AUBURN | Tulane’s defense challenged Bo Nix to beat them. And he did, eventually.

But Auburn’s true freshman quarterback still has to take some steps forward before he can fully take advantage of what the defense is giving him.

“He's still learning every game. We're real proud of him. He's competing his butt off out there,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “To ask him to throw it 20 something times in the first half -- that's not good. So, we'll keep getting better, and we're a team that when we run the football, we're a pretty good offense. That's really got to be a focus moving forward.

“And the last two games in the second half, we've been pretty successful doing that; we've just got to get more successful in the first half.”

In his second college start and first at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Nix competed 19-of-37 passes for 207 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He was 15-of-29 for 174 yards in the first half as Auburn was held to 20 rushing yards on 13 carries.

Nix really started to find his stride in the second quarter. After completing 4-of-9 passes for 31 yards in the first 15 minutes, he went 11-of-20 for 143 yards including a 31-yard touchdown to Will Hastings to put the Tigers ahead 7-3 on the fifth drive of the game.

The previous four drives ended with three 3-and-outs and a JaTarvious Whitlow fumble.

“I thought he played decent. I think he can play a little better,” Hastings said. “I’ve seen him. I know him very personally. He’s frustrated about his play, and I know that fire in him is going to come back next week and be even better. He’s young. He’s going to keep getting better and better each week.”

On a couple of occasions it appeared that Nix and his receivers were not on the same page. In the second quarter, Nix lofted a long pass toward the corner of the end zone intended for Seth Williams, but the sophomore receiver cut his route short on an out route.

Nix and Williams would hook up for a 40-yard pass on the next play that set up Auburn’s second touchdown, but it happened again a couple of series later when Nix threw down the left sidelines with no receiver in the area.

“Most of the time they were choice routes based one what the defense was doing, and we’ve just got to get on the same page,” Nix said.

Hastings could sense Nix’s frustration at times, but also admires the determination of such a young and inexperienced player, who made the game-winning pass just a week earlier against Oregon.

“He’s pretty hardheaded, but I could definitely—I try to get to him and make him smile a little bit, but he was definitely frustrated tonight,” Hastings said.

Through two games, Nix has completed 46.7 percent of his passes for 384 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. His 5.6 yards per attempt currently ranks 12th in the SEC among starting quarterbacks and well behind LSU’s Joe Burrow’s conference-leading 11.3.

“That’s just being comfortable with each other and repetition,” said Nix of his incompletions. “A lot of that stuff, most of the time the pass is on me. I’ve got to get better with that, I’ve got to get better with my receivers and I’ve got to hit them when they’re open."

No. 10 Auburn (2-0) will host Kent State next Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.