Auburn had a 28-3 lead on State, Auburn had a 14-0 lead on South Carolina, and Auburn had every chance in the world to beat Houston. There is just no way around it now folks, Bryan Harsin does not look like a very good coach and his staff does not look very good either. He is an offensive coach that has given us no identity on offense and not even come close to making the best of what little we have on offense. He seems to have no concept of how to win close football games. I am not taking about the big ones, I am talking about the three mediocre to weak opponents I listed above. I am talking about the bad head-scratching decisions he makes over and over again. I understand that Pat Dye and Tommy Tuberville had losing seasons as well their first year but they showed something. They showed a distinct change. This team has not. The team did grab some solid wins early but then has absolutely fallen apart.
The main fault for the low level of the Auburn football program lays at the feet of Gus Malzahn and his poor recruiting in the trenches especially the offensive line. I mean no disrespect to the players that are working their butts off and want to succeed much more than I want them to but they... just... are... not... good... enough. Auburn does not have even ONE decent SEC level offensive lineman now that Brodarious Hamm has left. They were stopped multiple times on 3rd or 4th and 1 by a smallish Houston defense. It is embarrassing, it is humiliating, it is bleeping unacceptable. The poor recruiting on the offensive line has continued under Harsin with Auburn only bringing in ONE three-star linemen in the early signing period a few weeks ago (and he went to Auburn High so not a lot of credit for getting that one). AUBURN FOOTBALL WILL NOT IMPROVE UNTIL OFFENSIVE LINE RECRUTING IMPROVES A LOT PERIOD.
I just do not understand what the problem is at this point. I do not expect Auburn to compete with Bama and Georgia for elite recruits but at least compete and bring in multiple guys from the tier below that!!! Auburn appears unable to sign more than one or maybe two decent offensive line recruits per class. IT HAS NOW BEEN FIVE YEARS OF THIS. This is ridiculous and it is unacceptable and yes we have the right to expect better when we were paying Malzhan and now Harsin over five million dollars a year plus paying an expensive staff. I am sick and tired of watching Auburn not get a return on their investment. I am tired of watching Auburn pay through the nose for overrated head coaches and their staffs. Enough is enough. I will say Harsin and his staff are facing an uphill battle as Gus Malzahn and his staff evidently did not establish ANY type of relationship with any decent offensive linemen coming up.
The defense has had some bad moments this season bottoming out against Mississippi State but they have also kept fighting and turned in some good performances while the offense has continued its straight downward spiral that began well before Bo Nix got hurt. Also Derek Mason was able to bring in the top JUCO defensive lineman in the country plus a good looking transfer from Oregon. Auburn is at least bringing in some decent prospects on the line on that side of the ball. That at least gives some hope where after five years I am beginning to think that Auburn will never bring in a great offensive tackle prospect ever again. Folks, look at the offensive linemen in Auburn's last five recruiting classes if you think I am exaggerating. I am sorry I expect more from the school that has had players like Steve Wallace, Willie Anderson, Marcus McNeil, Lee Ziemba, and Greg Robinson on championship teams at left tackle with the first three having long successful NFL careers and Robinson going #2 overall in the NFL draft.
Shocker, these guys were a huge part of the great Auburn teams you remember. Steve Wallace started for the 11-1 1983 team that arguably won a national championship, he then went on to block for Joe Montana in the Super Bowl. Willie Andersen started for the undefeated 1993 11-0 team and spent a long career with the Bengals and was recently nominated for the NFL Hall of Fame. Marcus McNeil started for the undefeated 2004 13-0 team that also arguably won a national championship and went on to a long career with the Chargers in the NFL. Lee Ziemba started for the undefeated 2010 14-0 team that won the national championship. Greg Robinson started for the magical 2013 team that won the SEC and lost in the national championship game. Contrary to people making it seem like Auburn wins championships with three stars, they do not. You have to have monster recruits on the line which ALL of these guys were. Those guys span 30 YEARS of Auburn football. Auburn's last great left tackle was Robinson in 2013, that is now almost a decade ago. WHEN WILL AUBURN GET ANOTHER ONE?
Am I fixated on the offensive line? YES. Nothing else works without it. Tank Bigsby is a very good running back, he has basically not had ONE long run this year against anybody any good. I think we have seen he can do very little behind this offensive line. Bo Nix, hell even T.J. Finley would obviously look a lot better with better protection. Unfortunately though Auburn's problems do go deeper than the line. Finley while making a play here or there does not appear to have the accuracy to lead Auburn to any kind of good season even with a better line. Auburn also has nothing remotely close to an All-SEC wide receiver. That has all been on full display over the last five games. It has pretty much been on full display over the whole season even in the wins. The talent level across the board on offense is just alarmingly low. Al Borges said it best when asked about his huge success coordinating the Auburn offense in 2004, he said: "it is not about the X's and the O's, it is about the Jimmys and the Joes".
Harsin and the boys did dramatically improve Auburn's recruiting outside the line of scrimmage in the early signing period. Hopefully they evaluated correctly and brought in some possible All-SEC players at other positions. The problem for Harsin (even if he is not as bad a coach) is that he will have Gus Malzahn's last two recruiting classes as his seniors the next two years and then last year's weak transitional class in 2024 if he makes it that long. Outside of absolutely monster recruiting classes that really needed to start this season I do not see how he overcomes that. That is why the future looks bleak to me. Harsin good or bad will end up taking the fall for Malzahn's declining recruiting. On top of that his bad coaching this season cost him valuable patience points with the Auburn leadership and fans that he will desperately need later.
Harsin leads the Tigers to wins over State and South Carolina and things appear a lot better even if they really were not in terms of Auburn competing with the top teams. The problem now that the season is over and the smoke is clearing over the rubble left behind is that Harsin's bad coaching in these last five games has made things worse. You finish 8-4 and that momentum helps recruiting and getting critical transfers while now Auburn's dismal end to the season does not make Auburn look as attractive. It is also harder when again no one knows what Auburn's offensive identity is. There is not a lot to sell to potential great players. That again is the most disappointing thing about Bryan Harsin to me this season. So here we are and outside a miracle signing or transfer things look even worse next year on offense with an even weaker offensive line coming back with less experience at quarterback and wide receiver running the same offense. It is pretty rough being an Auburn Tiger right now.
