AU FOOTBALL: Another year, another offense: Will this one work?

Leave it to wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor to find a way to connect Christmas Day with Auburn’s supposedly new and improved offense.

“It’s kind of like you get a toy for Christmas and it snowed that day,” Taylor said. “You’re trying to get out and play with it and you haven’t had a chance to. You’ve been playing with it in the house; I’m ready to put it out in the yard and see what they’ll do.”

The Tigers have spent the last six months squaring off against each other. Only the Auburn defense can truly explain how different this year’s
offense will look.

And, honestly, both sides are sick of it.

It’s gotten to the point where “it’s kind of like beating your head against a wall,” center Ryan Pugh said.

Or the Christmas toy thing. Whatever works.

Auburn’s players have promised a complete change from last year’s misadventure.

Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, whose past somewhat mimics that of Tony Franklin, shudders at the comparison of his and the former, infamous Auburn offensive coordinator’s schemes.

Both came to Auburn with pasts loaded with success and both talked up an offense that promised to run defenses off the field. When Malzahn was reminded that Franklin made the same promise, he didn’t balk.

His vow only grew stronger.

“You hear a lot about no huddle and a lot about ‘fast,’ but our goal is to play fast,” Malzahn said unprompted. “That’s who we are. That’s what we do. We’re not so much a no-huddle, look-to-the-side team.

“I like to think we’re a little bit different than everyone else.”

The difference stems from the basic philosophy.

Franklin wanted the pass to set up the run. Malzahn lets the run set up play-action.

On the surface, it’s a direct correlation to what Malzahn has done at every stop in his relatively brief, but successful coaching career. Evaluate the personnel at hand, build an offense around its strengths and alleviate the areas of weakness.

“We’re very specific on the things that we do,” Malzahn said. “We try to give our guys what they do best to move them in that position.”

From tailback Ben Tate’s standpoint, Malzahn’s schemes have perfectly highlighted his strengths.

Yes, the Tigers will still be spread out all over the field, but Tate will spend the majority of his time plunging down the middle.

“It’s North-South running,” said Tate, who was the Tigers’ leading rusher in 2007 and 2008. “I’m more of that type of runner. If I’m not North-South, I’m making a cut and getting downhill — getting into the secondary faster.

“I’m not really a 4.3, 4.2 guy. I can’t really get around the corner like that.”

It also plans to bring out the best in quarterback Chris Todd.

Todd’s arm strength following offseason shoulder surgery was considered a major question mark heading into the preseason, but the senior has proved to be another Dr. James Andrews success story. That means Todd, who came to Auburn with the reputation as a gunslinger, will
be taking more chances downfield when the play-action offers those opportunities.

“It’s coming out pretty good,” Todd said. “That was what I was hoping for. It was kind of a question mark because we weren’t throwing that much before.”

For a player like Mario Fannin, whose versatility has somewhat gotten in the way of him fulfilling his potential as an elite SEC player, Malzahn’s offense had just the right position. At H-Back, Fannin will be asked to block, run and catch passes.

It’s a position where players have stuffed the stat sheet at Malzahn’s previous stops.

“I love it,” Fannin said. “I thank coach Malzahn for allowing me to play that position. It just basically shows how much they trust me in that aspect of the game.”

But should Auburn fans trust the same players who were touting 2008’s offense, which finished 104th in total offense, 110th in scoring offense and worst in the nation in red-zone efficiency?

It’s a stigma Auburn will have to live with until the Tigers can prove otherwise, Fannin said.

“We’ll be faced with that as long as we want to be faced with it,” Fannin said. “It’s up to us to go out there and take advantage of the opportunity we have and prevail over the situation.

“Hopefully, it will turn people’s heads and help them understand this is a new year.”

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