Rome wasn’t built in a day.
And, when it comes to implementing a new offensive coordinator and a new play-caller, sometimes that isn’t perfect on day one, either.
When Auburn brought it offensive-guru Chad Morris as its new offensive coordinator, expectations for a new-look Tigers offense were high.
Against Kentucky, the team put up 29 points, but just 324 total yards of offense and relied on defensive turnovers to set up scoring plays.
Then against Georgia, Auburn had 216 yards of offense and didn’t find the end zone once.
Now, though, Morris has started to find his groove as Auburn’s play-caller.
“Well, I think that as you’ve studied us and broke us down over the last six weeks, you’ve definitely seen us evolve. Especially, in particular, the last three weeks.”
Morris feels that part of the issue with the slow start for the offense came from jumping straight into an SEC schedule.
“I think that one of the great things about having a normal schedule is that you usually have some opportunities in there to evolve and get guys, grow guys up in some games before you get into your conference matchups,” Steele said. “But this year, unfortunately, we’ve jumped right into conference play so you kinda had to learn on the run, you had to evolve and find out who your team is.”
After its slow start, over the last four weeks the Auburn offense has put up at least 30 points in three of those games and generated 1,895 total yards of offense, a clear turnaround from the beginning of the season.
For Morris, several things have helped the offense in its turnaround.
“We’ve been able to run the football effectively and a lot of that’s attributed to our offensive line. Coach Bicknell’s done a great job with those guys and those guys growing up,” Morris said. “Then obviously the evolution of bringing Tank Bigsby in and getting him going, now getting Worm back so I think it’s been a great combination there. And then getting the ball out on the perimeter, I think as a play-caller that’s one of the things that we definitely try to do early and often.”
As Auburn prepares for the last four games of its schedule, Morris is pleased with the progress but knows they have to continue to evolve.
“I think it’s all worked together and you know, like I said, one of the most impressive things that I've seen all together is it’s just continuing to get a little bit better each week,” Morris said. “So I would say we’ll continue to be a work in progress. But I think it’s also, we have a really good idea of who we are and what we’re good at."
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