Auburn football: Dissecting three quotes that speak to struggles on offense

A week ago after the Auburn football team lost to LSU, most people were interested to see how the Tigers would respond Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

More specifically, they were watching how the offense would respond after its hot-and-cold performance in the 1-point loss last week.

Most of those people wish they could unsee what the Auburn offense did against Arkansas. Yes, the Tigers easily won the game, 34-3, but it had little to do with the offense. Special teams teed up their scoring drives and the defense did the rest of the work.

Auburn had one of the worst offensive showings since Gus Malzahn arrived in 2013.

Next up for Auburn is Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles are 2-1 after beating Rice, 40-22, on Saturday. On Sunday, Auburn was made a 30.5-point favorite in the game.

But here we are again, wondering what is going to happen during this week of practice. What will Malzahn do? What will Chip Lindsey do?

In the post-game Saturday night, three comments jumped out at us as it pertains to the offensive performance:

QB Jarrett Stidham

"It is what it is. We’ve got to play a lot better, but we found a way to win and that’s all I care about. As long as we’re winning, obviously we’re going to have a lot of things to correct and fix, but as long as we win, that’s all that matters."

Jarrett Stidham nails it on two points:

• Yes, Auburn won, and yes, that’s the bottom line. Ugly wins still count as wins. And honestly, most programs would prefer nitpicking a 31-point victory over an ugly loss full of questions.
• Yes, there are a lot of things to fix. A lot. The running game, the passing game, the offensive line, the receivers, the quarterback, the running backs, the starters and the backups. No one is immune. Auburn won’t be 30-point favorites again this season (the Liberty game won’t have a line) and time is ticking to correct the mistakes, figure out the issues and start clicking. If not, more losses are ahead.

RB JaTarvious Whitlow

"We just had a slow start. Once we picked it back up, you know what we can do. We just had a slow moment, just a little slow on the rushing part. But we’re going to pick it back up, we’re going to watch film and get better."

And like Stidham, a couple of observations from JaTarvious Whitlow’s comments:

• Yes, we know what the offense is capable of doing. There’s too much talent on that side of the ball to look that inept against an overmatched opponent. But Auburn is not just having slow starts, it’s having slow middles and ends, too.
• It’s refreshing to hear the redshirt freshman say they are going to watch film and get better. That’s where it starts. Locate what’s not working, make adjustments or come up with a new plan.

Gus Malzahn

"We’ve got some things we have to improve on, and I think everybody sees that and we understand that. You look at the offense, it’s a pretty inexperienced group and they’ll continue to improve."

This isn’t the first Malzahn team to start slow on offense. The good thing is Auburn is 3-1. The bad thing is it should, without a doubt, be 4-0.

Every Auburn offense except for the 2014 and 2016 teams have gotten better in terms of total yards per game after the first five games of the season. Here’s a look:

2017: 431.5 yards per game through first 5; 463.1 through final 9
2016: 488.6 yards through first 5; 410.8 through final 8
2015: 343.8 yards through first 5; 386.2 through final 8
2014: 497.2 yards through first 5; 477.3 through final 8
2013: 427.0 yards through first 5; 542.0 through final 8

Knowing that Georgia and Alabama are two games in that back eight is an encouraging sign because those games historically have been difficult to pile up a lot of yards.

Through the first four games this season, Auburn’s offense is averaging 385.0 yards per game and that includes one of the four worst performances in the Malzahn era (Saturday vs. Arkansas). Will that number go up or down after the game next Saturday?

Malzahn tosses out the “i” word — inexperienced. He’s not wrong. The offensive line is playing together for the first time and Auburn made a change at center against the Razorbacks. Outside of Kam Martin, the running backs are freshmen. The receivers are a mix of experience and newcomers. Stidham is the one who can bring it all together.

Does the light go off this week against Southern Miss?

The sooner, the better.

Five of Auburn’s remaining opponents are ranked inside the top 25 nationally in scoring. Auburn is No. 53. The Tigers’ defense is good, but that’s a lot to ask the unit to do the rest of the season. To win those games — against Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama — the offense is going to have to grow up.

This is a good week to do that.