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Auburn football: Stock up, stock down following opening win vs. Akron

By Andrew Hughes

Auburn football players pump up the crowd during warm ups at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021.
Auburn football players pump up the crowd during warm ups at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021. /
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Auburn football Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
Auburn football Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports /

Stock up: Auburn football RB Tank Bigsby

Tank Bigsby justified all of the preseason hype with a performance that should have opposing DCs worried about what will happen when he is handed the ball against their defenses.

Averaging over nine yards per carry, Bigsby ended up with a pair of touchdowns and 119 yards on just 13 carries, including a 32-yard rushing TD in the opening frame to open up the scoring and elicit his first monstrous response from a non-pandemic crowd in his collegiate career.

Bigsby’s first proper season stat line could generate legitimate Heisman hype if the Tigers can win 9+ games and he can dominate SEC defenses like this as well.

Stock up: Auburn football OL

Let’s talk about the offensive line for a second here. Not once was Bo Nix or TJ Finley threatened in the pocket, and every RB that was on the field was able to generate over nine yards per rush.

While Akron’s defense was expectedly non-threatening (Buffalo laid 56 points on them last year), you literally could not have asked any more out of this unit Saturday night.

Stock up: Auburn football RB Jarquez Hunter

Jarquez Hunter came in and dominated well after the game was decided, but as previously mentioned, the true freshman dominated. 

Averaging over 12 yards per carry, and collecting 110 yards and a touchdown in his AU debut, Hunter justified Jake ‘Jboy’ Crain’s prediction that he’d be the RB2 before long.

Stock down: Auburn football QB TJ Finley

TJ Finley came into the game and almost immediately found the end zone through a QB sneak. It was an excellent “earning your stripes” moment for the LSU transfer, but he followed that score up with pretty sloppy pocket play.

Finley threw just 2/5 and almost got picked off in the second half. With how dominant Bo Nix was, the juxtaposition of their performances wasn’t a good look for Finley.

It’s just one week, but Nix is looking like the clearly superior option under center moving forward after an offseason spent debating those merits from Tiger fans.

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