AUBURN | There’s plenty of areas Auburn’s offense can improve upon going into the final three games of the season.

One of the focuses during last week’s bye was situational football including third downs, red zone and goal line.

“You know, situational football, that’s how you win football games,” said running back Damari Alston. "So we’ve got to be great in those situations. We know we’re going to convert this third down. When it’s goal line, we’ve got to get in the end zone. That’s why we’ve been working it.”

Auburn ranks 11th in the SEC converting 38.8 percent of its third downs and is last in red zone, scoring on 73.1 of their trips inside the 20-yard line.

In a 17-7 loss to Vanderbilt, the Tigers were just 2 of 13 on third downs and didn’t have a snap inside the Commodores’ 20-yard line.

Auburn’s lone touchdown came on a 30-yard catch and run by Rivaldo Fairweather.

“We just have to play harder and win on critical downs and learn how to finish games better,” said Fairweather. “That’s why we’ve been working on critical stuff last week in practice. That’s going to help us finish games better and win on critical downs.”

The bye week was also an opportunity for several key players to heal up some minor injuries and be in the best shape possible for the stretch run.

"Felt like it was a good period of time to get our legs back under us,” said Alston. “I feel great right now. I’m pretty sure the team feels great. We had a couple of players nicked up. I feel like everybody’s back healthy now and we can be at our best these last three weeks.”

Auburn, 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the SEC, hosts ULM Saturday at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network.