Auburn's offensive line didn't know true freshman quarterback Bo Nix had thrown the game-winning touchdown until the roar of the crowd blew the lid off A&T Stadium. They were too focused on protecting him.

"We were all kind of consumed in our own blocks, trying to do our job," senior center Kaleb Kim said Sunday evening. "But the fact that he made that throw and Seth made that catch was just unbelievable."

Trailing 21-20, Auburn re-gained possession at its own 40-yard line after a shanked punt. Like his overall stat line in his first college football game (13-for-31, 177 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions), Nix wasn't perfect on Auburn's final series. But the 19-year-old's sharpest moments came on the most critical plays — making something out of nothing on a fourth-and-3 conversion, leading Seth Williams out of bounds on a 13-yard completion to put Auburn in field-goal range, and, obviously, hitting Williams for a 26-yard touchdown with nine seconds to go to lift the Tigers over Oregon, 27-21.

When Nix would look to the sidelines during that drive, he appeared laser-focused. When he barked out the calls or audibles to his offensive line, he was commanding.

Chalk that up to countless two-minute drills for the freshman during fall camp.

"It was everything, really," Kim said of preparing for a pressure-packed final drive in the offseason. "There really weren't too many days where we weren't working two-minute situations. Because, you look at games all over the country, a lot of them come down to the last drive. It just so happened that one of those games was ours. Working those two-minute drills and (Nix) being really comfortable with them really helped out."

Auburn's go-ahead scoring drive took 2:05.

"I learned that he can get the job done and that he can take us to where we want to go," Kim said of Nix. "... We all knew the situation. We were all completely aware of what we had to do. All we needed was a field goal. But Bo made a great throw, Seth made a great catch."

In scrimmage settings throughout preseason practices, Nix worked against the clock with the first-team offense. In many of those situations, Williams was his go-to target all the way down field — just like he was Saturday.

"Oh, gosh," Kim reacted when asked how many times he'd seen Nix connect with Williams on similar plays in fall camp. "I mean, every play you see out there, we've repped countless times. So, I mean — it's just a matter of executing, because we all know what we're supposed to do."

Nix completed six of his final 11 attempts — including his lone third-down conversion through the air — and Auburn's offense scored 21 unanswered to end the game.

"We're obviously really happy with what he was able to do," Kim said. "We'll just see if we can build on it and keep this thing rolling."