Auburn football: Tigers have two weeks to sort out offensive issues

Wide receivers

Through three games, 14 players have caught a total of 50 passes.

It’s no surprise that Ryan Davis is the recipient of 13 of those throws.

Chandle Cox (7). Darius Slayton (6) and Kam Martin (6) are next in line.

Sal Cannella, who had the fantastic TD catch against Washington, still only has that catch this season. Nate Craig-Myers hasn’t caught a pass since early in the third quarter against the Huskies. He owns a 24-yard reception to move the chains on third down and a 15-yard catch that also went for a first down.

Where have they gone?

Without a doubt, receiver is the most competitive position on the team. With Will Hastings and Eli Stove working their way into playing shape, you can argue that Auburn has 11 players worthy of playing time at the position.

Davis, Slayton, Cannella, Craig-Myers, Hastings, Stove, Seth Williams, Matthew Hill, Anthony Schwarz, Shedrick Jackson and Marquis McClain.

Two freshmen (Schwartz and Williams) clearly have carved a place in the offense. Williams has two drops, but a couple of big receptions and nearly came down with one of the top catches early this season against LSU.

What we’d like to see: Auburn use its big targets more on third down. The Tigers struggled on third down against LSU, converting just 4-of-12 chances. Why not create more mismatches with big targets like Cannella, Craig-Myers and Williams over the middle and Schwartz and Slayton spreading the field deep? That’s the simple way to look at it. But look what LSU’s two tallest targets did Saturday: Dee Anderson (6-6) had the huge third-down reception on the game-winning drive and Stephen Sullivan (6-7) caught the fourth-down pass that kept the drive alive.

Can Auburn do the same? It sure seems like it.