Gus Malzahn takes his fair share of criticism, and perhaps a bit more, for a perceived lack of creativity.

He always says Auburn is a downhill running team that dabbles in deep passing. The Tigers' reality is somewhere in between those two disparate machinations — a mixture often dictated by the opponent and, in some cases, the weather. The run concepts are essentially the same every time. Auburn runs inside zone, one-back powers, sweeps and counters.

Still, the Auburn head coach (and offensive coordinator) occasionally re-imagines one of those foundational plays in an effort to gain an upper hand strategically. He did that against Ole Miss last weekend by creating the appearance of a counter with a more-or-less standard inside-zone run.

Here's how it looked on paper:

The key here is that both the tailback 8 Shaun Shivers and quarterback 10 Bo Nix take their first steps to the field (right) side, which gets the second-level defenders off on the wrong foot.

Secondly, this is designed to go into the boundary — preferably as a wide, bouncing run because that's what Shivers does best. With that said, inside zone is more about letting the tailback diagnose the blocks and choose his own adventure based on what he sees.

Shivers' actual run is the thick black line, but the red lines denote other lanes available to him. Tailbacks typically are taught to read these as: Bang, Bend, Bounce. I suspect Shivers' instructions here are a bit different, but those kinds of specifics are state secrets.

Regardless, Shivers has a pair of double-team blocks to the field (right) side along with a combo block on the boundary (left) tackle.

You know what he chose to do because I spoiled it for you with the above graphic, but here's how it played out in real time:

Not bad. The first clip is a 9-yard gain on 1st down. The second run is a 4-yard gain on 2nd down.

This gives Georgia and Alabama something to consider as they prepare to face this ground attack. This call creates some misdirection that can get overzealous linemen and linebackers out of position in a hurry. This call also creates the potential for a bootleg pass rather than a handoff — with H-back Spencer Nigh heading into the flat and the wideouts eschewing blocks in favor of open space.

Will that work? We'll find out soon enough.

Sometimes a well-designed play is more about setting the stage for something bigger and luring a defensive coordinator into calling an ineffective coverage.

Please welcome AMY B. COTNEY as presenting sponsor for The Camera Eye. Amy is uniquely qualified to handle your real-estate needs from Lake Martin to Auburn and everywhere in between. Check her out HERE or click on her banner below to get started!