Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin on recent midseason firings: 'Every program is different'

AUBURN — It took until the end of Bryan Harsin's 25-minute news conference to come up, but it inevitably did.

The last question Harsin fielded Monday afternoon concerned the fact that several Power 5 teams have already fired their coaches just five weeks into the season. Nebraska's Scott Frost was the first to meet this fate (Sept. 11), followed by Herm Edwards at Arizona State (Sept. 18) and Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech (Sept. 26). Last Sunday brought the firings of Karl Dorrell at Colorado and Paul Chryst at Wisconsin.

The question addressed to Harsin — an especially apt recipient — was this: why? Is it a new sense of urgency permeating big-time college football?

“I think every program is different, I really do," Harsin said. "I don’t know if it has to do with anything bigger than that. I couldn’t tell you each and every program’s situation and where they are and those types of things. That’s just part of it. I don’t know if there is a better answer than that."

The phrase "job security" has been inextricably linked with Harsin since Auburn launched an internal investigation into his program in February, and speculation on his status as the Tigers' coach has only heated up after an overtime win over Missouri and a second-half meltdown which led to a loss to LSU.

If Harsin doesn't survive his second season on the Plains, don't expect him to attribute it to a trend.

"Every program has different things they’re working through and what they want," Harsin said. "I think that goes back to where they are, more than anything."

Quarterback depth

Harsin confirmed Monday that quarterback Zach Calzada will undergo season-ending surgery. More indirectly, he addressed the status of T.J. Finley, who started Auburn's first three games before being benched against Penn State and missed the Missouri and LSU games due to a right shoulder injury.

"We'll see where T.J.'s at this week," Harsin said.

Harsin said that Trey Lindsey has been placed on scholarship, giving the Tigers (3-2, 1-1 SEC) three healthy scholarship quarterbacks, assuming Finley is not ready to play. Robby Ashford will go into this week's game at Georgia (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS) as the starter with Holden Geriner behind him.

"I think for Robby, it's still continuing just to play within himself," Harsin said. "He's learning, he's growing, he's developing. He did some really good things (against LSU). He's a playmaker, and he can do more. The confidence that he took away from the LSU game, we have to build on that."

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'Feast or famine' on the offensive line

Harsin said he saw some positive things from the Tigers' banged-up offensive line against LSU.

With starting center Nick Brahms having medically retired and Tate Johnson out for multiple weeks, Auburn moved Brandon Council from left guard to center.

The Tigers averaged 3.3 yards per carry against LSU, an improvement from their 1.8 figure against Missouri, and got a strong push up the middle on a handful of short-yardage opportunities.

"It was a little bit of feast or famine," Harsin said. "We had some big runs and then we had some ones that we got beat, and it wasn't all just the inside guys. It wasn't just all the offensive line. We just had some negative plays that put us behind the chains and some of those were self-inflicted.

"Overall, I thought Brandon played well. I thought the interior guys did a good job. I thought the offensive line for the most part had a solid game."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What does Auburn's Bryan Harsin think of trend of midseason firings?