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Bryan Harsin wanted a moment to assess the situation.
Auburn faced a critical fourth goal on the 2-yard line with 3:12 remaining and his team behind Penn State, 28-20, at Beaver Stadium. So the first-year Tigers head coach called for a time out.
Auburn had to try his luck in fourth in this situation, with little time remaining on the road against a top 10 opponent. It was just a matter of play the Tigers were planning to play after the time out.
“We talked about it; everyone gives their opinion, ”Harsin said. “These pieces are pre-planned and scripted in these areas, so, you know, these are things that you work on.”
Auburn came out of the timeout in a set of four receivers – two on each side of the roster – and running back Tank Bigsby, sitting 23 carries for 102 yards and the team’s two touchdowns, lined up in the backfield . The Tigers’ star running back, however, did not touch the ball in the biggest moment of the game; instead, Bo Nix stepped back and threw a fade into the right-back corner of the end zone aimed at Kobe Hudson.
The runner-up never got a chance to play with the ball as he got tangled up with a Penn State defensive back. The pass fell to the ground, incomplete, and with it, Auburn’s best chance for a comeback against Penn State. Bigsby, for his part, looked upset on the pitch after play unfolded.
The Tigers ultimately lost the same score, 28-20, in their first loss of the season – a loss that Harsin said “should burn” for everyone in the visitor’s locker room and on the flight home.
“Obviously we didn’t perform it and it didn’t go the way we wanted,” Harsin said. “So these are things that you go through in the game plan. Believe it or not, we’re actually spending time on it, working on it and working on the different scenarios and getting to this point. It’s the game selection you had and you choose, therefore. We went to this room, and it didn’t hit the way we wanted. “
Harsin further explained the thinking behind the call-to-play on this crucial fourth point, explaining that Nix had five options on the game, with Hudson being one of them. The second receiver, he noted, was “out of step with where the throw was,” resulting in incompleteness.
He didn’t say if Hudson was the first read in the play, but added that he wanted to go back and review the whole play to determine if Nix made the right decision in targeting Hudson in this situation.
“I have to go back and watch and see where the progression starts,” Harsin said. “And that’s really the only thing with the quarterback position: sometimes those games don’t work, and the main question is, ‘Well, he gave a bad read. “Not necessarily; sometimes either it’s a road, it’s the defense doing a good job in covering it…. But at the end of the day, you know, you want to give yourself a better chance in this situation. I don’t. not know if that was a decision – we ran this stuff a few times and had some really good games on it. So hopefully what he saw there, we will look at it, we learn from it and go from there.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on twitter @Tomas_Verde.
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