Blue White Illustrated

2020 RECORD 6-5, 6-4 Southeastern Conference COACH Bryan Harsin (rst season at Auburn; career record: 76-24) SERIES HISTORY The series is tied, 1-1. MOST RECENT MEETING Auburn's Ron- nie Brown rushed for 184 yards, while Penn State's Larry Johnson was held to 72 yards on 20 carries, as the Tigers scored all of their points in the second half to defeat the Nittany Lions, 13-9, in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1, 2003. OFFENSE Tank Bigsby gures to thrive in Harsin's o8ense, which prioritizes the running game and play-action passing attack. That approach worked spectacularly at Boise State, where Harsin led the Broncos to bowls in six of his seven seasons. It would seem to have a pretty good chance of working at Auburn, too, but some patience might be required. The 6-foot-0, 204-pound Bigsby rushed for 834 yards and ve touch- downs last year and will return to his role as feature back. He showed o8 his breakaway potential in Auburn's spring game, bursting 46 yards for a TD. But two potential problems on this side of the ball are that the line is unsettled and that quarterback Bo Nix has been incon- sistent throughout his career, complet- ing 59.9 percent of his throws last year, with 12 TDs and seven interceptions. It's enough of a concern that Auburn has brought in LSU transfer T.J. Finley to battle for the starting job. A third poten- tial problem is that Auburn needs to re- build its receiver corps. Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove ac- counted for 145 of the Tigers' 216 recep- tions last season. Now they're gone, leaving Bigsby as the team's top return- ing pass catcher with 11 receptions for 84 yards. DEFENSE The Tigers should be very solid on this side of the ball, even as they make major changes with new coordina- tor Derek Mason looking to employ a 3- 4 alignment that he has said will make the most of the talent on hand. To be sure, there's a lot of talent here. Auburn boasts one of the country's better line- backer duos, with Zakoby McClain and Owen Pappoe returning aBer combining for 206 tackles last year. Chandler Wooten is back, too, aBer sitting out last season due to concerns about COVID- 19. Meanwhile, the secondary appears to be shaping up nicely, with cornerback Roger McCreary and safety Smoke Mon- day highlighting the position group. That group got even better in February when Auburn landed transfer corner- back Dreshun Miller, formerly of West Virginia. SPECIAL TEAMS Anders Carlson was outstanding last season, hitting 20 of 22 eld goal attempts, including a pair of 50-yarders. Carlson also handles kick- o8s and had 37 touchbacks on 60 at- tempts in 2020. Oscar Chapman averaged 41.0 yards per punt. SCHEDULE The Tigers' rst two games – against an Akron squad that went 1-5 last year and Alabama State – should give them a chance to build up some momentum heading into their visit to Beaver Stadium in week three. The non- conference nale is against Georgia State, aBer which things will really start to heat up. The Tigers' SEC opener is at LSU, and a home game against Georgia follows a week later. A visit to Texas A&M looms in November, as does the annual intrastate tussle with Alabama. GAME OF THE YEAR The Iron Bowl will take place at Jordan-Hare Stadium this fall, as Alabama is set to visit on Nov. 27 in the teams' regular-season nale. While Nick Saban has built a dynasty in Tuscaloosa, this series has remained competitive. The Tigers have won three of the past eight matchups, including three of the past four at Jordan-Hare. OUTLOOK Harsin has now taken over twice for Gus Malzahn – rst at Arkansas State in 2013 when Malzahn leB for Auburn, and now with the Tigers following Malzahn's dismissal last De- cember. Maybe that means there will be a job waiting for him at UCF in a few years if things don't work out. But there's reason to think things are going to work out. Harsin hit the ground run- ning in his two previous head coaching stops. In 2013, Arkansas State tied for the Sun Belt Conference title in his rst and only season at the school. The fol- lowing year, when he returned to his alma mater, Boise State, the Broncos went 12-2, won the Mountain West Con- ference crown and defeated Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl. It'll be a lot harder to engineer that kind of a debut in the SEC, but going forward, he's got plenty of re- sources at his disposal and lots of his- tory to tap into as he looks to pursue recruits in a part of the country where he hadn't spent a lot of time until recently. The Tigers' visit to Penn State this Sep- tember may o8er an indication of what kind of timetable his team is on as it eyes a return to SEC title contention. –M.H. TOP RETURNEES PASSING Bo Nix 214 of 357 | 2,415 yds. | 12 TD | 7 int. RUSHING Tank Bigsby 138 att. | 834 yds. | 5 TD RECEIVING Tank Bigsby 11 rec. | 84 yds. | 0 TD TACKLING Zakoby McClain 57 solo | 56 asst. | 113 total SACKS Owen Pappoe 4 sacks | 26 yds. Colby Wooden 4 sacks | 21 yds. NIX WEEK 3 AUBURN 7 : 3 0 P . M . | S E P T . 1 8 | B E A V E R S T A D I U M | U N I V E R S I T Y P A R K , P A .

• Cover