At the end of last season, the Auburn football team had just finished up their worst season in years, and there were many players unhappy with the program’s situation. One of those players was star running back Tank Bigsby.
Rumors swirled that Bigsby was looking to enter the transfer portal, but was ultimately convinced by head coach Bryan Harsin and his staff to stay in Auburn and plan on having an expanded role in 2022. Well, here we are in 2022, and after the Tigers’ worst game of the season, there is a major Tank Bigsby absence.
The running back recorded only nine carries for 39 yards against the Nittany Lions, along with two receptions for 38 yards. Bigsby carried the ball zero times in both the second and fourth quarters, which Harsin said was due to the team being down and needing to pass the ball, via Auburn Undercover. But that can’t possibly be the full explanation for why Tank Bigsby carried the ball only nine times in such an important game where the offense wasn’t producing at all and clearly needed a spark.
"“I don’t know all the reasons,” Harsin said. “But yeah, we want to get Tank the ball. … We’ll look at that again and figure out how we get the ball in our playmakers’ hands, and sometimes the game changes. Sometimes the plan of the team you’re playing, they know that too. And what they’re trying to take away, so you’ve got to make some adjustments in the game, as well.”"
So, does this mean that Tank Bigsby will have a bigger role against Missouri this weekend? It seems at this point that this is a make-or-break game for Harsin, who is now running the real risk of being fired mid-season if the Auburn football can’t compete in the next several games.