Kirk Herbstreit impressed by Auburn in loss to Penn State

Behind a raucous, whiteout environment Saturday, No. 10 Penn State sent a statement to the rest of the country with a 28-20 win over No. 22 Auburn, moving the Nittany Lions up to No. 6 on the latest AP poll and dropping the Tigers to No. 10. But to some — including ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit — it was the Auburn Tigers and first-year head coach Bryan Harsin that showed some promise in the performance.

Appearing on The Paul Finebaum Show Tuesday, Herbstreit praised the Tigers and their performance ahead of Auburn’s home matchup with Georgia State.

“I’m not saying ‘look out Alabama in the Iron Bowl,'” Herbstreit said, continuing, “but I liked what I saw from Auburn in that tough environment at Penn State.”

Penn State’s defense had some problems stopping Auburn’s rushing attack early on in the game, as Tigers running back Tank Bigsby turned 23 carries into 102 yards and two touchdowns. But Penn State’s defense did rise up and force the Tigers to turn the ball over on downs at Penn State’s 2-yard line with 3:08 left in the game. Auburn got the ball back at its 38 with 38 seconds remaining and moved it to Penn State’s 26 in the final 10 seconds, but a pass into the end zone on the final play was broken up. Regardless, Herbstreit was pleasantly surprised with the Auburn offense, which had not been tested prior to the game.

Auburn entered the contest with two consecutive victories in which they scored 60-plus points; however, the 60-10 win over Akron and the 62-0 win over Alabama State were hardly indicators of Auburn’s performance. Penn State was the first real test for Bryan Harsin, and although the Tigers did not come away victorious, they still managed to pass Herbstreit’s test.

Quarterback Bo Nix looked poised against Penn State. Although he didn’t throw any touchdowns for Auburn, he did what he needed, completing 21 of 37 passing attempts for 185 yards, while not committing a turnover. Herbstreit seemed impressed with Auburn’s relatively mistake-free football, which was reflected by a relatively even box score.

Finebaum, McElroy not impressed by Penn State

While Herbstreit sang Auburn’s praise, analysts Paul Finebaum and Greg McElroy did the exact opposite: they criticized the Penn State Nittany Lions.

“As good of a game as this was in terms of hype and build up, within the SEC, it wasn’t that big of a deal,” Finebaum said Monday on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “It was a middle-of-the-pack SEC West game. I know that sounds like a shot at Penn State — I don’t mean it that way.

“But if Penn State is the best the Big Ten has to offer this year, they’re in for a terrible year.”

The longtime SEC radio hosts think the Nittany Lions showed very little to brag about Saturday, despite beating Auburn.

“I thought it was a pretty good performance [for Auburn], and it’s one that you can probably build on,” McElroy said. “Not that they’re going to do a whole lot in the SEC West this year. I still think that if Penn State played in the SEC West, they’d finish probably fourth.”