HOOVER | Gus Malzahn is talking about pace again.
He says he's serious about it this time.
No, really.
The Auburn coach once published a book advocating a hurry-up, no-huddle brand of offense. That paradigm allowed him to move from an obscure Arkansas high school to the BCS championship game in the span of eight seasons. Still, the Tigers throttled down during the past three seasons — finishing among the bottom half of Bowl Subdivision teams last season in terms of plays per game.
Malzahn on Thursday pushed the notion that his team will ramp up the pace this fall.
"I think the bottom line is just get back to playing fast, get back to running the football and throwing the ball deep — and just a chance to have explosive plays," Malzahn said at SEC Media Days Thursday. "When we’ve been at our best, we’ve had explosive plays. When we were at the bowl game, we had explosive plays and we looked like an Auburn offense. So, really just getting back to the core of who we are; we’re going to do that."
So why now? Why this team?
The answer is complicated. Malzahn made a million dollars attacking defenses with pace and a running quarterback, then abruptly allocated all resources toward signing Jarrett Stidham, a passing quarterback, and became too particular when it came to staffing particular plays.
Auburn too frequently substituted on offense, which slowed the pace to a crawl.
"Remember in the spring when we talked about trying to get 11 guys on the field and trying to get to where you can get to most of your formations with 11 guys so you don’t have to substitute," Malzahn said. "That has been a focus of ours. I’m not going to say we’re going to do it every series, but that has been a focus that I’m really hoping will help us play faster.”
The Tigers also are ready to re-embrace their quarterback as a primary ball-carrier. Joey Gatewood is an "imposing runner," as Malzahn said Thursday, and Bo Nix is more than a pocket operator. Auburn's ability to incorporate either guy as a rushing threat — they'll open fall camp competing for the starting job — likely will be the difference between a decent season and a strong season on that side of the ball.
The read-option and its variants, at least in theory, allow those freshman quarterbacks to execute more instinctively rather than fretting over a more complicated call. That helps with pace — assuming the starter can read defensive keys accurately and avoid turnovers.
There is more. Malzahn took a chance late last year in hiring Memphis offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham for the same job at Auburn. Dillingham, 28, is not particularly experienced. He is the protege of Memphis head coach Mike Norvell, who is himself a protege of Malzahn.
That lineage carries weight.
"Mike is, like, brilliant — and we have a lot of similarities offensively," Malzahn said. "(Dillingham will) give me reminders, too. And you'll go, 'Oh, OK. Yeah.' So it's really been refreshing for our quarterbacks. He's a young guy, but he also has experience with what we do. That's been his foundation. You know, in the bowl game, he was up in the booth and was my right-hand guy. It felt really natural."
If this all sounds confusing, it is. Malzahn now says Auburn is at its best with a running quarterback supplementing a strong rushing attack that creates big-play opportunities in the passing game. So why did Auburn serve away from that formula after Nick Marshall left after the 2014 season?
Malzahn's official answer revolves around the idea that every team is different and that he adjusts the offense to match those changing strengths. Yet he went a step beyond that Thursday by acknowledging that perhaps some bad counsel was to blame — counsel that pulled him away from play-calling duties and away from the offensive concepts that made him successful.
"Through the years, you get advice and all of that. And of course I made a mistake," Malzahn said. "When (former coordinator Chip Lindsey) left, just the reality is 'what now.' Just decided to getting back to being me and call plays. It's been a very refreshing thing. I know the bowl game we played really well, but when I'm back in the swing of things, the day-in-and-day-out coaching on the field, what happens is the whole team takes on my personality. It just feels natural. I wasn't really good at standing back and watching."
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