How to take Auburn Football from good to great…starting today

While the Auburn defense has been among the nation’s best for consecutive seasons, the Auburn offense continues to be “a work in progress,” searching for its identity at the end of the past two years, but a win over Alabama today could be a major step in taking the future of Auburn Football from good to great

AUBURN, ALA. — They say winning cures all and as we approach the 84th edition of the Iron Bowl (2:30 pm/c, CBS), an Auburn win over No. 5 Alabama (10-1) would likely make you forget about this column in its entirety, especially while you’re transforming The Loveliest Village On The Plains into a Charmin winter wonderland.

But even a win over the toothless nation and Tua-less Crimson Tide, won’t erase the sting of ‘what might have been’ in 2019 for Auburn Football. However, an Auburn victory over Bama today could accomplish much more than spoiling Bama’s season and their hopes for another playoff appearance.

Yes, No. 16 Auburn (8-3) is playing for pride at this point as their hopes for a College Football Playoff birth were dashed a couple weeks ago after a gut-wrenching home defeat inside Jordan-Hare to Georgia, 21-14.

The other two losses the Tigers suffered were on the road to LSU, 23-20, and down in the Swamp vs. Florida, 24-13.

In fact, prior to the start of the 2019 season, if I told you that the Auburn defense would not surrender more than 24-points in any one game leading up to an Iron Bowl to face an Alabama team starting Mac Jones at quarterback, I’d assume you’d feel mighty confident in betting the farm that Auburn would make the program’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff.

After all, the three losses the Tigers have endured in 2019 were largely due to Auburn’s offense, or lack thereof. It’s the reason Gus Malzahn is feeling the heat because not only is he the Auburn head coach, but he also took back over play calling duties this season and is seemingly responsible for the offense along with Auburn first-year offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham.

However, Chip Lindsey was the offensive coordinator and play caller last season, and for consecutive seasons the once dynamic Auburn offense under Malzahn has been the Achilles heel of the Auburn football team, so I’ve decided to take a deeper dive into what will fix Auburn Football.

And I use the term ‘fix’ loosely considering there’s nothing necessarily broken with Auburn Football as a whole, but the question begs to be asked — how do the Tigers take the next step and go from a good program to a great one, year-in and year-out?

Of course, the question might not be a simple one to answer, but as Auburn’s three main rivals are still in playoff contention here at the end of the 2019 season, it only makes sense to try and find out what they’re doing that Auburn isn’t doing, or hasn’t done, rather.

But first we need to zero-in on what specifically ails the Tigers on offense. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a myriad of things that need to improve on that side of the ball, but if you had to pinpoint one thing in particular that needs the most improvement…

Since Gus Malzahn’s first season as head coach on The Plains in 2013, Auburn is 6-15 vs. its three main rivals — LSU, Georgia, and Alabama.

But, why?

The most glaring difference in the Tigers and its three main rivals who have practically owned Auburn during the Malzahn era, save for a handful of games, is offensive line play, but more specifically offensive line recruiting.

While Auburn’s three rivals have made offensive line recruiting a priority over the last seven years, the same can’t be said on The Plains.

Each of Auburn’s three main rivals have signed almost twice as many offensive linemen as the Tigers have since 2013. Alabama has signed 33, while both Georgia and LSU have each signed 30 offensive linemen in the last seven recruiting classes combined. Auburn on the other hand, has signed a total of only 18 (!) offensive linemen under Malzahn since he took over as Auburn head coach in 2013.

If there’s one unit that could use the most improvement the last two seasons, it’s the Auburn offensive line. In 2018 for example, the Tigers struggled in the trenches to the point that their quarterback Jarrett Stidham started seeing ghosts.

In fact, it was Stidham who said that the Auburn offense did not find their identity till the end of the season when he went 15-of-21 for 373 yards and a career-high 5 touchdowns in the Tigers’ dismantling of Purdue in the 2018 Music City Bowl, 63-14 to finish the 2018 season with an 8-5 record.

Despite Stidham and Auburn’s leading receiver Darius Slayton foregoing their senior years at Auburn to enter the NFL Draft, with Malzahn taking back over play calling duties, Tiger fans were confident that Auburn would at least have a complimentary offense to its championship-caliber defense in 2019. Going into the year, the thought was that the Tigers were going to have to lean on its uber-talented defense, and senior-laden offensive line, and running game as its true freshman quarterback grows into the position.

After all, the Tigers returned every single starter on its offensive line from 2018, all fifth-year seniors. Not only that, but Malzahn consistently told the media after spring practice and fall camp that the offensive line was the most improved unit on the team.

However, that’s hardly been the case in 2019, but it’s important to note that the Tiger offensive line isn’t solely to blame for Auburn’s struggles on the offensive side of the ball this season, or last season for that matter, but as the old saying goes, “it all starts up front.” If you can’t win the battle in the trenches, you’re likely not going to win the game.

That’s especially the case for Auburn’s offense under Malzahn, who uses a heavy-dose of the run to set up deep shots off of the play-action passing game. Malzahn has all but admitted that an intermediate passing game isn’t necessarily needed in his offense when its working like its supposed to be working. The problem is, it hasn’t been working the way it was designed to work.

So while offenses like Alabama and LSU evolve and adapt to the ever-changing world of college football in the 21st century by spreading the defense out and making them defend the entire field, Auburn’s offense seems to invite a crowded line of scrimmage.

After the 2017 season, Stidham was projected to be a first-round draft pick. After the 2018 season when the Patriots selected him in the fourth-round, the former Auburn quarterback had this to say:

“I think we found our offensive identity in the bowl game versus Purdue,” Stidham said when asked about Auburn’s offensive regression from 2017 to 2018, pointing to the loss of offensive lineman Braden Smith and running back Kerryon Johnson as critical pieces the Tigers missed in ‘18.

“I think there’s different things that happen throughout the season, and I think myself, Coach (Gus) Malzahn, Coach (Chip) Lindsey, if we were all to kind of look back and go back and read through the season, I think we’d just open it up a lot more,” Stidham said. “When you lose a guy like (running back) Kerryon Johnson and (guard) Braden Smith up front, some of those guys that have a lot of experience, you just have to find out your identity.”

Fast-forward towards the end of Auburn’s 2019 football season after the Tigers’ recent seven-point loss to Georgia. After the game, Malzahn admitted that the Auburn offense, “is still a work in progress.” That’s brutal honesty from the seven-year Auburn head coach, but it’s also self-incriminating considering the Auburn offense has been a work in progress for consecutive seasons.

Meanwhile, the man in charge of the other side of the ball, Kevin Steele, has helped lead a defensive renaissance on The Plains, reminiscent of the incredible Auburn defenses of the late 80’s. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, Steele’s Auburn defenses have carried the program the last two seasons.

On December 30, 2015, Auburn had just pummeled Memphis, 31-10 in the Birmingham Bowl to finish 2015 with another mediocre, 7-6 record. As we all know, 7-6 seasons aren’t gonna cut it at a place like Auburn.

But credit to Malzahn, who immediately after the bowl win, surprised the college football world by announcing the hiring of Kevin Steele to be Auburn’s new defensive coordinator after Will Muschamp’s return to Auburn equaled one season as DC before South Carolina decided to make him their head coach. Malzahn worked behind the scenes and unbeknownst to everyone, swooped in to steal Steele away from LSU where he held the same position. So far, it’s been the greatest decision of Malzahn’s head coaching career at Auburn.

The 2019 Auburn defense is arguably the best defense in the country, which is what has been so frustrating for Auburn fans. The Tigers unquestionably have the best defensive line in the nation led by seniors Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, who have put together a couple All-American type seasons and earned themselves a lot of money in their future.

As good as the Auburn defense has been in 2019, they could have been even better with an offense capable of sustaining drives against quality competition. However, what’s typically happened this season against top competition is the offensive line hasn’t gotten the needed push to propel Auburn’s running game which in turn negatively affects the deep play-action passing game that’s a staple of the Gus Malzahn offense.

And we’ve witnessed what happens when Gus Malzahn takes the training wheels off of his offense and “opens it up a lot more” as Stidham put it, reminiscent of the fourth-quarter vs. Georgia as Auburn quarterback Bo Nix led a feverish comeback when the Tigers’ offense came alive to score two touchdowns in the final period after doing nothing for three straight quarters when Malzahn’s traditional trick plays became drive killers.

Besides, Auburn fans can breathe a little sigh of relief knowing that out of the twenty-one current verbal commitments the Tigers have for their 2020 recruiting class, seven of the recruits are offensive linemen, easily the highest number of offensive line signees Auburn has ever had in one class during the Malzahn regime.

But Malzahn has to be accountable, too, and realize that his offense has grown stale and stagnant against the better teams in the SEC. Experienced defensive coordinators are becoming more and more aware of Malzahn’s tendencies on offense.

In fact, his offense has reached a point where good defensive coaches are predicting which plays Auburn is going to run. It’s not a good look, Gus, when Kirby Smart shifts his entire defense over to the right side expecting you to run the wildcat with Boobee Whitlow off of right tackle on 4th & 2. And what do you do, you run the play anyway resulting in a 13-yard loss. These are the type of things that drive your fans crazy. Lay down the foolish pride and evolve with the times.

Malzahn could desperately use an Auburn win over Alabama today to help propel the overall trajectory of the future of Auburn Football, taking it from good to great, where competing for championships year-in and year-out is the expectation rather than the hope.