It certainly was not pretty but Auburn beat San Jose State 24-16 Saturday night to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Tigers fell behind multiple times but did enough offensively in the second half to get the win in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
After struggling to move the ball in the first half, Auburn’s offense came alive in the second half. The Tigers entered halftime trailing 10-7 but answered with their first drive of the second half. They marched 69 yards down the field in nine plays and took a 14-10 lead thanks to [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag] taking over.
Auburn’s best offensive player looked like it on the drive. He started the drive with a 16-yard run and had an 11-yard reception on 4th and 3 to keep the drive alive. He then ripped off a 19-yard run and punched it in from the one-yard line to give Auburn a 14-10 lead they would not relinquish with 11:45 left in the third quarter.
He finished the night with 51 yards rushing and one touchdown on 13 carries. He added four receptions for 29 yards.
After the defense forced a quick punt the Tigers’ offense once again went to work. Bigsby once again had another solid run to start the drive but this one was called back by a penalty, something Auburn struggled with all game.
Auburn was able to overcome the mistake and Anders Carlson converted a 45-yard field goal to give Auburn a 17-10 lead.
But San Jose State was not going down without a fight and responded with a field goal of their own to make it 17-13.
The Tigers once again answered back though and both quarterbacks played a role on this drive. Robby Ashford took a designed run 30 yards around the left side to open the drive. A few plays later [autotag]T.J. Finley[/autotag] connected with Ja’Varrius Johnson for a 24-yard gain to set up 1st and goal. Finley punched it in to give Auburn the 24-13 with 12:45 left to play.
The Spartans managed one more field goal to make it a 24-16 game with 2:11 to play but were unable to recover the onside kick and Auburn was able to run out the clock and secure their second win of the season.
Overall it was a strong game from Finley who started the game 1-of-5 with an interception. However, he responded to the interception perfectly, completing his next five passes, and was 12-of-15 for 158 yards after the interception.
He finished the night 13-for 20 (65%) for 167 yards and the interception. He also had five carries for 18 yards and a touchdown.
While the offense did not wake up until the second half, Auburn’s defense was ready to go from the start. They forced three punts to start the game and completely shut down the Spartans rushing attack, holding them to 1.9 yards per carry.
[autotag]Marcus Harris[/autotag] led the way, making 3.0 tackles for loss and a sack but the entire defensive line was able to generate pressure the entire game and forced Chevan Cordeiro to get the ball out quickly.
However, they were able to have success with that, their 275 passing yards were the most Auburn has allowed to a non-power conference team since 2015.
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