a chance for Harsin to write new chapter

[aubiefifty 17,300]

Penn State a chance for Harsin, Auburn to write new chapter

ByNathan King

5-7 minutes

---

 

AUBURN, Alabama — Bryan Harsin won three conference championships at Boise State, so context matters, not rankings, when looking at the implications of individual games.

Still, it’s probably not hyperbole to venture that, if Auburn can march into Happy Valley and down the Nittany Lions on Saturday night, it would be the biggest win of Harsin’s head-coaching career.

In his eight seasons as a head coach — one at Arkansas State in 2013 and the following seven in Boise — Harsin never came particularly close to having to prepare for a road game against a team of this caliber. The highest-ranked team his Broncos ever faced away from home was No. 19 San Diego State in 2017; Boise State won that game 31-14.

No. 22 Auburn takes No. 10 Penn State on Saturday night in front of a crowd of more than 106,000 in the Nittany Lions’ annual whiteout game.

The biggest road win of Harsin’s head-coaching career likely came in 2019, when Boise State came back from down double digits in the second half to beat Florida State in Tallahassee in the season opener. That FSU team was unranked, as were Harsin’s Broncos.

Of course, Harsin’s played a role in bigger wins as an assistant coach. His first season as Boise State’s offensive coordinator in 2006 was when he helped engineer one of the most entertaining bowl victories of all time in the Fiesta Bowl against No. 7 Oklahoma. Boise State opened the 2008 season with a win at No. 18 Oregon, then beat No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl the following year. The highest-ranked true road win Harsin has ever been a part of as a coach was Boise State’s victory at No. 13 Virginia Tech in 2010.

That’s the nature of going from a high-level, Power-Five job to the SEC. Harsin faced 11 ranked teams overall in seven seasons in Boise. He’ll probably surpass that number at Auburn midway through next season.

As such, given what the SEC West tends to provide in terms of Playoff-contending competition, Auburn is no stranger to these kinds of games. And no one would blame a program for having a less-than-stellar record in big games on the road, especially in the SEC. Still, its last win against a top-10 team in a true road game was back in 2014, when the Tigers outlasted No. 7 Ole Miss 35-31.

Since, Auburn has lost nine straight such matchups. Here are those games.

2014: No. 15 Auburn at No. 2 Alabama

Score: 55-44 Alabama

2016: No. 13 Auburn at No. 1 Alabama

Score: 30-12 Alabama

2017: No. 13 Auburn at No. 3 Clemson

Score: 14-6 Clemson

2018: Auburn at No. 5 Georgia

Score: 27-10 Georgia

2018: Auburn at No. 1 Alabama

Score: 52-21 Alabama

2019: No. 7 Auburn at No. 10 Florida

Score: 24-13 Florida

2019: No. 9 Auburn at No. 2 LSU

Score: 23-20 LSU

2020: No. 7 Auburn at No. 4 Georgia

Score: 27-6 Georgia

2020: No. 22 Auburn at No. 1 Alabama

Score: 42-13 Alabama

See a trend? Since 2016, Gus Malzahn’s offenses averaged 12.6 points per game in these games, and never eclipsed more than 21 points. In six of the nine games, Auburn scored one touchdown or less. 

Malzahn won two of his four against top-10 opponents on the road before igniting the losing streak.

Offensive ineptitude has to be avoided at Penn State. It's buried Auburn entirely too early in big road spots in recent years. Harsin, of course, knows execution not only on offense will be crucial in Happy Valley. But leading up to kickoff, he wants to find out whether his team has the DNA to pull off such a big win — to keep their heads down during the week and continue to subscribe to his “1-0” mentality every day, and not already be fast-forwarded to Saturday night.

It’s Harsin’s first chance to see his Tigers prepare for a marquee matchup after two easy wins to open the season. And he wants to see that block out everything that isn't designed to help Auburn win.

“I think leadership is a big part — huge,” Harsin said Monday when asked what he thinks are the qualities of a team that can win big games on the road. “I think that’s got to be, if not the main factor, one of them.”

There’s little-to-no room for error this week for Auburn in its preparation, Harsin said. It can’t afford lackadaisical reps by the scout team. There can’t be poorly executed portions of practice. But Harsin isn’t worried about his team’s focus; this is the game they’ve had circled for a long time.

He is, however, intrigued to see how they handle real adversity, on the field, for the first time. He said he’s seen them do it in other areas in his nine months as Auburn’s head coach.

“Just being resilient and being able to respond, I think, are big keys,” Harsin said. “Those are things, to me, that I think good teams have. … I don’t know if we’ve had all those things happen to us at this point. They have, maybe not on the field but at other times in our program.”

One of the most anticipated nonconference matchups of the 2021 begins with ESPN’s College GameDay at 8 a.m. CST on PSU’s campus. The game kicks off in earnest at 6:30 p.m. CST on ABC.

[AU9377 5,260]

"That’s the nature of going from a high-level, Power-Five job to the SEC. Harsin faced 11 ranked teams overall in seven seasons in Boise. He’ll probably surpass that number at Auburn midway through next season."

Nothing wrong with Boise State, but it isn't a high-level Power-Five job.

[Beaker 2,457]

Geez, just reading this angers me because Auburn hasn't had their butt handed to them on the road that bad in several decades....

Now, equally amazing is how Harsin is laser focused on the intangibles.  Wow - he is not talking about "we gotta execute better".    We are going to relish this Harsin era more than people realize.   

 

Thanks for posting  that "fifty"  @aubiefifty

 

[AUx 3,016]

On the one hand, I wish Pat Dye could see it. I can just hear him talking like, “Man he had those boys gettin after it.” On the other, it may be good that that his (mostly benign) shadow is one less thing Harsin has to address. Still, I know he’d be happy and preaching patience. 

[WFE12 9,191]

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

5 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Since 2016, Gus Malzahn’s offenses averaged 12.6 points per game in these games, and never eclipsed more than 21 points. In six of the nine games, Auburn scored one touchdown or less. 

Man, what were we thinking to criticize him.

[The Freak 2,529]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Man, what were we thinking to criticize him.

It was our fault for being bad fans.

[woodford 3,682]

2 hours ago, WFE12 said:

 

YES. This is that attitude this program needs. You either want to work your ass off and push your opponents to their limit or not. If it’s the latter, find a beta ass program to transfer to. 
 

It would suck to lose on Saturday, but if we go up there and punch them in the mouth and make them earn every yard, I will feel great going forward. Can this Auburn team rise to the occasion on the road? Who knows. Haven’t seen it since 2010 IB or 2011 USC game. Ok TAMU 2013 but still. 

Edited September 15, 2021 by woodford

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

5 minutes ago, woodford said:

YES. This is that attitude this program needs. You either want to work your ass off and push your opponents to their limit or not. If it’s the latter, find a beta ass program to transfer to. 
 

It would suck to lose on Saturday, but if we go up there and punch them in the mouth and make them earn every yard, I will feel great going forward. Can this Auburn team rise to the occasion on the road? Who knows. Haven’t seen it since 2010 IB or 2011 USC game. Ok TAMU 2013 but still. 

Yep, love this attitude CBH is bringing.  Hopefully this attitude, along with winning, will attract players with the same attitude.  I have to admit also this level of competition is what makes college football exciting and I hope we always keep at least one Penn State or the like ooc team on the schedule.

[steeleagle 2,945]

3 hours ago, WFE12 said:

 

I like the talk the talk....now we need to see if we can walk the walk.

 

[Timbeaux38 300]

Do I remember a poo-poo show of a thread last year about Gustav having a chance to write a new chapter in AU Football?

[lost 452]

1 minute ago, Timbeaux38 said:

Do I remember a poo-poo show of a thread last year about Gustav having a chance to write a new chapter in AU Football?

You know if you are complaining about failure and you want a new chapter you should quit writing in the scrips. 
His name was Gus or Coach Malzhan or you can continue to wallow in the poo poo as you called it and continue the sarcasm and bitterness. 
Harsin is Harsin and Malzhan is Malzhan.   The past is past and now is now

[cole256 17,084]

It's funny and sad at the same time how excited we all are at just being a football team again and being tough. While we were in it, it's just amazing the stuff you'll talk yourself into or make acceptable and when you're out it's unbelievable some of the things you allowed.

Just can't say it enough, so happy to be a football team again.

[Timbeaux38 300]

31 minutes ago, lost said:

You know if you are complaining about failure and you want a new chapter you should quit writing in the scrips. 
His name was Gus or Coach Malzhan or you can continue to wallow in the poo poo as you called it and continue the sarcasm and bitterness. 
Harsin is Harsin and Malzhan is Malzhan.   The past is past and now is now

Easy there big fella....... I guess you didn't get what I was getting at. I was referring to how much different a thread about a similar article, with a somewhat similar subject matter with some passage of time.  I'll try to be more specific in the future.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Timbeaux38

[AUGoo 2,666]

1 hour ago, lost said:

You know if you are complaining about failure and you want a new chapter you should quit writing in the scrips. 
His name was Gus or Coach Malzhan or you can continue to wallow in the poo poo as you called it and continue the sarcasm and bitterness. 
Harsin is Harsin and Malzhan is Malzhan.   The past is past and now is now

[cole256 17,084]

I just want to take this time to say just how good the new nba2k is this year. If you're a gamer and played this series you know how important and special this post is

[lost 452]

1 hour ago, Timbeaux38 said:

Easy there big fella....... I guess you didn't get what I was getting at. I was referring to how much different a thread about a similar article, with a somewhat similar subject matter with some passage of time.  I'll try to be more specific in the future.

Apologies offered sir

i did misunderstand 

[fredst 9,064]

6 hours ago, McLoofus said:

11 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Since 2016, Gus Malzahn’s offenses averaged 12.6 points per game in these games, and never eclipsed more than 21 points. In six of the nine games, Auburn scored one touchdown or less. 

Man, what were we thinking to criticize him.

This can’t be right. He set offensive records at AU…

[WFE12 9,191]

2 hours ago, cole256 said:

I just want to take this time to say just how good the new nba2k is this year. If you're a gamer and played this series you know how important and special this post is

Bruh I keep seeing this...but that talk is every year so I don't trust. You're talking about my career/park or everything?

[DAG 34,049]

8 hours ago, WFE12 said:

 

If you are scared go to church! 

[AUx 3,016]

2 hours ago, fredst said:

This can’t be right. He set offensive records at AU…

You're thinking about def #1 in the non-football dictionary.

[cole256 17,084]

1 hour ago, WFE12 said:

Bruh I keep seeing this...but that talk is every year so I don't trust. You're talking about my career/park or everything?

Overall gameplay. It's amazing. Defense can actually defend. Career is super dope as well. And the way you can build your brand......my park is a little laggy right now but I expect that tobe fixed