What Bryan Harsin said after the Penn State loss

Auburn's head coach thinks the way his team responds to this loss will define the season

The Auburn Tigers were blown out by the Penn State Nittany Lions 41-12 in a game that, somehow, wasn't as close as the final score indicated. Bryan Harsin spoke to the media after the game about what happened and how his team responds from here. 

To open the press conference, Harsin wanted to give all possible credit to Penn State for being prepared for the challenge of playing in a raucous Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Not to take anything away from Penn State — so start with them. They did a really good job. They're well-coached, like we said. Their team played physically. They were prepared to come in here and play the game that they did. So credit to Coach Franklin and their team. They played hard, and they played physically tonight. I thought our crowd was fantastic. I thought the energy and what they brought tonight — all that in the environment, like we said, it was exactly what we thought it would be. So, you know, we appreciate that.

Harsin came back to the same explanation - execution - that he had for the sloppy victory over San Jose State. 

We're disappointed in the performance. We're disappointed in the loss, obviously. You can look at the stats, it's pretty matter-of-fact. I think football really comes down to that, just the execution piece. You lose the turnover battle, that's number one. And I think tackling, that was another area that we can improve on. But overall, red zone — they were 5 for 5 in the red zone, we were 2 for 4. And those [...] turnovers hurt us, when it was all said and done. 

Despite execution problems seemingly being a player issue, Harsin put the onlus on the coaching staff to better prepare the team for Saturdays.

"For us as a team, like I told our guys in the locker room there, football's a matter of fact. You've got to do your job. You've got to be in the right position. You've got to execute the plays that we have out there, and we've got to be better at that. That's gotta start on Sundays. That goes all the way through the week. That's what we do as coaches — we get our guys prepared. We didn't have them prepared well enough tonight to go out there and play the game that we wanted to. So I've got to do a better job — we all do, as coaches, to get these guys prepared to go out there and play against really good football teams. [...] We have areas that we know we need to improve on. And we'll work on those. We'll identify those specifically on Sunday, what they are. We'll work on those on Sunday, then we'll flush this game, and we'll get on to Missouri. That'll be the mindset."

Harsin went on to explain that the response to this loss will be crucial towards determining the ultimate outcome of the season. 

"The key is, really, how we handle the disappointment. This is football. Things happen in football. How you handle it is really key to the success of this football team, in my opinion. Everyone's gonna have to some type of disappointment at some point. Alright? We're 2-0 coming into this game, and now we've lost this football game, and we still have a long season ahead of us. There's a lot of football to play. So what we do moving forward is going to be the key to our success and this season. And I think these guys understand that. I think the coaches understand that. But we've got to get it done at the end of the day. That's what it really comes down to. So, myself, that's where it begins. And then, you know, for everybody else in there, we know what we have to do moving forward. Those guys were all ears. We will get back to work on Sunday. But congratulations to Penn State. I'm disappointed for our players as well. I know they worked hard this week in practice. They wanted to come out and play well. And so those guys, you know, they're hurt right now. And we've got to take that into the next week and find ways to improve in those areas. [...] We will have our guys through this week of preparation ready to go when we go play against Missouri on Saturday.

Harsin reiterated that putting in the work during the week is the key to victory on Saturdays. 

"I say it and I've said it every week: I really believe in the process and how you put in the work each and every day, and that's what matters. So, where do we miss that? We'll identify that. What were the things that they did that we weren't prepared for or we didn't see or things have to be better at? That's exactly what we identify and we work on those, because you'll see them again. That's the one thing. You'll see that, teams will watch that, and so you've got to go back and you've got to fix your problems is what you have to do. To me, that takes discipline to do that, alright. To do it each and every day, and to stick with that disciplined approach, it takes a lot of toughness to do that over and over and over, and then you've got to believe in what you're doing. That's a key. And so those three factors there — that discipline, toughness, and conviction — are the keys to our success moving forward, the things we have to do. And then us coaches, it's no different. We've got to put a plan in there and make sure that we are dialed as coaches, and we have the guys in the right spots. That's our job as coaches, to get our players prepared. We owe that to them, and everybody in that locker room knows that."

He was asked about the health of TJ Finley, who appeared to have a sore shoulder and was ultimately replaced in the game by QB Robby Ashford. 

"Well yeah, he got banged up a little bit in the game. I think some of their guys did as well. That's football, that happens during games and all that, and so guys, I don't think that impacted too much of the decision to go with Robby at that point. But TJ was trying to make plays out there as well, and Robby came in and did some good things for us. But just, it's not enough, and I think the key in this one here is, at halftime, it was 14-6. The game's not out of hand. You're not playing like you want to in the first half, but the game's still close, you're not that far out. We have a chance to get the ball back, drive down and score. Think we went three-and-out on that drive there, and that was one that hurt us, just from a momentum standpoint. But even at that point, the score is not out of hand. It comes back to us executing, but the decision for that was not necessarily off of, you know, him not being able to go. TJ's a tough guy.

Harsin had praise for Robby Ashford's orchestration of the offense in the 2nd half, despite it being too little, too late. 

"He showed toughness tonight, too, and we felt like Robby had some plays in there and that he could get some things going, and he did. He moved the ball down the field, we scored, had a nice throw to Jarquez. That made a great play there. That's probably too little, obviously, at that point. Probably a little too late there, but at the same time, those guys are executing, we just had to do more of that."

Harsin was asked about Penn State's big third quarter, where they put up 17 unanswered points and ran away with the game.

"Well, the turnovers, That's a big factor. That comes into play. It's a game of momentum, too, right? That's one thing, you've got to get it back. You've got to get the momentum when you're down, you've got to get some momentum, you've got to create that. You've got to go execute to do that, and when you make some plays, I think you feel that momentum. But really, we just didn't get into a consistent enough groove to get that momentum back, and credit to Penn State, too, those guys were playing well. They were running the ball effectively, so they had some things in the run game. They were creating some big, explosive plays from that standpoint, and so we never got the momentum like we needed to in the second half or that third to fourth quarter."

After some discussion of Penn State's run game vs Auburn's run game, Harsin was asked about if the prospect of playing QB Zach Calzada was raised. 

"Yeah, we talked about it. I think we wanted to keep Robby in there and let him keep playing. He got an opportunity to get in there and do that. So we’ll see. That’ll be something … we’ll evaluate everything as we go into this week. That’s what we always do. And see what’s going to be the best combination for us to be prepared and ready to go out there and play against Missouri. When we go back and look at the film and really dissect it and figure out what the real issues are, because it’s not one player. That’s the thing. In football, it’s never just one guy. It comes back to an entire team effort or lack thereof when it’s all said and done. You win as a team, you lose as a team. That’s really what the message is. So we’ll look at why but I’m not going to put all the pressure and all the reasons on one particular player. It’s just what we're doing or what we're not doing. That’s really what we have to dissect and look at and make sure we are better prepared for those things as we go into this week."

Harsin was asked if he was concerned that QB TJ Finley was -5 in turnovers (four interceptions, three fumbles - one lost) and clarified it was the turnovers in general that concerned him. 

"Yeah, well I’m concerned about the turnovers in general. On the year, I think we’re minus-8 when it’s all said and done. And I said that last week, that’s not a sustainable formula. We pride ourselves on taking care of the football. We talk about all about the ball. We’ve done that in the past. We’ve taken care of the ball. We’ve got to get it. We’ve got to get some takeaways on the defensive side. But we can’t turn it over. I think everybody knows that. But it happened and you’ve got to be able to overcome it. But we had too many in this game. The four turnovers become — that’s a change in possession that you don’t have. And that doesn’t create field position for you. It hurts you. It put our defense in some bad spots. So we’ve got to eliminate those. I think everybody knows they’ve got to eliminate the turnovers, got to take care of the football, got to play field position. The one thing about playing quarterback, sometimes those plays aren’t there and you may have to throw it away. It may be three plays in a row and it’s not what you want, but that’s the right decision. We’ve got to be able to do that.

"I’ll look at the film and see exactly why those things happened. But we’ve got to clean that up. The turnovers have to be cleaned up. We’ve got to be better at that. And we’ve got to win that turnover battle. Our goal is always plus-1, but we haven’t been that. In a game like this, when you’re playing a really good football team and you turn the ball over that many times, they’re going to take advantage of it. They’re going to put points on the board. And you’re also putting your defense out there quite a bit. We did that tonight."

Going back to the quarterbacks, Harsin was asked how he felt about Robby Ashford operating the offense at the end of the contest, including scoring Auburn's only touchdown of the game. 

And I think for Robby, there's more film now that he can take and watch and learn and grow and develop. And I fully expect that he'll do that. He'll be in the film room, he'll be watching, he'll be working on those things. I expect everyone on this football team will be doing that. Because, again, it comes back to 'did we execute on this particular play or this situation or not?' It's really kind of a yes or no, when it comes down to it. So the emotion part, it was there, but really, it's a matter of fact. That's what we have to do, is make sure that we understand that and why and learn from it, and be able to go out there and execute those things better. Because we're gonna see those things again throughout the season."

Harsin was asked if he still believes in the QB rotation, and if the offense can be effective with quarterbacks rotating in and out of the game - he deflected and didn't commit to continuing or stopping the practice. 

"In games like this and moments like this, you go back and reevaluate that, too. It's the one thing about coaching and operating a football team throughout the season, you have a plan and if it's working, you continue to use that plan. If the plan doesn't work, you reevaluate the plan. You look at it and you go, alright, is this the best thing moving forward? That's always got to be the case, and it's not just at the quarterback position."

Harsin was asked why RB Tank Bigsby only touched the ball 11 times, and if that was a sustainable offensive game plan.  

"I think the obvious is that we got behind and we had to throw the football. I mean, that's really what it came down to. I don't know all the reasons. But yeah. We want to get Tank the ball. We want to get Jarquez the ball. We want to run the football. And I think the big thing was the score and trying to do some things to get him the ball. And the pass game is included in that too, so there was opportunities for him there as well. So it's not all just the touches in the run game. It's the touches in the pass game. And other opportunities. But we do want to get the ball in his hands and those tailbacks. You saw Jarquez tonight when we did that. It was on a throw. But he got a chance to get out there and make a big play. So we'll look at that again and figure out how we get the ball in our playmakers' hands, and sometimes the game changes.

To close the presser, Harsin was asked if he'd thought about his job security after the loss, given that he was rumored to have one of the hottest seats in college football after the season.

“Yeah, well, I mean, No. 1, I’m always coaching for this football team, alright, and these players, No. 1. I can’t control that. I can control what I do each and every day. What I’ve always done is coach for this team, these players, these coaches, make sure I’m doing my job, having our team prepared and all that. I don’t control any of those others things other than what I do each and every day. That’s been no different since I’ve been a GA to being a head football coach; I’ve operated the same way and had the same mindset, so we put more expectations on ourselves than anybody else, alright? That’s always been that way. So, at the end of the day, I’m disappointed for our football team, and my job is to make sure we put together a plan and put a football team out there that can go compete and play at a high level, and that’s always the expectations. The standard needs to be better than what it was, and that’s really all we’re going to focus on.

"For our football team, it’s the same thing; I tell those guys that. I think the lessons in all this is, when you’re in it, when you’re in the arena, which is what we do—we’re the ones that are in the arena each and every week, alright; we’re the ones that put the work in each and every week, alright? That’s what we can control. I love being a part of that. I love putting plans together and processes and all those things, so that we can do that. At the end of the day, this is why we get a chance to do what we do, because we’re good at it. I believe in this team, and I believe in what we’re doing, and we got to be better at it. So, at the end of the day, that’s all I ever focus on.”

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