AUBURN | Bo Nix threw two interceptions in the first half of the Oregon game. Auburn’s true freshman quarterback hasn’t had a turnover since.
Not surprisingly, that ball security makes Gus Malzahn a pretty happy coach.
“That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of,” Malzahn said. “We were at A&M a few weeks ago and we had pretty good protection, but they had pretty good coverage and he took a sack. Another quarterback probably wold have thrown it up, thrown it up for grabs. He didn’t do that. I think that shows a lot of maturity for a young guy that he’s conscious of protecting the football, No. 1.
“Of course, that’s what we tell them but a lot of quarterbacks don’t do it in the heat of the moment. It was a coverage sack, but he didn’t throw it up for grabs and we punted. We’ve got a good defense. He understands the big picture of it, that we’ve got a good defense, we’ve got a good special teams. That’s really been one of the biggest bright spots I think that he’s protecting the football.”
Of course, Nix is still learning and growing as a quarterback after starting just his fifth-ever game in a 56-23 win over Mississippi State last Saturday. He accounted for 391 total yards of offense, the most in a game since Cam Newton did it against South Carolina in 2010 SEC Championship game.
But Nix also had a fumble at the end of a 30-yard run, when a defender came up behind him and knocked the ball out. Fortunately it rolled out of bounds and Auburn maintained possession, scoring a touchdown two plays later on Nix’s 39-yard strike to Seth Williams to go up 35-9 in the second quarter.
“What I told him -- really it's a little bit of reality that in our league, when he breaks, somebody is going to catch him. It's not like high school. They're going to come and they're going to go for the ball,” Malzahn said. “I really expect next time when he does break, he'll be more aware and have it a little bit tighter and have that off-hand on the ball as he comes. It was a teaching moment. We were very fortunate the ball went out of bounds. It was a good teaching moment, and I expect him to correct that the next time he's in a similar situation.”
Nix completed 46.4 percent of his passes the first two games, averaging 5.6 yards per attempt. He’s completed 70.2 percent of his passes the last three games, averaging 10.5 yards per attempt. Against, Kent State, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, Nix completed 40-of-57 passes for 596 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
“Every week, you can sense it. You can sense it in practice; it's not just the game,” said Malzahn of Nix’s improvement. “In practice you can sense the awareness. We're trying to do a lot of carry-over. We're trying to build upon things. Each week he feels more comfortable, and you can add a few things to that. We're to a point now where he really feels more comfortable, and each week, each snap he'll feel more comfortable.
“Obviously we're going on the road this week, it's going to be probably the most hostile environment we've been in. It'll be loud; we've been working crowd noise for six weeks, so hopefully that will help prepare him for this environment.”
No. 7 Auburn returns to action at No. 10 Florida this Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.
