s part of a troubling trend for Auburn under Harsin, which particularly struggled in the middle section of games against Power 5 competition last season. Auburn was outpaced, 59-13, in the middle eight of those nine games — eight SEC contests plus the Penn State game — and only held an advantage in that area once: in the Iron Bowl, outscoring Alabama 3-0 in that stretch before ultimately losing in a quadruple-overtime thriller.

Those issues have extended into this season, with Auburn outscored 28-0 in the middle sections of its last three games (its only games against Power 5 opponents so far).

Penn State held a 14-0 edge in that stretch during the Week 3 tilt at Jordan-Hare Stadium, including a Kaytron Allen rushing touchdown with 1:46 to go in the first half to extend the Nittany Lions’ lead to 14-6 at halftime. Missouri and LSU each managed a 7-0 advantage in that area; Missouri’s Brady Cook scored from 1 yard out with 30 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 14-14, while LSU’s Jayden Daniels had a 1-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds remaining in the half, cutting Auburn’s lead to 17-14, as Harsin’s team eventually blew a 17-point lead in a 21-17 loss last weekend.

In 12 games under Harsin, Auburn has now been outscored 87-13 in that crucial period of games against Power 5 opponents.

“That’s a big factor, in my opinion, at halftime, giving up points or trying to get them,” Harsin said.

Auburn’s Middle 8 struggles in 2022:

Opponent	Middle 8 score	How
Mercer	Mercer 7, Auburn 0	Fred Payton 5-yard touchdown pass with 20 seconds left in first half
San Jose State	San Jose State 7, Auburn 7	Kairee Robinson 1-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds left in first half; Tank Bigsby 1-yard touchdown run with 11:45 to go in third quarter.
Penn State	Penn State 14, Auburn 0	Kaytron Allen 3-yard rushing touchdown with 1:46 left in first half; Nick Singleton 1-yard touchdown run with 12:16 left in third quarter.
Missouri	Missouri 7, Auburn 0	Brady Cook 1-yard touchdown run with 30 seconds remaining in first half.
LSU	LSU 7, Auburn 0	Jayden Daniels 1-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds to go until halftime.

Complicating the matter for Auburn has been the team’s well-documented second-half struggles under Harsin. In the Tigers’ last eight games against Power 5 teams, they have been outscored 104-21 in regulation after halftime. The team is 2-6 during that stretch, with wins against Ole Miss late last October and the fortunate overtime escape against Missouri two weeks ago.

Over the last three weeks, excluding the overtime period against Missouri, Auburn has managed just one second-half score — a fourth-quarter touchdown (followed by a failed two-point conversion) in a blowout loss to Penn State. Auburn has been outscored, 34-6, after halftime of those three games while averaging just 0.32 points per drive and committing five turnovers (along with three more turnovers on downs).

“We look at every game and we know the reasons, alright?” Harsin said. “We know the reasons. We look at every drive. There’s a drive chart. There’s a result. There’s reasons why, and so we break it all down. You know, what was it? Where did we have a negative play? Where did we have positive plays? What was the end result on those drives? So, those are things that we’ve discussed as a staff, those are things we discuss with our players.”

According to Harsin, the biggest issues have been consistency and negative plays. Auburn needs to find more of the former and cut down on the latter — which it hasn’t been able to do against quality competition.

“That’s play-calling, that’s execution; that’s all those things,” Harsin said. “I mean, it’s really not one thing in particular that’s just the glaring reason why. It’s things that we all have to improve on and get better at. And then our adjustments coming out of half, we’ve got to be able to find ways to continue to put points on the board.

“It’s not just the half of football; you’ve got to play all four quarters.”

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

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Young receivers stepping up for Auburn

Updated: Oct. 04, 2022, 3:44 p.m.|Published: Oct. 04, 2022, 3:43 p.m.

3-4 minutes

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By

• Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com

Auburn (3-2, 2-1) didn’t celebrate quarterback Robby Ashford’s 20th birthday with a victory. The Tigers blew a 17-0 lead during Saturday’s 21-17 loss against LSU.

Moral victories don’t exist in the Southeastern Conference, especially when head coach Bryan Harsin’s seat is hotter than fish grease. As difficult as it was to lose after allowing 21 unanswered points, there was positivity in Ashford connecting with his wide receivers.

Ashford quickly broke the four-game streak of Auburn not having a touchdown pass to a wide receiver on the game’s first drive. He rolled out as the pocket broke down to throw a laser to Ja’Varrius Johnson for 53 yards.

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“You want to be able to run it and throw it. And be able to move the ball down the field, because a lot of those big plays came in the passing game,” Harsin said. “That’s where our chunk yardage was in the passing game. And that was good for us. And you know, to move the ball down the field, be explosive, get into better field position, you’ve got to do that. And I thought we did some of those things well tonight.”

Camden Brown caught his first career touchdown pass on an 18-yard throw in the end zone from Ashford. Earlier in the week, Ashford was asked about the lack of production from the wide receivers.

We’ve got dogs in that room, and we haven’t been able to show it as much, Ashford said. We’ve got a lot of ballers, and they’re just waiting to pop out. I think they will really soon.

Koy Moore had a 33-yard reception against his former team. Moore finished the game with four catches for 55 yards. It was the second game when Moore had multiple catches.

Omari Kelly had a big 25-yard catch in the second half. The freshman is one of several receivers developing chemistry with Ashford this season.

Ashford spread the ball while throwing for 337 yards against LSU. Moore, Kelly, Brown, and Johnson each caught passes. Ashford also had completions to running backs Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter. Tight ends John Samuel Shenker, and Tyler Fromm caught balls from Ashford.

Auburn ran several four, and five wide receiver sets against LSU. The Tigers successfully got the ball to its wide receivers versus LSU in ways they hadn’t this season. Auburn hopes to see more when the team plays Georgia this weekend.

“Our young wide receivers have been thrust into playing, Omari Kelly has a big catch, and Camden Brown has a big catch. Var had a couple of big catches in there as well,” Harsin said. “Those things were good. That was encouraging to see some young players step up and do some things on the perimeter.”

“We obviously have to be better than that going into this game and every game moving forward because we weren’t good enough to win the football game, but overall, there were some positive things in the pass game that I thought helped us.”

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.