Update comes in on Auburn making quarterback change vs Penn State

Auburn Tigers starting quarterback T.J. Finley was finally benched in the third quarter of Saturday’s Penn State game. Tigers head coach Bryan Harsin decided he had seen enough and inserted Robby Ashford into the game in the third quarter. CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell gave fans an update on the switch.

“Yeah, right after Finley’s lost turnover, Robby Ashford started getting off the bench getting warmed up and ready to go. I asked him about the mindset coming into these games and he said, ‘I need to prepare myself like I’m a starter because I always know I’m one call away, one play away from playing the rest of the game,’. He said, ‘In a split second, they could call my number.’ And Gary, you were talking about that backup quarterback mentality. Well, looks like this is his moment here,” Dell said in the third quarter of the Auburn-Penn State television broadcast on CBS.

Finley was clearly hobbled and had an injured shoulder heading into the locker room at the end of the first half. The Tigers trailed Penn State 38-12 in the fourth quarter. Both Auburn quarterbacks turned the ball over in the game, but Ashford made some plays early in the fourth quarter. He threw a screen pass to Tigers’ running back Jarquez Hunter, who hurdled a defender on his way to scoring on a 22-yard touchdown catch.

Auburn was throttled 41-12 on Saturday night, but there were plenty of positives in watching Robby Ashford in the game. He made some nice runs and made some nice plays. The screen pass to Jarquez Hunter was a thing of beauty. Following the game, Tigers head coach Bryan Harsin had to field several questions surrounding his job security.

According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2020 cycle, Ashford was ranked as the No. 23 quarterback in America. Before joining Auburn, he spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Oregon Ducks, but didn’t see any action in football.