What offensive coordinator Derrick Nix said about Auburn football offense vs. Vanderbilt

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AUBURN — The result was still the same, but Auburn football‘s offense looked mighty different in its overtime loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt last weekend.

Their first game without Hugh Freeze at the helm, the Tigers logged 563 yards of total offense. It was the most they’d had in an SEC game in six seasons, and a number they only bested once with their former head coach. It was also the first time since 2004 that Auburn had a 300-yard pass, 100-yard receiver and 100-yard rusher.

That’s the kind of output the unit was poised to give this season, and it finally came with Freeze out of the picture. It was Derrick Nix, Auburn’s offensive coordinator, who was given play-calling duties by interim head coach DJ Durkin.

“I kind of charged our staff as we came up with a plan to make it very simple for our guys, doing a lot of things that we know,” Nix said of Auburn’s game plan on Monday, Nov. 10. “I also wanted to put kind of a spin on it of my thoughts of being able to go fast, being able to put pressure on Vandy, being able to align quickly, but maybe freeze and see exactly what they’re in and get into the best call.

“That trickled down to our players. I think they were excited about that part of it, being in a position to be effective in the passing game, finding ways to attack the middle of the field, doing a great job with our quarterback runs, and most importantly, just getting better at situational football. And I thought we did that.”

Auburn’s tempo stood out against the Commodores. It ran 82 plays from scrimmage, the most in a single game since 2020, and it generated 34 first downs. That was a total Freeze never matched in his 34 games as head coach.

Quarterback Ashton Daniels had a career-high 442 yards of total offense, which handsomely bested his previous career-high of 343 yards. He also completed a career-best 31 passes.

“He knew exactly where he was going with his No. 1 read, he knew where he was going with his No. 2 read and sometimes, even No. 3,” Nix said. “And if it weren’t there, he was extending plays with his legs to find a receiver down the field, or he was taking it upon himself to go create something with a positive influence running the football. … I thought he had really good self-control out there.”

Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr. both played a vital part in Daniels’ success, and their efforts were emblematic of the most drastic shift on Auburn’s offense. The wideouts were the top billing for the offense’s bevy of playmakers this fall, but they hadn’t shined so brightly until this past weekend.

Both set season-highs in receiving yards, generating 245 yards, 21 receptions and two touchdowns. It was the first time in program history Auburn had a pair of pass-catchers with double-digit receptions in a single game. Nix said they were imperative to the game plan.

“Our job together is to try to find ways to get our best players to football,” he said.” I just told them, ‘Man, think outside of the box that we go through.’ I know we have our base way of doing things, but versus this coverage, more than likely the ball is going here or it’s going there. We tried to do a great job predicting early on where to place the guys so they can have a great opportunity or a high percentage to get the ball.”

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.

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