Nix a different player at Jordan-Hare

[aubiefifty 16,803]

Home sweet home: Nix a different player at Jordan-Hare

ByJason Caldwell

AUBURN, Alabama—Auburn true freshman quarterback Bo Nix has suffered through troubles away from home this season, but in the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium is where he has been at his best during the 2019 football season. In four home games Nix has completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 1,053 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions while also adding three rushing touchdowns.

Last Saturday was a step in the right direction after Nix passed for a career-high 340 yards in a win over the Ole Miss Rebels and looked to be in a good rhythm throwing the football. It was his second 300-yard passing game in SEC play this season, putting him in very good company in Auburn history.

Pat Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner, leads Auburn in 300-yard games in a single season vs. SEC teams with four in 1970. Nix is tied with dad Patrick Nix (1994, 1995), Ben Leard (1999) and Dameyune Craig (1997) as the only other Auburn quarterbacks to ever do it twice in a season.

One of the differences on Saturday was Nix doing more on his own at the line of scrimmage without having to worry as much about crowd noise. Changing plays and protections and moving the offense with more pace, Nix had more on his plate against the Rebels and Coach Gus Malzahn said he took his game to another level.

“You know, just really, he was comfortable,” Malzahn said. “He changed a lot of protections. We got in pace. He did a good job with his decision-making, as far as that goes. I think we had a few drops, too, that if we would have caught the ball, it would have been a better night, but (he) protected the football through the air, obviously the fumbled exchange with him and D.J., we got to clean up. I thought he had one of his best games, if not his best game.”

Having new starter at center,  Nick Brahms, on the field and delivering snaps on target and on time was something else that helped Nix settle in against the Rebels, but Malzahn said probably the biggest thing is just being able to communicate and get everyone on the same page.

“It’s a different world at home, there’s no doubt, whether you’re a veteran or a true freshman,” Auburn's head coach said. “It’s comfortable for him. Like I said, he played well, and that’s very encouraging.” Away from home the freshman has completed just 48.1 percent of his passes and has thrown six interceptions to go with eight touchdown passes.

It was the second time this season Nix rebounded from a tough start on the road to play well. That’s not a surprise to Malzahn, who said he has seen his freshman continue to grow and mature despite facing one of the toughest schedules in the country.

“Coming back off the tough outing against LSU, he really never flinched during practice,” Malzahn said. “He was the same guy and probably more determined. He was just really determined to get on the field and get back in the flow, and he did that. That’s encouraging. Just keep pressing, and he’s had two days of practice. I think every practice and every game he feels more comfortable.”

With no game this Saturday the players will get the weekend off before resuming practice on Sunday as they continue to prepare for a home game vs. Georgia.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

He also hasn't played against a single ranked team at JHS yet.  I'll reserve my judgement on his home performances vs road until after the UGA and Bama games.

[splang 17]

Don't have the post count to start a new thread, but thought this was interesting...flame away...lol.

 

 

 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

14 minutes ago, splang said:

Don't have the post count to start a new thread, but thought this was interesting...flame away...lol.

 

 

 

I think he can be a pretty good QB for us with better coaching.  Nix doesn't have a David Cutcliffe teaching him how to be an SEC QB and calling a real passing game.

[Barnacle 9,064]

The tools are there, there’s no doubt about that. 

[creed 1,640]

The offense will go the way nix goes. 

[EagleEye67 1,939]

Does this mean BN is the next Peyton Manning??

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

12 minutes ago, creed said:

The offense will go the way nix goes. 

Agreed.  I think our OL gets owned by UGA and UA and Nix is gonna look like UF and LSU.

 

[keesler 5,924]

2 hours ago, EagleEye67 said:

Does this mean BN is the next Peyton Manning??

Only if we can bring Cutcliff in from Duke to develop and train 'im.

[The Freak 2,528]

28 minutes ago, keesler said:

Only if we can bring Cutcliff in from Duke to develop and train 'im.

We actually could do that.

[Zeek 16,656]

17 hours ago, dyehardfanAU said:

I think he can be a pretty good QB for us with better coaching.  Nix doesn't have a David Cutcliffe teaching him how to be an SEC QB and calling a real passing game.

I know it's "copying" but honestly let's hire a passing coordinator like LSU.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

19 minutes ago, Zeek said:

I know it's "copying" but honestly let's hire a passing coordinator like LSU.

If the next coach wants to hire one, I'm all for it.  Gus shouldn't get another dime for his staff though.  This is his baby, ride or die.

[Carnell 592]

16 minutes ago, Zeek said:

I know it's "copying" but honestly let's hire a passing coordinator like LSU.

Takes more than hiring a passing game coordinator.  When LSU hired Brady they gave him control of the passing game and let him implement his system.  With Gus at the top of the chain he has to be convinced to let the passing game coordinator come in and implement his system.  I got doubts about Gus giving that kind of autonomy to an assistant.

[Zeek 16,656]

1 minute ago, Carnell said:

Takes more than hiring a passing game coordinator.  When LSU hired Brady they gave him control of the passing game and let him implement his system.  With Gus at the top of the chain he has to be convinced to let the passing game coordinator come in and implement his system.  I got doubts about Gus giving that kind of autonomy to an assistant.

He wouldn't. No doubt.

1 minute ago, dyehardfanAU said:

If the next coach wants to hire one, I'm all for it.  Gus shouldn't get another dime for his staff though.  This is his baby, ride or die.

Agreed. But I still think he survives this season. Ultimately his losses (if we lose both Bama and UGA) will be against the current #1, #4, #5, and #11 (Florida). With a win over #6 Oregon. Undoubtedly Gus stans will argue that with all of his losses being such highly ranked opponents it would be unfair to fire him after this season. The point I keep trying to make to people is this season isn't an anomaly and regardless of their rankings we have to be able to beat one of our three rivals. Any year where we fail to beat at least 1 of them is a failure in my eyes.

Some can call it unrealistic but I always expect us to beat both Mississippi schools, Arkansas, at least one of the three rivals, and both of our cupcake games (usually we have two). Typically our cross-division game should be a win as well (outside of Florida/Georgia we should dominate SEC East teams). That, rather quickly, puts us at 7 wins with TAMU always being one I expect to be competitive. That's my bare-minimum and it's been Gus' average.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

1 minute ago, Zeek said:

He wouldn't. No doubt.

Agreed. But I still think he survives this season. Ultimately his losses (if we lose both Bama and UGA) will be against the current #1, #4, #5, and #11 (Florida). With a win over #6 Oregon. Undoubtedly Gus stans will argue that with all of his losses being such highly ranked opponents it would be unfair to fire him after this season. The point I keep trying to make to people is this season isn't an anomaly and regardless of their rankings we have to be able to beat one of our three rivals. Any year where we fail to beat at least 1 of them is a failure in my eyes.

Some can call it unrealistic but I always expect us to beat both Mississippi schools, Arkansas, at least one of the three rivals, and both of our cupcake games (usually we have two). Typically our cross-division game should be a win as well (outside of Florida/Georgia we should dominate SEC East teams). That, rather quickly, puts us at 7 wins with TAMU always being one I expect to be competitive. That's my bare-minimum and it's been Gus' average.

I fully expect him to be back at 8-4 unless we get embarrassed against UGA and/or UA.  I don't see that happening with as good as the defense is.

Still though, I wouldn't waste any more money on the offensive coaching staff going forward.  We've already got a Top 5 staff in terms of salaries.

We pay for Top 5 and most of the fanbase is complacent if we're Top 25 at season's end.

https://247sports.com/college/auburn/Article/Auburn-assistants-the-4th-highest-paid-group-in-college-football-125950375/

[au701948 1,000]

I may get grief for asking this question; however, I was out of contact when Joey decided to go by way of the player portal. Do we have anyone left in uniform that can play Backup QB if Nix is hurt or has to take several plays off for any reason?

[aubiefifty 16,803]

12 minutes ago, au701948 said:

I may get grief for asking this question; however, I was out of contact when Joey decided to go by way of the player portal. Do we have anyone left in uniform that can play Backup QB if Nix is hurt or has to take several plays off for any reason?

good question and i have no idea.

[AuJoe 79]

Backup QB is Cord Sandberg.

[bigbird 60,549]

48 minutes ago, au701948 said:

I may get grief for asking this question; however, I was out of contact when Joey decided to go by way of the player portal. Do we have anyone left in uniform that can play Backup QB if Nix is hurt or has to take several plays off for any reason?

Wildcat

[keesler 5,924]

58 minutes ago, au701948 said:

I may get grief for asking this question; however, I was out of contact when Joey decided to go by way of the player portal. Do we have anyone left in uniform that can play Backup QB if Nix is hurt or has to take several plays off for any reason?

Cord is the backup, right?

I had really hoped AU could've kick Ole Miss' ass in JHS to the point where Bo took the bench and let Cord get some live PT, I mean he hasn't played football since high school so it's been 6-7 yrs since he's done much at QB.

 

 

 

[CR 2,445]

2 hours ago, au701948 said:

I may get grief for asking this question; however, I was out of contact when Joey decided to go by way of the player portal. Do we have anyone left in uniform that can play Backup QB if Nix is hurt or has to take several plays off for any reason?

As bird said, Wildcat with boobie or DJ is the true backup plan it seems.

[EagleEye67 1,939]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

Wildcat

...and a whole lot of it

[au701948 1,000]

Thanks for the answers guys. I thought that we still had a walk-on on the team besides Sandberg. Maybe not?

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

18 hours ago, keesler said:

Cord is the backup, right?

I had really hoped AU could've kick Ole Miss' ass in JHS to the point where Bo took the bench and let Cord get some live PT, I mean he hasn't played football since high school so it's been 6-7 yrs since he's done much at QB.

 

 

 

I honestly think you'd see Wil Appleton before Cord.

[johnnyAU 3,633]

I hope Nix goes off today, passing for 300+ and rushing for 50+. I hope we have 5 or 6 sacks on Fromm, force a couple of fumbles and get at least 1 pick. I hope DJ Williams, Worm, Boobie, Schwartz and company rush for 200 yds to boot. 

Let's get it on!