Offense will be pretty good when ‘those little things start clicking'

AUBURN | The offense has done enough to win two games and help Auburn climb to No. 8 in the AP poll. But it’s going to have to do more, perhaps a lot more, for the Tigers to maintain that position, especially with conference play beginning in just 11 more days.

Gus Malzahn is confident that side of the ball will continue to improve as true freshman quarterback Bo Nix gains more experience and his surrounding cast becomes more efficient.

“There’s a little bit of with a young quarterback, new quarterback, a couple new things and there’s a little bit of learning your offense and learning your personnel and everything that goes with it,” said Malzahn at Tuesday’s press conference. “You find that out in games. I mean, scrimmages and all that, but there’s nothing like games. It’s good for me right now.

“After this game we’ll have a really good idea of where we’re at and what we need to do as far as getting into conference play and all that. That was kinda really our goal all along. We’re capable of being a good offense, there’s no doubt in my mind. It just takes the little things to start clicking and my experience is when those little things start clicking, that’s when you have a chance to be pretty good.”

Auburn should have an opportunity to work out some issues this Saturday against a Kent State team that is 1-1 on the season with a 30-7 loss at Arizona State and a 26-23 overtime win over Kennesaw State.

The biggest improvement Malzahn is hoping to see is on first down.

"I think that’s what really stands out to me after two weeks, is we got to be better on first down, and when we’re better on first down, it helps everybody out, including our quarterback. It helps him grow and everything that goes with it,” Malzahn said.

The key according to Malzahn is to get to 2nd and 6 or better, which means gaining four or more yards on first down. The Tigers averaged 6.6 yards on first down in the opener against Oregon. But that slipped to just 2.9 yards last Saturday against Tulane.

Just 12 of Auburn’s 32 first down plays against the Green Wave gained four or more yards.

“With us, like I’ve said before, it’s like small communication stuff,” said senior wide receiver Sal Cannella. “It might be between the O-line and the quarterback or the O-line and the running back or the protection or maybe the receivers with the quarterbacks. It’s little small things that we know that we’ve got to make better reads as a receiver based on the coverage and stuff like that.

“It’s just going back and watching the stuff that we made mistakes on and just come out there like today at practice just working on it and do better the next week.”

The Tigers host Kent State Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.