AUBURN | It was 4th and goal at the two-yard line with Auburn trailing by eight and only 3:12 left in the game. Bryan Harsin called a timeout.

The Tigers needed a touchdown and a two-point conversion and Harsin knew this was going to be his best chance to push Penn State into overtime.

“We talked about it; everybody kind of gives their input,” explained Harsin. “Those plays are pre-planned and scripted in those areas, so, you know, those are things you work on.”

Unfortunately for Auburn, the execution didn’t match the preparation. The Tigers went with a four-wide set and Tank Bigsby in the backfield. Bo Nix took a shotgun snap and lofted the ball toward the back of the end zone hoping to connect with Kobe Hudson on what appeared to be a fade.

But Hudson couldn’t escape the press coverage from Penn State All-American safety Jaquan Brisker and didn’t get within eight yards of the ball, which bounced out of the back of the end zone.

“I just saw, you know, kind of the first of the play and the ball went up and (Kobe) was out of phase with where the throw was,” Harsin said.

Harsin said that Nix actually had five separate options on the play although he didn’t detail each one.

“Before I make any comment on, you know, was that the right decision, I've got to go back and watch and see where the progression starts,” said Harsin. “And that's really the one thing with the quarterback position: sometimes those plays don't work out, and the main question is, 'Well, he made the wrong read.' Not necessarily; sometimes either it's a route, it's the defense doing a good job in their coverage.

“And so, we'll access that tonight as we watch the film on the plane. We'll work at it and make corrections tomorrow. But ultimately, you know, you want to give yourself a better chance in that situation right there. I don't know if that was a decision -- we've run that thing quite a few times and we've had some really good plays on it. So, I trust that what he saw out there, we'll look at it, we'll learn from it and we'll go from there."

Auburn got into position to tie the game on a 24-yard run by Jarquez Hunter as he hurdled a PSU defender at the 26-yard line and set the Tigers up with a 1st-and-goal at the 10-yard line.

Nix threw an incomplete pass on first down, Bigsby rushed for two yards on second down and Nix completed a 7-yard pass to John Samuel Shenker on third down.

Penn State got one first down on a pass interference penalty before punting back to Auburn with 45 seconds left. AU drove to the PSU 26-yard line but Nix’s final pass attempt to Demetris Robertson was broken up by Brisker at the 5-yard line.

Auburn, which falls to 2-1 on the season, hosts Georgia State next Saturday. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.