Auburn, Ala. (EETV) Auburn's offense had no trouble finding the endzone in their dominating 60-10 win over Akron on Saturday night. This was Bryan Harsin's first game in Jordan-Hare Stadium with his new team.
Tank Bigsby put up the first six points for Auburn with a 32-yard rushing touchdown. The Tigers' next four possessions would end in a touchdown. Bigsby and freshman running back Jarquez Hunter racked up over 100 rushing yards and combined for three touchdowns. The running back room averaged 9.9 yards per carry.
Bo Nix completed his first 11 passes and went 20-22 with 3 TD's. He had 275 total yards including 32 rushing yards with his longest carry of 15 yards. Nix targeted 10 different receivers, but favorited Shedrick Jackson and John Samuel Shenker. Jackson recorded 79 yards as well as a 42-yard pass early in the second quarter. Ja'Varrius Johnson and Kobe Hudson also recorded their first touchdown receptions in the second quarter.
"Going into the season, I was asked a lot about who was going to be the guys that step up, and I kinda didn't know because there are so many of them," Nix said in last night's press conference. "As we saw tonight, there are a bunch of guys that are doing their job at a high level. They're continuing to get open and make plays and that just helps our entire offense."
Quarterback T.J. Finley checked in early in the third quarter and capped his first possession with a 1-yard rushing touchdown. Jarquez Hunter set up the drive with a 37-yard gain to move the Tigers in Zips territory.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Tigers didn't allow the Zips to score until the fourth quarter. T.D. Moultry and Zakoby McClain recorded 7 tackles a piece. In Moultry's first game as starter, he had three tackles-for-loss and one sack. Auburn's defense had six sacks, 11 tackles-for-loss and one pass breakup. The pass rush allowed Akron to average -0.1 yards per carry with their longest rush of 9 yards.
"We have 24 hours," Harsin said after the game. "We'll celebrate this win and come back tomorrow and have everybody back, everybody focused and we'll get on to the next opponent."
Auburn's next test is home against Alabama State on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 11 a.m. CT. The game can be watched on SECN.
