By Carter Byrd
Since 2017, Auburn fans have agonized over the quarterback position, and the 2021 season is no different. At first glance, you would not think there is even a choice to make. For the first time since Brandon Cox 14 years ago, Auburn has a third-year returning starter in Bo Nix. He is the son of an Auburn quarterback. Perhaps most notably, Nix is the only starting quarterback in all of college football with a win over the Death Star that is Nick Saban’s Alabama juggernaut. It feels like the makings of a Hollywood storyline. Nix has shown an edge…a will to fight and claw in the big moments. Just think back to the final drive in his first start against the future Pac-12 champions, Oregon, in 2019. He converted an enormous fourth-down scramble when Auburn’s back was against the wall. Finally, he capped off the game with an iconic toss to Seth Williams that had eerie similarities to his father’s famous Nix-to-Sanders toss in the 1993 Iron Bowl victory.
However, it hasn’t all been roses for Nix. For every high Nix has had, there have been just as many duds that crash expectations down to Earth. In his freshman campaign, Nix had a pair of stinkers at LSU and Florida, where he failed to surpass a 43% completion rate while turning the ball over four times. In 2020, Nix’s brutal three interceptions at South Carolina while forcing passes to Seth Williams caused the Tigers to drop a game to one of the worst teams in recent SEC history.
Granted, over the three years, it has not just been Nix’s fault. Subpar play calling, quarterback coaching, inconsistent receiver play and poor offensive line play have all affected him. It also does not help that his freshman year, he had an inferior running back in Boobee Whitlow.
Early this season, Nix showed signs of progress and life at the quarterback position and seemed to relegate LSU transfer TJ Finley to nothing more than a quality depth piece. The third-year signal-caller showed a level of calmness that he had not previously shown. Against Akron, Nix stood in the pocket and completed 20 of 22 passes for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. On the road at Penn State, Nix showed a different type of poise that has not been seen in a hostile environment. Was he perfect? Not by any means, but he was plenty good enough to have won that game. Signs of progress should have made the Auburn fan base feel somewhat better, but all of that came to a screeching halt just a week later.
Nix’s performance against Georgia State was genuinely baffling. The quarterback never looked comfortable. Nix was inaccurate, completing just 13 of 27 passes for just 156 yards. He felt pressure that was not always there. It makes one wonder if the poor line play from previous years had Nix “seeing ghosts” like Sam Darnold’s famous mic’d up moment with the New York Jets. Nix also missed open receivers over the middle in his reads.
Perhaps the most frustrating play to watch was on the Georgia State 11-yard line when Nix started to scramble despite his offensive line giving him enough time to eat a sandwich before making a throw. Instead of staying put in the pocket or stepping up in the pocket, Nix ran right and allowed a Georgia State edge rusher to spin off his blocker and get a better angle. This led to Nix overthrowing a wide-open Elijah Canion off his back foot while under unnecessary pressure. If Nix had just stayed put in the pocket, he could have set his feet and delivered an accurate strike for what should be an easy touchdown. Instead, he created pressure for himself and launched a ball over Canion’s head into the first row.
This was the frustration that the Auburn fans had all game as the offense was anemic with an ineffective passing game and a run game nullified by Georgia State stacking the box with eight or nine defenders on any given play. This is when Bryan Harsin decided to really shake things up.
For the first time in his career, Bo Nix was pulled for TJ Finley. Immediately, the energy in the building changed. The crowd was back, and the team looked like they responded to Finley getting his chance as well. The moment that epitomized this to me was when the third quarter came to a close. As Auburn headed to the sidelines, linebacker Zakoby McClain ran some 20 yards onto the field to meet TJ Finley and support him.
Although Finley was not perfect, the offense did start to move the ball a little bit. Two drives into Georgia State territory ended in a Tank Bigsby fumble and an Anders Carlson missed field goal, but nevertheless, the offense was moving the ball better.
When Auburn got the ball on its own 2-yard line with just 3:13 left to play, TJ Finley was at his best. He stepped up in the pocket and found ways to keep the drive alive. He hit a pair of drag routes on third down, one while being tackled, to convert first downs. Finley hit Canion on a comeback and then later on another big-time scramble to his right on the sideline.
Finley used his legs and showed mobility that we did not know he had on a long scramble where he obliterated the middle linebacker’s ankles in the open field, and finally, with the game on the line, he stayed alive. He kept his eyes down the field and delivered the game-winning strike to Shedrick Jackson in the endzone and then followed it up with a two-point conversion.
Was Finley perfect? Did he look totally crisp out there? No, he missed some big-play opportunities, but given more first team reps in practice, that will certainly improve. Besides, the team had his back on Saturday. He got his shot, and he delivered.
As far as I am concerned, he took this quarterback job. He got a chance, and he stepped up. Back against the wall and own two yard-line…he got the job done. His team had his back, and he showed a calmness and poise under pressure that had been absent all game. He used the middle of the field better than Nix. His pocket presence was noticeably better than the incumbent starter. Also, if he can unlock the ability of Elijah Canion, who doubled his season catch total from two to four on the final drive, then by all means, let Finley play.
TJ Finley is the starter in Baton Rouge, in my mind. He has to be. He earned this shot. Harsin probably will not—and should not—announce a starter publicly to keep LSU in the dark, but this is TJ Finley’s opportunity. If he plays well, the job is his. If you do not give Finley the chance to be the guy, how does that sit in the locker room? The culture has been set that if you capitalize on your opportunity, you will play. The Auburn coaching staff sold Finley on the idea to compete for the job and the chance to earn it, and Finley has done just that. If he does not start, does the team begin to question the belief that if they produce, they will play?
For that reason, Finley is—and has to be—the guy in Death Valley. And holy smokes, what a story it will be for the young quarterback on Saturday making his return to Baton Rouge.