The way the 2021 Auburn football season ended was truly apropos. A blown lead in the fourth quarter was the team’s undoing, and uneven QB play caused the Tigers to drop their fifth straight game to run the record to 6-7.
Luckily, the Class of 2022 is now a top 15 group in the country, otherwise, the Plains would be on fire right now. Bruce Pearl leading a top 10 collegiate hoops unit is also helping ease the pain caused on the gridiron.
It’s hard not to feel uneasy about Bryan Harsin’s Tigers after what we saw at the Birmingham Bowl from TJ Finley, though.
Finley’s reoccurring issues–think low snaps causing a fumble for the seven-foot-seven gunslinger, throwing the ball at the feet of receivers on short routes, and consistently overthrowing the deep ball–were evident once more at Protective Stadium, and while the blame is far from his alone, plenty sits with the LSU transfer.
The loss had former Auburn football stars weighing in on the situation. Anthony Schwartz believes that the sub-par performance under center from Finley means that next year’s QB situation is fluid:
Meanwhile, Kerryon Johnson’s tweet seems to indicate that he believes Tiger fans should let Oregon transfer Bo Nix off the hook for the lack of success the past two years:
Meanwhile, new Vigor High School defensive coordinator and former All-SEC Auburn LB Deshaun Davis believes the performance will transform things for the program moving forward:
Let’s hope there are tangible changes moving forward for the Tigers, who lost in ways too heartbreaking to comprehend (among them, a ton of phantom targeting calls) all season.