Jason Campbell believes Auburn’s slow start to Saturday’s game against Georgia State was an extension of the team “reeling” from the Penn State loss.

The former Auburn quarterback said it also didn’t help that Auburn was without Zakoby McClain and Owen Pappoe, and once McClain returned, “he took over.”

Campbell during a segment on “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” on WJOX out of Birmingham, Alabama also addressed the offense, and the change from Bo Nix to TJ Finley, and didn’t put all the blame on Nix. He said sometimes the team just needs something to get it going.

“We just couldn’t sustain drives,” Campbell said. “We ended up scoring 12 points and kicked 4 field goals. You’ve got to be able to sustain drives, especially against teams like Georgia State. That’s not the pinnacle of the SEC that we’re about to face, the gauntlet of the schedule coming up. I feel like they had to do something to kind of give the guys a spark, trying to create some new energy, and you saw in the second half, they kind of went with TJ a little bit, and guys kind of — I believe the spark really happened after the block punt for a touchdown.”

Greg McElroy noted that Finley didn’t do enough to grab the starting job completely from Nix, so he asked Campbell how he would handle the QB picture in the coming days. Campbell said if he was Nix, be happy that the team won on Saturday.

“Secondly, look at myself in the mirror, what do I have to do to be better,” Campbell said. “Sometimes you can get things from a different lens and a different view, but I think that didn’t happen to him the first 2 years. He was never pulled, didn’t have to see things from a different lens because he was always the guy on the field and he wasn’t redshirted. Maybe this is something he needs to grow into a better quarterback so that he this time saw what TJ went on the field and did, so if the opportunity presents itself again, he knows how to approach his play.”

Campbell said early on, it appeared that Nix was pressing with high throws and his feet never seemed settled.

Campbell also added that Harsin has put everyone on notice, and noted that Tank Bigsby wasn’t in on the final long series.

“He doesn’t care who you are right now, he’s all about trying to get the best guys on the field at the right time, and who wants it more to win games,” he said.