Saturday afternoon was a pull in case of emergency situation for first-year Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin. He did it.
Harsin pulled Bo Nix for TJ Finley in the final drive of the third quarter.
Listen, he said he would if this happened. Nix has completed less than half of his passes and just hasn’t looked crisp against a middling Sun Belt team. Heading into Tiger Stadium next weekend, Harsin needs to have his best gun-slinger out there.
And he feels right now that the necessary man under center is the Louisiana native, setting up a juicy narrative for AU’s jaunt to Death Valley to take on LSU.
Tiger fans were in awe of the decision:
I can't believe they did it.
— Zac Blackerby (@Zblackerby) September 25, 2021
TJ Finley has entered the chat
— Jake “JBOY” Crain (@JakeCrain_) September 25, 2021
Gotta let TJ throw it. They have 8-9 in the box when he’s under center.
— Shanks (@Shanks205_) September 25, 2021
Well they hit the panic button. TJ Finley is in.
— Justin Lee (@ByJustinLee) September 25, 2021
Well at least TJ will be used to playing in Death Valley next week.
— Graham Carr (@grahamcarr2) September 25, 2021
T.J. Finley is going to take over at quarterback the week before Auburn travels to LSU?
— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) September 25, 2021
What a turn of events.
Let TJ air it out.
— Trenton Purifoy (@TrentonPurifoy) September 25, 2021
Finley was dominant against Alabama State after struggling against Akron in his Auburn football debut Week 1. He got the DNP last week in the loss to Penn State.
Now, the fate of the Tigers’ current status as a ranked team is in question. Even a narrow win might be held against them if Kansas State and UNC hold off their conference opponents. Wisconsin is likely the only team that will drop out of the AP Top 25.
But it’s in Finley’s hands now, not Bo’s.