Auburn plays ‘good ball’ in Harsin’s debut
AUBURN | Bryan Harsin asked for a clean game and for his players to compete for four quarters.
In his first game in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn’s 28th head football coach got exactly what he wanted. The Tigers had just three penalties, didn’t commit a turnover and scored on their first eight possessions.
Auburn beat Akron 60-10, scoring the most points for a head coach’s debut in school history.
“I thought our guys came out ready to play, did a lot of work, a lot of focus on what they had to do the last nine months to prepare, and today was an example of what we’re capable of doing when we go out there and play good football,” said Harsin.
“That’s been the message for a while, just play good ball, take care of it, do things in situational football, hard things where we execute. We did that in the red zone, we did that on third downs.”
Auburn was 4 of 6 on third downs and converted all four red zone opportunities. The Tigers piled up 612 yards of total offense while only allowing 212 and holding Akron to 21 rushing yards.
In his 25th start at quarterback, Bo Nix had one of the best outing of his career completing 20 of 22 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns. He wasn’t sacked and the Zips were credited with just one quarterback hurry the whole night.
“We were physical. We played clean football. We played together. We played with passion and excitement,” said Nix. “At the end of the day when you go out there and you limit turnovers and limit penalties and mistakes, you usually give yourself a pretty good chance of succeeding and that’s what we did.
“We played sharp and we just kind of had our way tonight. I think just moving forward, that’s great for confidence especially in a new offense.”
The attendance was listed as 83,821, the most since the 2019 Iron Bowl and the crowd was particularly lively for a non-conference opponent that was ranked as the worst team in D-I football last season.
Harsin made sure to acknowledge the fans and AU’s student section as he left the field following the final whistle.
"That’s something that we can’t simulate in practice, that environment, and it was awesome tonight,” said Harsin. “It was rocking all the way through the game. I appreciate the students; they stayed the entire time, great energy through the game.
“The environment, the fans, just being out there in the stadium, I thought for our guys was exciting and for everybody on that sideline. We enjoyed that, we appreciate it, and it certainly helped aid in the win.”
Auburn hosts Alabama State next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network.