The final word: Bryan Harsin knows 'we didn't play to our standard'

AUBURN – Let’s be real: Despite the win, Bryan Harsin didn’t leave the field on Saturday evening all that pleased.

Yes, Auburn beat Georgia State 34-24 in front of 85,000 fans inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on homecoming. The Tigers moved to 3-1 on the season, but there is an enormous amount of work to be done if Auburn wants to have success the rest of the season.

“They found a way to win,” Harsin said of his team. “Credit to Georgia State, they played extremely hard. It was very difficult to prepare for their offense, especially in practice. We made some good adjustments in the second half. Defensively, Georgia State did a great job. We knew they would tackle and play hard, but they did an excellent job.

“We had opportunities and capitalized in the end. Anders (Carlson) kept us in the game. The block by Caylin Newton was huge for momentum. At the end of the day, it’s not pretty, we have to learn from this — and know we found a way to win. There’s something to be said for that, too. That says something about this team. There’s some things we did that other teams don’t do and they lose the game. Our guys could have folded.”

Auburn allowed 219 first-half rushing yards, while leading rusher Tank Bigsby only produced 60 yards on 18 carries. For the first 30 minutes, the Auburn defense couldn’t stop anything. For most of the game, the Auburn offensive line couldn’t establish the run.

To Derek Mason’s credit, as bad as the Tigers’ defense was in the first half, they were equally as good in the second half. Auburn allowed only 85 total yards in the final 30 minutes, and limited Georgia State to 2.1 yards per carry. Auburn’s ability to completely shut Georgia State down allowed Auburn to hang around until the final minutes.

While Bigsby struggled to get going, backup Jarquez Hunter enjoyed another solid day. The freshman rushed for 62 yards on only 10 carries.

Like Utah State in 2011 and Jacksonville State in 2015, somehow Auburn barely escaped what would have been an embarrassing loss. Neither of those seasons turned out all that well for Auburn. It remains to be seen what Harsin’s first season has in store.

“From a preparation standpoint, that has to get better,” Harsin said. “We have finals every Saturday, not just quizzes. We have to get better at those things and we will. The one thing you can’t replicate is how to find a way. You can only get that in real live games. It was exciting to get that done, to finish the game, and I’m proud of the guys for sticking with it. I know the guys want to do that, they’re making strides, and we’ll be a better football team when we play LSU.”

T.J. Finley earns his shot

Bryan Harsin made it clear after the Tigers’ close win over Georgia State. The decision to pull starting quarterback Bo Nix and insert T.J. Finley was his and his alone.

While Auburn was malfunctioning across the board for much of the game and there was plenty of fault to go around, the quarterback position was one of the contributing factors.

Nix finished the game completing 13 of 27 passes for 156 yards. Nix didn’t throw a pick, and hasn’t all season, but the offense had only managed 12 points on the night. Trailing 24-12, even before the blocked punt, the decision was made to give Finley his shot.

“You saw the same thing I did,” Harsin said. “We had played every running back. We played every wide receiver. You aren’t going to change the offensive line. That was my decision. I tell our quarterbacks, ‘control what you can control.’

“Sometimes, that’s how it goes. Sometimes you need someone to step up with fresh eyes and make a play. We’re going to come back with Bo and TJ, and we’re going to get better. We’re going to listen to our coaches. That was my decision and both of those guys were fighting hard to win that game.”

Finley finished the game completing 9-of-16 passes for 97 yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 45 seconds remaining. On the final 98-yard drive, Finley was 5-for-8 passing, and added 16 yards rushing.

While the decision will focus on pulling Nix, Harsin wanted to make it clear that Finley earned the right to play in that game on Saturday.

“T.J. is out there every doing everything he’s asked to do,” Harsin said. “We all want it to be perfect, but damn. We want to win, and he won the game. T.J. has worked hard, too.”

Last-minute Auburn magic

On fourth-and-nine, Auburn faced another goal line situation that would ultimately decide the game. This time, it turned out in Auburn’s favor, but not without some magic from Finley and Shedrick Jackson.

“I can’t repeat what’s going through my mind,” Bryan Harsin joked. “I was excited. He was able to escape and you have to make a play. He did, we scored the touchdown, we converted the conversion, so it was huge. The odds were against us pinned back at the 2-yard line. (John Samuel) Shenker’s catch was huge. I thought we managed the clock well. T.J. did a good job. We operated. We work that drill every single week. In that situation, it’s about winning the game. We were fortune enough to find a way to win that game.”

Finley followed the touchdown with a two-point conversion pass to Kobe Hudson to put Auburn up 27-24. Hudson finished the game with 62 yards on 10 catches.

What’s next for Bo Nix?

Nix is a three-year starter and Auburn legacy. One can only imagine how tough it was to be pulled and watch someone else lead Auburn to a comeback win. Bryan Harsin knows Nix wasn’t happy deep down, but honestly, wouldn’t want it any other way.

“What do you expect? He wants to be out there. I made that decision,” Harsin said. “He’s probably pissed, like every competitor would be. He wanted to be out there, but I controlled that. If there’s a guy on that team that I pull out and he’s not pissed about it, I’m going to be worried.”

Yes, Finley “saved the day” to some degree, but as Auburn prepares for LSU next Saturday, the decision on who will start at quarterback is just heating up. And when asked postgame about when he wanted to make a decision at starter, Harsin gave maybe his best answer yet.

“I don’t have a game plan like that. That’s not how it works. I don’t have to tell anyone what the game plan is,” Harsin said. “You get yourself ready like everybody else. Everybody wants to make a big thing out of that. The story line is ‘get better.’ Auburn football, ‘get better.’ Every single day. That’s the message and I’m not getting into all that other stuff.”

The Tigers’ search for offensive balance

Through three games Auburn established themselves as a very good running football team. The question mark entering the Georgia State game centered around Auburn’s inability to create much in the passing game. After the fourth game of the season, the passing game still remains in question.

Unfortunately, the running game also hit a speed bump on Saturday night.

Auburn only mustered 166 yards rushing on the night. Neither Bigsby or Hunter hit the 70-yard mark. The game ended Bigsby’s streak of four straight 100-yard rushing performances. And to top it all off, Auburn now has to figure out what to do at quarterback moving forward.

“We had opportunities, so back to the drawing board,” Bryan Harsin said. “We’re running the ball, but we have to balance this thing out. We have to find ways to make plays. You don’t always have to throw it deep to have an explosive play. There has to be some explosion on the perimeter. We’re looking for that in this offense.”

Auburn did complete eight passes of 15-plus yards against Georgia State, but there could have been many, many more. Both Nix and Finley missed open wide receivers on Saturday evening, and it’s becoming a trend.

“Yea, it’s a big factor if you’re going to miss touchdowns,” Harsin said. “If we’re getting a chance to have those plays, we need to find a way to get that done. We need to be a team that can create some explosives. We’ve run effectively, so now we have to get the ball down the field. Every guy on the offensive side knows we have to hit those. It goes back to, ‘how do we get that done?’ We have a lot more work to do.

“The difference in calling plays when you hit one of those and you don’t is massive. We’re going to get better at it. We have to provide more balance. We kicked way too many field goals, have to put that ball in the endzone.”

Anders Carlson finished the game making 4-of-5 field goals.

The SEC gauntlet begins for Auburn

Coming from behind to beat Georgia State in your own home stadium isn’t exactly how you want to head into conference play, where four of your next five games are against ranked opponents, but that’s what faces Bryan Harsin’s team.

Auburn won the game and they showed toughness to do it. That’s always something to build on, but now discipline and execution have to follow at a much higher level.

“There were players that knew we didn’t play to our standard,” Harsin said. “I know what it’s supposed to look like from the fans’ perspective. I saw fight, I saw fight in the Penn State game. We just have to get better at playing football.

“We’ve yet to have a week where it’s gone exactly how it’s supposed to. Show up to class…do the little things. I love being in that environment where that’s the challenge. The challenge every single day is everybody doing things at the highest level that we all agreed to do it at. We have to be intentional and more purposeful.”

Auburn faces LSU next Saturday night at 7 p.m CT. The game will be televised on ESPN and will be Bryan Harsin’s first chance to break Auburn’s 20-plus year drought of winning in Death Valley.

[Real-time analysis: Relive the Georgia State game]