Gaskins: Auburn QB Bo Nix Broke Ankle Against Mississippi State
According to Cam Gaskins with ABC Columbia, an individual with connections to Bo Nix and his family confirmed that the Auburn quarterback suffered a broken ankle in the team's 43-34 loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Although there was no obvious moment in which Nix appeared injured, it was likely late in the fourth quarter. His last play under center came with 3:37 left in the game, when he threw the ball away on the Tigers's two-point conversion attempt. Although the ball went back to the Bulldogs, Auburn was able to force a quick stop to get the ball back less than a minute later. Nix was replaced by backup quarterback TJ Finley for the final drive of the game.
Finley threw an incompletion on the first play of the drive, then was sacked and fumbled the football to end the game.
Nix has struggled this season, but he has improved as of late. Against the Bulldogs on Saturday, he was 27-of-41 for 377 yards with two touchdowns. In his third season as a starter for the Tigers, Nix was 197-of-323 passing for 2,294 yards with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions.
As Auburn travels to Columbia to face South Carolina, it looks like TJ Finley will be the Tigers' official starter. Finley, a sophomore from Louisiana, has only appeared in six games this season. Before facing the Bulldogs for two plays on Saturday, his last appearance was Oct. 9 in the team's 34-10 loss to Georgia. In six appearances this year, Finley is 17-of-33 passing for 275 yards with two touchdowns. His touchdowns came against weaker opponents early in the season: he tossed one against Alabama State on Sept. 11 and another the following weekend against Georgia State.
The future of Nix, Finley and the team as a whole remains unclear at this time. The team's upcoming matchup against South Carolina will be a huge test for Finley, and determine how much success the program can hope to have against Alabama in two weeks.
