Why Tank Bigsby Isn't Equal to Raheim Sanders on Stat Sheet Despite Equal Talent

How Bryan Harsin has managed to keep one of the SEC's best backs cooped in the stable

If you are incredibly short-sighted and squint so hard the muscles on either side of your eyes almost tear into, you could say Tank Bigsby is having a season on par with Arkansas Razorbacks’ running back Raheim “Rocket” Sanders.

After all, both went for over 170 yards last week and both have early season performances of roughly 150 yards. However, it’s the games in between that are puzzling, at least from the perspective of Bigsby.

Both backs are equally talented. While Bigsby is a little smaller, he and Sanders each have the power to fight through tackles and the shiftiness to make guys miss.

The only discernible difference is Sanders gets through the hole a little faster and tends to get better blocking.

So, if two elite running backs have so much in common from a talent standpoint, why does Tank Bigsby have 621 total yards to Sanders’s 1,059 total yards?

Bigsby had 13 carries or less in four games with a season low of 9 in a blowout to Penn State.

Sanders averages 20 carries per game, equaling or topping that number five times with a high of 24 carries and only two games in the high teens.

Only once has Auburn allowed Bigsby to reach 20 carries. That came in a 179 yard performance against Ole Miss just last week.

The obvious thought would be that Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin follows the mantra that so many college coaches follow in that running should be done as little as possible and only when needed. After all, pass plays sell tickets and lure the top recruits. However, that doesn’t add up because the Tigers are only throwing the ball 20 times per game and aren’t exactly blowing the doors off doing so.

Auburn passes for an average of 200 yards per game and barely squeaks over the putrid 50% completion mark. Starting QB Robby Ashford provides even less argument for bailing on Bigsby in lieu of the passing game with a completion percentage of 47.9%.

So that begs the question. Where are all of these extra carries that should be going to Bigsby.

Turns out, they’re going to Ashford. While Ashford, whose completion percentage is more than a full percent less than the 2019 performance of Rutgers quarterback Artur Sitkowski, considered by Pro Football Focus to be one of, if not the, worst starting college quarterback in history, Ashford is considered a quality runner.

Eating up over 10 rushing carries per game, Ashford has been the biggest clip to Bigsby’s wings. While his carries nearly equal Bigsby’s, the slippery QB averages a full yard and change less than the respected running back’s 5.3 yards per carry.

In the blowout to Penn State, Ashford and fellow quarterback TJ Finley carried the ball more than twice that of Bigsby. Ashford alone had 11 carries to Bigby’s nine, yet had 10 fewer yards.

As a result, what should be billed as a shootout between two of the SEC’s top running backs will most likely not come to fruition. Bigsby’s performance last week was more of an aberration than an expectation.

Not because the Tigers’ running back isn’t capable. It’s because of the Harsin philosophy.

For a kid who took a risk and reversed his decision to enter the portal with hopes of putting up numbers similar to those of Sanders, it’s a shame to see what has happened.

If things go the Razorbacks’ way Saturday, causing Harsin to get fired in the fallout, he will have no one to blame but himself.

To have a horse like Bigsby in the stable and not ride him when he’s your only hope is a sin only God can forgive.

What a waste.