The college football season is reaching week five, and for the Auburn football team, it could signal big changes for the next game. First-year head coach Bryan Harsin surprised many people by sending in LSU transfer TJ Finley and benching third-year starter Bo Nix during the Georgia State matchup.
Following the rough game, wide receivers coach Cornelius Williams was fired on Sunday. Harsin announced his replacement would be former Boise State wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator Eric Kiseau, who was previously working as an analyst for the Tigers.
As Auburn football prepares to open conference play, the QB1 role is up for grabs despite no change to the week 5 depth chart. Though Nix is technically listed as the starter, Harsin said to the media that no official decision has been made, meaning there is a possibility that Finley will get his first start against the team he used to be a part of.
While some think that it’s too early to put that much pressure on Finley, especially during a night game in Death Valley, others think that Nix has had plenty of time to show improvement, and he hasn’t. Harsin also told reporters that they will prepare as usual and expect the whole team to be ready, as it’s impossible to develop a specific game plan for each quarterback.
Here are three reasons why TJ Finley could become Auburn football’s QB1:
Reason #1: Bo Nix’s inconsistency
Bo Nix looked almost surprisingly solid in Auburn’s first two matchups, but of course, they were only against Akron and Alabama State. Nix seemed to revert to his old problems at Penn State, struggling with the deep ball and completing only 21 of 37 passes for 185 and zero touchdowns.
Similarly, in the first half of the Georgia State game, Nix only completed 13 of 27 passes for 156 yards and was still unable to put together a scoring drive. He was passed for 3-9 on third downs, and couldn’t generate any offense for the Tigers against a G5 team even after he had three previous games to get into a rhythm.
Meanwhile, Finley was able to step in and complete 9 of 16 passes for 97 yards and one touchdown. Where Nix struggled to make anything happen, Finley got the job done.