[Quesadilla Joe]

Goodman: Bo Nix is an Auburn hero for exposing the truth about Bryan Harsin

The biggest test of the season is here for Auburn and the offense under new coach Hugh Freeze might be the worst in the SEC.

If not for Alabama.

We knew it would be a struggle this season for Auburn, but the true extent of former coach Bryan Harsin’s hamfisted handiwork is beginning to show itself. And now it’s time for the big reveal.

Ready or not — and it’s not — Auburn gets No.1 Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. Let’s get this out of the way now. Current Auburn coach Hugh Freeze gets a pass on this entire season, and the focus of every decision for his staff should be figuring out how to recruit Atlanta like Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl recruits Atlanta.

This is a big weekend for the Atlanta kids.

I’m not saying stick a shirtless, slightly unhinged Bruce Pearl in the middle of football recruits on Saturday and then have him lead a community baptism of five stars into lakes of NIL cash and free cars, but I’m also not against the general spirit of that plan.

Back in 2021, a prominent high school coach in Alabama was the first person to let me know that Harsin was probably in over his head at Auburn. Harsin had been Auburn’s coach for many months at that point, and he still hadn’t called the high school coach to ask about one of his top players. The high school coach knew for a fact that the player in question wanted to attend Auburn.

How did the high school coach know? Because the top recruit was his son.

Freeze can’t blame Harsin after this season, but everything we’re seeing on the field with Auburn’s awful offense is tied to Harsin’s wretched time on the Plains. Harsin was so destructive in his two years as Auburn’s coach that he makes me want to throw a party in honor of former Auburn coach Doug Barfield and rename a street on campus after him.

Barfield Boulevard — make it a road to redemption, or at least an alleyway to absolution.

We knew Harsin was the worst coach in the history of Auburn football before he was fired, but if former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix wins the Heisman this season then Harsin will go down as the worst coach in the history of the Southeastern Conference.

In 2021, Harsin ran off one of the best quarterbacks in the country who had already defeated Alabama as a freshman. If Nix raises the Heisman or wins the national championship with Oregon, then the shame of allowing Harsin to lose Nix will be a ghost that haunts Auburn as long as football is played in the SEC.

It’s Freeze’s job this season to pick up the pieces from that disaster and somehow figure out a way to make a bowl game. On Saturday in Auburn’s SEC opener, Freeze benched starting quarterback Payton Thorne against Texas A&M and then benched backup Robby Ashford for third-stringer Holden Geriner. What’s next? At this point, “Run It With Robby” looks like Auburn’s best option for gaining first downs. At least that’s a start.

But it’s not hard to figure out what’s fundamentally wrong with Auburn’s offense these days. Just watch Oregon. The guy who at least gave Auburn a chance in every game is winning big for the Ducks. As it turned out, Nix took the field against Colorado this past Saturday just moments after Auburn’s 27-10 loss to Texas A&M went final. Nix threw three touchdowns against Colorado, completing 28 of 33 passing attempts. Auburn’s quarterbacks combined to go 9 of 23 passing against Texas A&M for a grand total of 53 yards.

What did we learn about Auburn against Texas A&M that we didn’t already know? Not much, but those preseason rumors of resurrection along Auburn’s offensive line were greatly exaggerated. Texas A&M sacked Auburn quarterbacks seven times. Georgia’s defensive line is rated better than A&M’s and the Bulldogs’ secondary is tied for the conference lead in interceptions (seven).

Former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn had trouble recruiting offensive linemen. The most recent former Auburn coach, Harsin, apparently didn’t even know a single phone number for an offensive line recruit. Why did Nix ultimately leave Auburn for Oregon? Because he was seriously injured playing behind Auburn’s offensive line.

With better protection at Oregon, Nix is looking more and more like a first-round draft pick every week.

Auburn vs. Georgia used to be one of the most balanced rivalries in the SEC. Since 2001, or Mark Richt’s first season with the Bulldogs, Georgia leads the series 17-6. Since 2011, the season after Auburn’s national championship season with Cam Newton, Georgia is 11-2 against Auburn. Georgia has now won six in a row and the gulf between the two teams is greater than at any point in the last 100 years. This past weekend, Smart earned his 85th career victory. It gave him the highest winning percentage in SEC history for a coach after his first 100 games.

Here’s something to consider about the recent history of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Since Smart took over for the Bulldogs in 2016, Georgia’s defense has only allowed more than 14 points in one game against the Tigers.

Auburn has the 2017 victory on Kirby and that’s it.

Led by transfer quarterback Jarrett Stidham and running back Kerryon Johnson, the 2017 Auburn Tigers blew out a No.2-ranked Georgia team 40-17 at Jordan-Hare. A couple weeks later, the Tigers knocked off No.1 Alabama 26-14 in the Iron Bowl. Unfortunately for Auburn, Georgia returned the favor in the 2017 SEC championship game and Alabama went on to win the national championship.

That magical fortnight in November 2017 is the last time an Auburn football team was ranked in the Top 10 in the final month of the regular season.

For his career, Nix is 0-4 against Georgia. I hope he gets another shot to finally knock off the Bulldogs this season. It wouldn’t be a victory in any sense for Auburn, but it would at least underscore the importance of his decision to abandon Harsin rather than give him cover.

Nix’s legacy at Auburn is tied to Harsin, but only for this reason. Nix had to leave the team he loved to ultimately save it. He forced everyone to see how thoroughly Harsin had torn down the Tigers. For that, I’ll consider Nix an Auburn hero.

Sad but true, Nix’s greatest gift to Auburn was leaving.

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/20...an-harsin.html