Bryan Harsin has had time to digest Saturday night’s loss to Penn State and an opportunity to review film from the game — including his team’s failed fourth-and-goal play late in the fourth quarter of the 28-20 setback.
Facing fourth-and-goal from the 2 and trailing by eight with 3:12 to play in Happy Valley, Auburn ran an end-zone fade intended for Kobe Hudson. The pass fell incomplete, as Hudson got tangled up with Penn State defensive back Jaquan Brisker, and Bo Nix’s pass attempt sailed out of bounds in the back-right corner of the end zone.
The result was a turnover on downs, and it prompted many to second-guess Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s decision in that situation, especially given the success the team had running the ball in the second half, when the Tigers averaged nearly 5 yards per carry, and given the performance of Tank Bigsby, one of the nation’s top running backs, who had 102 yards and both of Auburn’s touchdowns on 23 carries.
When asked after the game Saturday, Harsin said he wanted to rewatch the film before making any assessments of the sequence. Now that he has had time to do so, the coach conceded that whether that call was the correct one in that situation was a “tough question.”
“Was it the right play call? It didn’t work, so you know everybody’s assumption on that,” Harsin said. “That’s a good play. It’s something we’ve prepared. It’s something down there, in that situation, that had been prepared and we had executed in practice and done a good job of that. It was the first time we’ve had the chance to use it in a live game. It’s just a matter of time before we have a chance to call that.”
Harsin chose not to walk reporters through the play’s progression and whether Nix made the correct read. He said after the game that there were five options on the play but did not say if Hudson was the first one.
Auburn came out of its timeout prior to the snap with two receivers split to either side of the formation, with one of them being tight end John Samuel Shenker in the slot to the left. Hudson was the inside receiver to the right of the formation, with Shedrick Jackson on the outside. The two receivers ran what appeared to be a rub concept, with Jackson on a post to the inside and Hudson on an apparent wheel to the back corner.
Nix, it appeared, went straight to Hudson as soon as he received the snap.
“There are options on that play, and from the standpoint of having a good play, we did,” Harsin said. “It didn’t go our way. Obviously, we’ve got to go back and look at why it didn’t go our way and what we can do better and how we improve in that situation. The guys were working to do their job on the play, and it didn’t go our way. That’s what we have to take away from that.”
Although the result was not what Auburn wanted in that situation, Harsin said the team will “have to learn from it” and collectively improve, players and coaches alike, so that the Tigers are better prepared to execute in similar scenarios down the line.
“We’re going to be in that situation again,” Harsin said. “We’re going to be down there inside the 5-yard line with a fourth-and-goal of some kind. We have to find a way on fourth-down plays. When you’re in those situations it comes down to, you’ve got go make a play. It’s not ideal to be in a fourth-down situation. You would like to put yourself in a situation where you are converting on third down, but in fourth downs we have to have great plays. We’ve got to make great execution happen on the field. It didn’t go our way.
“Credit to Penn State, too. Penn State did a good job. They had themselves in good position in a fourth down call, whatever their call was. Those guys work those same things just like we do. There were opportunities there and next time we’ve got learn from it. We’ll be in that situation again and next time we need to have a better result.”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
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