ESPN's Chris Fowler Scouts the Penn State-Auburn Game
ESPN's Chris Fowler, whose father was a Penn State theatre professor in the 1970s, remembers his family spending $6 for football season tickets. Total.
Without that experience, Fowler might not be returning to Beaver Stadium on Saturday for another Penn State White Out.
"I don't know if I'd be on this path, because I had grown up in Illinois and didn't see college sports in person," Fowler recalled on a media call Thursday. "And so coming to Penn State was an eye-opening thing for me and sort of sparked my passion in the sport. And here we are, I don't know, 50 years later. So every time we go back there, it feels a little bit like a homecoming game."
Fowler and broadcasting partner Kirk Herbstreit will return to Beaver Stadium on Saturday for ABC's coverage of the Penn State-Auburn game. They were in State College for the modified 2020 White Out between Penn State and Ohio State, and Fowler said he desperately missed the atmosphere.
At points during the conference call, Fowler described the Penn State White Out as "a stroke of genius," "the most telegenic experience in sports," "monochromatic mayhem" and "my favorite annual scene in college football." He said the White Out has changed the environment of Beaver Stadium dramatically from when he attended games.
"I don't think you would have said Penn State was one of the toughest environments for a road team back in the day I was there," Fowler said. "But I think it is now."
That's notable for Auburn, which is 9-13 in true road games since 2017. Of course, that includes visits to Alabama, Georgia and LSU, and Bryan Harsin is a first-year coach. Still, it's a factor.
"Although he doesn't focus on the recent history of Auburn, he's studied it," Fowler said of Harsin. "And he understands that the road games have been a problem in recent years and that road games have kept Auburn from achieving what they want to achieve."
Fowler's scouting report centered on defense. Each team has offensive skill players to contain, but the defenses will dictate the terms, Fowler said.
"Penn State fans have to make sure that their offensive line can hold up against Auburn's front, which is playing nasty," Fowler said. "... The front seven of Auburn — in trying to stop the run and contain what they consider to be a very talented running back room at Penn State, to make life tough on [quarterback Sean] Clifford and see if the turnover problem is still there for Penn State — they'll be very aggressive."
One player who will make things tough for Auburn's defense, Fowler said, is receiver Jahan Dotson.
"I think that Auburn's got guys who are very athletic on the edge, who are long good corners, but if you take one wrong step or turn your head the wrong direction, No. 5 is running by you, and there's a big play," Fowler said. "And we saw how that ignited the game against Wisconsin. Every opponent is going to be extremely wary of Dotson."
Fowler said Auburn's offense wants to be equally physical, led by running back Tank Bigsby, who averages 10 yards per carry. Quarterback Bo Nix (five touchdowns, no interceptions) is the wild card.
"Auburn wants to be physical running the ball; they have an excellent running back group," Fowler said. "Bigsby and [Jarquez] Hunter are really dynamic and a little bit tough to tackle, so [it's about] tackling in space and dealing with them up front.
"And then it's just getting after Bo Nix and making sure that his life is complicated and that he continues to have struggles on the road. ... You can see what Nix does when he's pressured vs. not pressured, when you flush him out of the pocket vs. throwing the ball in the pocket. Like most college quarterbacks, there's a dropoff. His dropoff is pretty dramatic when under duress."
The numbers back that. According to Sports Info Solutions, Nix completed 41 percent of his passes when pressured last season and threw four interceptions.
Auburn quarterback Bo Nix (Jake Crandall/Montgomery Advertiser).
Meanwhile, Clifford has similar issues. He's 5-for-15 for 23 yards when throwing under pressure this season, with eight of those attempts graded as catchable, per SIS. Still, Fowler said, this "sets up as a potential showcase year for him if he plays the way he's capable of playing."
"There really are no excuses for Sean," Fowler said. "Here's a guy that's accomplished. He found a way to get the job done and in a really tough environment against a very good, well-coached aggressive defense in Wisconsin. The bottom line is he got the 'W.' And then he showed improvement and execution against a much less imposing opponent [Ball State] in Week 2.
"But this is always a big test, and things are going to happen much quicker as a quarterback and as an offense against a defense as aggressive and physical as Auburn's. So you want to be judged as a quarterback by how you play against the best? Here's a very good test."
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