MSU has been prone to the big pass play. Can Bo Nix and Auburn take advantage?

For all the progress that the Bulldogs' D has made under a new regime, there should be chances for the Tigers to be explosive through the air.

QB Bo Nix (Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics)

When Auburn played Mississippi State last season, Bo Nix was 4-0 as an Auburn starting quarterback but hadn’t thrown for more than 207 yards in a single game.

The Tigers turned Nix loose against the Bulldogs. He had what is still, to date, his best passing performance for Auburn — 16-21 for a massive 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He had 10 passes of 15-plus yards in that game alone, with eight of them going for at least 20 yards and five of them breaking the 30-yard mark.

This weekend, Nix will wrap up his second regular season as Auburn’s starting quarterback with a matchup against Mississippi State. He has taken some small statistical steps forward during his sophomore campaign but has only had one other performance that rivals what he did to the Bulldogs in 2019, a 300-yard explosion against a hapless LSU defense.

Very little has stayed the same for Mississippi State since Auburn’s 56-23 rout last season inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. The B…