Auburn Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold was so good against the Baylor Bears in a 38-24 win last Friday in Waco that he's bringing fans back to a different place and time. A time when the team was closer to contending with the SEC's elite than losing to the likes of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
A time before Payton Thorne. Before Phillip Montgomery, or Mike Bobo.
The Gus Malzahn era.
Specifically, Malzahn's last great quarterback, Bo Nix. Unfortunately, many Tiger fans would be mad at the idea of calling Nix "great," but his NFL rookie season with the Denver Broncos and his Oregon Ducks career proved he always had that potential.
And not for nothing, Nix's 2021 season had flashes of brilliance -- mainly, his 22-year streak-ending win over the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge and against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, against whom his team was winning and lost after he left the game. And due to Will Rogers' air raid assault on Derek Mason's defense.
Anyway, Auburn Tigers On SI's Gunner Norene made the comparison while speaking of Arnold's brilliant debut.
"Not only did Arnold make quality decisions for most of the game, the former five-star was fairly quick to determine those decisions. Freeze said in his press conference on Monday that Arnold only had three true scrambles – the rest were “some types of run where he has the option for it to be him or somebody else.” He wasn't afraid to create outside of the pocket in the open field, and never exactly looked panicked," Norene wrote.
"Overall, he looks comfortable in the new system, and he was seen multiple times dancing, smiling, and having fun with his teammates after the Tigers accomplished something good. It felt like he truly took command of the offense -- Auburn fans haven’t witnessed that since Bo Nix in 2019."
Norene's comments are a sign of the times. A new age that's similar to the old, pre-NIL age, when Auburn was a relevant team on a national scale.
There are currently projections for the Tigers making the College Football Playoff field. This program may finally be on the other side of what seemed like an unscalable mountain.