Bryan Harsin’s Monday press conference had a more positive overall tone than usual, praising various aspects of the Tigers’ successful effort to beat Ole Miss. However, he expressed frustration with the team’s frequent mistakes on special teams.
Auburn ended Saturday with a victory over the No. 10 Rebels and potential Heisman candidate Matt Corral, but frequent penalties on punt and kickoff returns were an area of concern. Harsin phrased his frustration very simply.
“For whatever reason, Ole Miss was kicking our butt or we just sucked at some of the stuff we were doing,” Harsin said.
To get things going in the beginning, the fourth drive of the game was a failed Rebel effort, ending with a punt that Demetris Robertson returned for zero yards. It was by no means a successful return but would be one of the few through the night that collected no penalties.
The first full drive of the second quarter ended with an Ole Miss field goal and subsequent kickoff that had its share of issues. Jarquez Hunter returned the 61-yard kick out to the 25-yard line, but offsetting facemask and block in the back penalties brought up a replay of the kickoff.
On the re-kick, Shaun Shivers then received the ball and returned it only to the Auburn 23. Both teams were penalized, but the second effort did not bring the Tigers to where a fair catch puts the ball.
“If we’re going to keep making those same mistakes, we’ll just fair catch it. Don’t block anybody. Just fair catch it, take that 25 and we’ll be better off,” Harsin said.
Another Ole Miss field goal led to a kickoff return by Nehemiah Pritchett that came out 50 yards before a holding call brought it back to the Auburn 31.
The third quarter opened with a squashed Ole Miss drive, followed by a 50-yard punt that Robertson only brought out four yards to the Auburn 29. It was his longest return of the night.
The real horror, though, came towards the end of the third quarter, when Robertson was receiving yet another punt but muffed the punt. It placed the Rebels on the Auburn 29-yard line, where a strong defensive stand saved the Tigers.
“On punt return, we work very hard at catching the ball and giving our guys a fair chance. That’s an area where we’ve just got to get better,” Harsin said.
Yet another Ole Miss punt was brought out 30 yards by Pritchett, but a holding penalty negated the return.
“You want to bring it out. You want to be aggressive," Harsin said. "You want to give your guys a chance to return it. That’s why you spend all that time in practice: to go out and do those things."
Harsin emphasizes fundamentals each week in his press conference, so clearly special teams are an aspect of the game he believes in perfecting. However, he makes it sound like these issues come more as a result of mental priorities.
“I think it goes back to 100% how we practice, 100% to how we prepare or the lack thereof of guys studying special teams,” Harsin said. “I don’t think guys study special teams like they need to and that’s an opportunity for us to go change the game.
“I don’t think we get the time away from the meetings that we have, and that we need, for guys to really be great in those areas.”
Harsin makes the issue sound like something that potentially plagues all of football, not just Auburn. With only a certain number of hours in the day and legal practice time, things will inevitably be prioritized, to whatever detriment.
However, he also holds a high level of accountability for his players, who likely have the skill but are lacking in the execution of a vital piece of their game.
“Guys need to step up. They need to watch more film," Harsin said. "They need to study, and we need to be better at those techniques in practice if we’re going to make any improvements in those areas."
Auburn finds itself in a position to win the SEC West by winning the remainder of their games, but that presents an obvious struggle as the No. 12 Tigers travel to College Station to take on the No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies.
“We’ve just got to be on point on special teams. That was an area for us in the last game, we had some penalties,” Harsin said. “We did not play as clean of a game on special teams as we wanted to, so we were fortunate to win the game.”
In a close matchup that could have major postseason implications, Auburn will need to strive for perfection in its preparation this week. The impact of the crowd at Texas A&M could be detrimental in situations like muffed punt receptions and recurring penalties.
“There were too many penalties and just too many self-inflicted issues that we have got to correct,” Harsin said. “That’ll be our focus this week as we go into practice on Tuesday, cleaning all those things up.”
Auburn resumes practice on Tuesday to prepare for a 2:30 pm CST matchup Saturday, which will be pivotal in determining what the Tigers can accomplish for the rest of the season.
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Callie Stanford is from Springville, Alabama and is currently a sophomore at Auburn. She has been with The Plainsman since January 2021.
Twitter: @Stanford1Callie
