Auburn football: A twisted tale of two quarterbacks in Tigers’ opening victory
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If you’re puzzled as to what to make of Auburn’s 42-16 victory over Mercer in the 2022 season opener on Saturday at Jordan-Hare, welcome to the party. It’s kind of a head scratcher, but we’ve been there before.
On one hand, how can anyone be disappointed with a 26-point victory, regardless of the opponent? I mean, victory is the main objective. It’s the bottom line.
On the other hand, we’ve already seen this story play out. It was just last year that we watched Auburn roll up 60 on Akron to open the season, followed by 62-zip over Alabama State. Hard to imagine a better start for any program. A highly successful season was sure to follow. Or so it certainly seemed.
But it proved to be nothing more than a poor measuring stick for the remainder of the season. The 2-0 gallop out of the gate wasn’t sustained and Auburn limped home with a losing record (6-7), ending the season on a 5-game skid that included a disappointing Birmingham Bowl loss to Houston.
So here we go again. A big victory to open the season. Not as big as last year’s, mind you. But a big win, by margin of victory, nevertheless. And it snapped that 5-game losing streak on which the Tigers ended 2021.
So, what do we make of it? The defense was good but didn’t look as dominating as last year’s at this same point. Granted, Mercer did most of its damage in garbage time, but it still wasn’t as impressive of a performance as last year’s opener.
What about the offense? The Tigers scored on 4 of their first 5 possessions and then took their foot off the gas. They didn’t score again until head coach Bryan Harsin inserted backup quarterback Robby Ashford into the lineup to start the second half.
And while we’re on the subject, I’m sorry, but I’m just not convinced that T.J. Finley is the answer. He wasn’t the answer at LSU. He didn’t succeed there for a reason. His decision-making leaves a lot to be desired. His passes lack touch. He’s little more mobile than a human statue in the pocket.
Yes, Finley has a canon for an arm. But without the knowledge and/or the ability to use it depending on the situation, knowing when to zip it in and when to put a little air under it, Finley will always be that quarterback with “potential.”
Ashford, the Oregon transfer, showed us how it’s done. His pinpoint 56-yard bomb to Ja’Varrius Johnson was a perfectly executed post pattern that set up 1 of 6 Auburn touchdowns. Ashford engineered 2 touchdown drives in his 2 quarters of play.
Finley was 9 for 14 with 2 picks. He threw for just 112 yards. His longest completion went for 39 yards. He had a QB rating of 126.5.
Ashford was 4-of-7 passing for 100 yards. No touchdowns, but more importantly no interceptions. His QB rating was a more impressive 177.1. He’s a dual threat who can hurt you with his legs as well as his arm. Ashford finished the game as Auburn’s 2nd-leading rusher with 73 yards on 6 carries. His 11.3-yard average was tops in the game.
By contrast, Finley is no threat to run. I mean, zero. He gained 1 yard on 2 carries on Saturday.
Finley certainly looks the part. An imposing figure standing 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds.
He started Saturday’s game and had early success. But he crashed and burned in the 2nd quarter, and Ashford made the most of his opportunity in the final 2 periods.
It will be interesting to see how Harsin uses the 2 QBs moving forward.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
