NASHVILLE | Will it be better? Perhaps worse? Only time will tell.

But Auburn’s offense will definitely be different against Purdue in Friday’s Music City Bowl with head coach Gus Malzahn taking the reins in place of offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who left for Kansas.

“Oh, it’s just different. He operates like anybody else, just everybody’s different,” quarterback Jarrett Stidham said. “Him and Chip are obviously, they just operate differently, but he’s been really intense. Every practice, he expects perfection every single play. So, having to re-rep things, that sort of thing, that’s kind of one of the main differences, but yeah, no, it’s been good.”

The Tigers ranked just 10th in the SEC and 71st nationally averaging 28.3 points per game and 11th in the conference and 94th nationally averaging 373.6 yards per game this season.

That was well below expectations for a team that returned its starting quarterback and the school’s all-time leading receiver, and Malzahn has pushed his players to step it up the final game of the season.

“Bowl practices, they’ve been real good. We’ve been practicing at a high level, the way we wanted to,” said Ryan Davis, who has a school record 173 catches in his four-year career. “Coach Malzahn has been real hard on us and really been pushing everybody to be consistent and being on them about playing at a high level and playing at the standard that we know that we all need to be held to. I feel like we’ve been doing a good job of responding to him and doing what he’s been asking.

“And I feel like the young guys, they’re definitely keeping improving each and every day with each and every practice. I feel like they understand the importance of it for them to make development going into the next season.”

Kickoff at Nissan Stadium is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

“Obviously, we’re hoping to play our best game on Friday and end this thing the right way,” Stidham said.