AUBURN-AKRON: Tigers get everything they want in easy win

Scenes from Auburn’s victory over Akron on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. (Todd Van Emst/Auburn Media Relations)

By TIM GAYLE

The Bryan Harsin era started as expected as the Tigers scored on their first eight possessions to demolish a badly overmatched Akron team 60-10 on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn fans, anxious to put a coaching change behind them and see Harsin’s brand of football in action, were elated as both Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter cracked the 100-yard mark and Bo Nix had a record-setting performance against a team that hasn’t won but one game since the end of the 2018 season.

Beating Akron was probably easier than expected, but it was the proper season opening opponent for a program that has endured plenty of criticism from inside and outside the program since its decision to fire Gus Malzahn in mid-December and start a search that ultimately wound up with Harsin.

“I’m proud of those guys,” said Harsin, the former Boise State coach enjoying his first Tiger Walk on Saturday. “It was awesome to be out there in front of this crowd with great energy. That’s something we can’t simulate in practice, that environment. It was awesome. It was rocking all the way through the game.”

Bigsby had 119 yards on just 13 carries, including the season’s first touchdown on 32-yard run for a 6-0 lead (Anders Carlson missed the extra point). Nix followed with touchdown passes to Shaun Shivers, Ja’Varrius Johnson and Kobe Hudson before Bigsby added a 1-yard scoring run. It was the clock, not Akron, that finally kept the Tigers out of the end zone, forcing a Carlson field goal with two seconds left for a 37-0 halftime lead. 

“I thought our guys came out ready to play,” Harsin said. “They’ve put in a lot of work and a lot of focus on what they’ve had to do over the last nine months to get themselves prepared. Today was an example of what we’re capable of doing if we go out there and play good football.”

Shivers scored on a 26-yard run and, after an Akron safety, backup quarterback T.J. Finley scored on a 1-yard run for a 53-0 lead in the third quarter before Auburn was finally forced to punt for the first time.

“Coming in at halftime, we had a lot of guys that were that were very upset with how we were playing and really challenging one another,” Akron coach Tom Arth said. “I think that was really good to see that pride and that competitive spirit. We didn't show up here just to go play a game. We showed up here to play really well, and the mindset these guys had was to come out here and win. We didn't give ourselves a chance to do that, and they were upset about it.”

Hunter added 110 yards on nine carries for Auburn as the Tigers won their 100th season opener (100-27-2 dating back to 1892). It was the most points in a season opener since a 60-7 win over Tennessee-Chattanooga in 1971 and the most-ever points by an Auburn coach in his debut, shattering the previous high of 37 set by Gene Chizik against Louisiana Tech in 2009.

Nix completed 20 of 22 passes, setting a school record with a completion percentage of 90.9. He had 275 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 31 passing touchdowns for his career in tying him with his father Patrick for eighth place on the school’s record chart with 31 career touchdowns. 

He’ll get another opportunity to add to those statistics next Saturday as the Tigers remain home and a prohibitive favorite against Alabama State. Meanwhile, Harsin was just happy to get the Harsin era started on the right track.  

“Overall, we’ll go back and watch the tape, but I thought from the game tonight that we played well, and we played consistently and we took advantage of the situations that we were in, and that showed up,” Harsin said. “It was awesome for this staff, this team, to go out there and get a ‘W’ and be 1-0.”