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Kirk Herbstreit clarifies take on Bo Nix flop

Tim Verghese (1)by: Tim Verghese09/22/21TimVerghese
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Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit clarified his take after Auburn quarterback Bo Nix fell after being shoved out of bounds to draw a personal foul penalty in the fourth quarter. Herbstreit described Bo Nix’s flop as “acting” on the live broadcast of Penn State’s win over Auburn.

“I wasn’t questioning him doing it,” Herbstreit said on Twitter. “I knew exactly what he did and applauded the effort. Smart move by a vet!”

Bo Nix said in an appearance on The Next Round that he purposely fell over after being shoved while out of bounds to draw a flag.

“Maybe just a little bit,” Nix said, laughing in response to Herbstreit’s claim he was acting. “Usually, any kind of play like that, we’re good athletes so most of us normally don’t have the ball on the sidelines. But guys when they get pushed over, they’re already out of bounds, they’re tired because they just ran a long ways. You just kind of fall and see if you can sell it and get a penalty. I was just going out of bounds and got shove so I figured if I stayed up they definitely wouldn’t have called it. It wouldn’t have looked like anything. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”

With Herbstreit on the call, Penn State defeated Auburn 28-20 in front of a a Nittany Lion crowd decked out in all white.

In the loss, Bo Nix finished with 185 yards passing and six carries for 29 yards Saturday. The Tigers kept the game close until the end, and trailed only 21-20 early in the fourth quarter. They added 182 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Tank Bigsby.

Bo Nix is in his third season at Auburn. In his career, the Pinson Valley product has thrown for 5,525 yards and 33 touchdowns to 13 interceptions, completing 59.4% of his passes.

Nix is off to a strong start to his 2021 season, having thrown for 568 yards and five touchdowns, with no interceptions, through the first three games.

Nix and the Auburn Tigers will look to rebound this week when it takes on Georgia State at 3 p.m. ET Saturday. The Tigers open SEC the following week against LSU.