SEC Football: Bryan Harsin is worrying Auburn fans

Is it possible Bryan Harsin is poised to make the biggest blunder of the SEC football season? Alabama football fans are both expecting and looking forward to him doing so. Apparently, Auburn fans share the expectation.

Yesterday, I gave an opinion on the quarterbacks the Crimson Tide will face in the regular season. Ranking the top ten opposing QBs, I listed Zach Calzada as No. 8. Despite Auburn still having a three-way QB battle, I guessed as an ‘Alabama Slayer’ the Aubies were destined to go with him.

Instead, it is now looking like Bryan Harsin might choose T.J. Finley. Had I ranked Finley instead of Calzada among 8 SEC football, opposing QBs, plus Texas and Utah State – I would have ranked Finley No. 9.

Alabama fans are chuckling over Harsin possibly choosing Finley. Some of us believe Robby Ashford is the best choice and based on Fly War Eagle, some Auburn fans agree.

"Neither T.J. Finley nor Zach Calzada are elite options for Auburn footballNow that the Alabama-slayer Zach Calzada has proven that his other relatively modest stat-lines from a season ago may be indicative of his abilities, Ashford is now the de facto darling in the bunch.In reality, anyone with a realistic chance to start not named T.J. Finley will be a darling"

It is not as though a QB decision by Harsin is a make or break for the Tigers. Ashford, who was MVP of Auburn’s spring game, gives the Tigers the best chance to win more than four games. But none of the Auburn quarterbacks are good enough to make the Tigers a seven-win team.

Harsin, trying to spin optimism, expresses a different opinion in talking about T.J. Finley.

"I’ve always been impressed with TJ as far as, just his command. He understands — he’s very much like a coach on the field. He understands what we’re trying to accomplish. I think he conceptually picks things up very quickly. Listens to the details and all the little nuances of plays and what everybody is supposed to be doing. If there’s a coaching point made, not just for him but anybody, he’ll remember that coaching point and be able to echo it whenever it comes up or remind guys."

So Harsin sees Finley as a good thinker and a good leader. Even if Harsin is correct, it does not change the fact that Finley is a career 56% passer (and even worse, 54.1% at Auburn). He does have a strong arm, but not the accuracy to use it effectively.

The strangest situation in SEC Football

A mostly preposterous question is whether Harsin is so desperate to get out of Auburn, that he would sabotage the season, giving Auburn no choice but to pay his big buyout. Surely, that cannot be the case.

Maybe it is not relevant, but Finley was not showing good thinking recently when riding a motorcycle without a helmet in Auburn and twice evaded police – who did not pursue him because of concerns for his safety. He later turned himself in.