Report Card: Grading Auburn's 31-24 loss to Minnesota

Going into the Outback Bowl, Auburn players and its coaching staff were looking to capture the10th win of the season and carry momentum into 2020. Senior, and likely top-10 draft pick, Derrick Brown opted to return for the game and was joined by fellow senior Marlon Davidson on the defensive line. It seemed to be shaping up as one last ride for the dominant Auburn defense, but instead it ended in disappointment. In the end, Minnesota was able to dominate in the trenches, beating Auburn 31-24 and piling up 494 yards of total offense. 

Playing away from home has been an issue all year for the Tigers. That can be partially be attributed to playing the likes of Florida and LSU on the road, but nonetheless, its been an issue. In the Florida and LSU games it was freshman quarterback Bo Nix who struggled, but against Minnesota the Tigers had their worst rushing performance of the season and the worst since 2018 against Texas A&M.

Here are the grades: 

Quarterback: B-

Quarterback Bo Nix came into the Outback Bowl riding one of the best games of his career against Alabama. In fact, starting with the Ole Miss game Nix seemingly flipped a switch and began to perform much better than he had in the beginning of the season. By no means did Nix perform poorly, but it was definitely a drop-off from his previous performances. 

The freshman completed 17-of-26 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown along with six carries on the ground for 12 yards, a number that would’ve been higher had he not been sacked twice. 

While reading the defense Nix had his mistakes, including severely underthrowing Seth Williams on a pass that was in the hands of a Minnesota player but dropped. 

However, he also made some great reads. Including opting to not make a throw into tight coverage on Auburn’s second drive of the second half, instead escaping the pocket and picking up a 16-yard gain and pushing Auburn down the field and tying up the game. Nix was 5-of-6 on that possession, with his lone incompletion being a drop from Shedrick Jackson. 

The Outback Bowl was nothing to write home about for Nix, but similarly to the entire season, it provides learning opportunities for the future. 

Nix did have one punt in the game, a 39-yard kick that put Minnesota at their own eight.

Running Backs: C-

Establishing the ground game has been a clear necessity during the Gus Malzahn era. The Tigers have gone 5-17 in games where they rush for less than 140 yards, they were only able to get 56 on Wednesday. 

It wasn’t just one or two running backs who struggled, the entire rotation of backs struggled to get anything going. As a team they averaged just 2.2 yards per carry, with the longest run of the day coming from Nix.

Part of these struggles can be attributed to the offensive line that got dominated all-day long, but that isn’t necessarily a new thing for the Tigers backs to deal with. The offensive line has been an issue all year long, but the backs have still been able to generate yards.

Coming into the matchup the Auburn backs averaged 211.3 rushing yards per game. They’ve used a variety of backs with Boobee Whitlow being the starter and typically trying to involve D.J. Williams, Kam Martin, Shaun Shivers and Harold Joiner in some aspect. 

Whitlow picked up the most yardage with 24 yards on nine carries, while Williams was second with 13 yards on five carries. 

The Tigers had just five rushing yards at halftime and didn’t do a whole lot more in the second half, adding the other 51. In a big-time bowl game, this was a complete disaster and something that will need to be addressed before next season starts. 

Auburn will lose Kam Martin to the draft and Whitlow is now draft-eligible, but they will be bringing in 5-star Tank Bigsby and likely expecting him to play a big role early. 

Wide Receivers: B

It was an average game for the Tigers wide receivers, there’s not a whole lot else to it. They were led by Anthony Schwartz who had six receptions for 49 yards, along with Sal Cannella who reeled in his lone target for a 37-yard touchdown.

Seth Williams who led the team on the season with 830 yards and eight touchdowns, had just four catches for 29 yards. The receiver was able to bring in a ridiculous toe-tap one-handed sideline catch, but he was also lucky to get away with a shove to the head of a Minnesota defender. 

Will Hastings ended his career with two receptions for 14 yards but was targeted five times and had a key drop during the game. As previously mentioned under quarterback, Jackson had a drop that hit him right in the numbers, negating around a 20-yard gain. 

The Tigers will graduate Cannella and Hastings but have former 4-star Matthew Hill ready to play a larger role along with four freshman receivers coming in next year. They may also have a big hole to fill if Schwartz ends up choosing to only be a track-and-field athlete. 

Offensive Line: D+

The Outback Bowl was a relatively accurate representation of the season as a whole for the offensive line. There were not many running holes generated and it led to just 56 yards of rushing. In the passing game the pocket quickly collapsed, as Nix was sacked twice during the game and rarely had much time to make reads. 

Along with the two sacks Minnesota had four tackles for loss during the game. 

Auburn will only return center Nick Brahms next year, who was responsible for a false start on 4th-and-2 that forced Auburn to punt it from mid-field. 

Even with losing four starters the Tigers have younger players currently on the team along with already signing five more offensive lineman to bring in next season. They also remain in the mix for the Georgia commit, 5-star OT Broderick Jones.

Offensive line was a major issue for Auburn last season as Jarrett Stidham was sacked 23 times, but that number was brought down to 18 during the 2019 campaign. 

Defensive Line: C+

The ‘last-hurrah’ for Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson didn’t quite go to plan against Minnesota. The entire defensive line played one of their worst games of the entire season.

Auburn failed to record a single sack, or a quarterback-hurry for that matter. And the four tackles for loss came from linebackers and the secondary.

Brown recorded five tackles while Davidson had three. The standout player of the game was probably Derick Hall, a guy who Davidson predicts to be an All-American next season. Hall recorded just three tackles but was able to put at least some pressure on Tanner Morgan. 

While Minnesota did tend to attack the edge, the Gophers were able to run all over the Tigers. The Gophers totaled 215 rushing yards on 45 carries, along with a 16-yard Mohamed Ibrahim touchdown. Ibrahim was the Gophers leading back while carrying the ball 20 times for 140 yards.

Even with the loss of Brown and Davidson, Auburn fans shouldn’t be overly concerned about a potential drop-off next season. The Tigers are likely to return Big Kat Bryant and expect him to play a huge role next season. Bryant will be joined by Hall, T.D. Moultry and Colby Wooden Auburn expects to play a larger role after mononucleosis interrupted his freshman season. 

The returning players will welcome defensive-end Zykevious Walker as the highest-rated defensive lineman Auburn currently has signed, while still targeting fellow 4-star defensive tackle Jay Hardy.

Linebackers: B

The Auburn linebackers potentially had the best performance out of any Tigers position group. Led by K.J. Britt who recorded eight tackles and a tackle for loss, Owen Pappoe had seven of his own and Zakoby McClain had seven of his own with a tackle for loss.

The weak point clearly came from Minnesota’s rushing game, which was partially attributed to the defensive line, but the linebackers are also partially responsible. 

If Britt opts to return, linebacker instantly become a major strength of the team next year as Pappoe will continue to build on his strong freshman season and McClain looks to keep improving. 

Even if Britt were to leave, the Tigers already have 4-stars Wesley Steiner, Desmond Tisdol and Cameron Riley signed.  

Secondary: C

Going into the Outback Bowl it was obvious the Tigers secondary would have their hands full trying to deal with Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman. 

Early on, it looked like they may be able to handle the task. On just the third play of the game senior Javaris Davis intercepted Morgan and set Auburn up at the 12-yard line. 

That was about the only time the Tigers secondary was able to make a big play. In fact, it was Johnson who was making the big plays and making the Auburn secondary look silly. 

Johnson had 12 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns, along with a back-breaking 73-yard touchdown that winded up winning Minnesota the game. 

Bateman ended the game with 49 yards on three receptions. 

While safety Smoke Monday struggled against Minnesota, Auburn will look at him and Jamien Sherwood to fill the void left by Daniel Thomas and Jeremiah Dinson. 

The secondary will also lose Javaris Davis and potentially Noah Igbinoghene but have Ladarius Tennison and Marco Dommio signed and ready to make an impact next season.

Special Teams: B+

Special teams was defined by two big plays, both for and against Auburn. 

Towards the end of the first quarter Christian Tutt made an errant decision to try and field a punt, having it hit off his hands and leading to a Minnesota touchdown. 

On the other hand, Igbinoghene returned a kick 96 yards for a touchdown, his first of the season and the first in Outback Bowl history.

Kicker Anders Carlson connected on his only attempt, a 24-yard field goal. 

Arryn Siposs had a good day, averaging 44 yards a punt along with a 50-yard punt and one that put Minnesota inside the 20. Siposs was also called upon to throw a fake-punt pass, which ended up being an overthrow to John Samuel Shenker.

Auburn will most likely return the exact same special teams for next season, and hope that Carlson can continue his scorching hot streak from the Iron Bowl.