TAMPA, Fla. | Auburn believes its offense has yet to play up to its potential this season, and that the best is yet to come.

And there happens to be just one game left for that to materialize.

The Tigers will close the book on their 2019 campaign Wednesday afternoon inside Raymond James Stadium. The matchup again the Big Ten’s Minnesota will serve as a send-off for senior-laden offensive line, the final game as a freshman for quarterback Bo Nix and, as Auburn sees it, a chance to put an exclamation point on what hasn’t always a slam-dunk season on offense.

“We had a lot of ups and downs this season, but I feel like the guys, you know, everybody stepped up to the plate — the young guys, the older guys,” senior running back Kam Martin said. “I just feel like we — some things didn't go our way this year, but I feel like we fought through everything.”

For the most part, Auburn struggled against the better defenses on its schedule this season, beginning with Oregon, when the Tigers trailed by double digits late in the third quarter until Nix orchestrated three touchdown drives, including the game-winner to Seth Williams.

“It’s huge,” right tackle Jack Driscoll said of the prospects of closing the year with a bang on offense. “You go back and you watch that Oregon game, it seems like so long ago, but also so not long ago.”

Auburn then was able to muster just 13, 20 and 14 points in three losses to Florida, LSU and Georgia, respectively, against the No. 13, No. 28 and No. 2 points-per-play defenses in the nation. It also scored just 20 at home against Ole Miss.

A victory in a classic Iron Bowl to cap the regular season was the Tigers’ best offensive showing of the year against a high-quality opponent. They scored 34 of the team’s 48 points — the latter number which serves as the most points dropped on a Nick Saban-led Alabama team — and finally felt they executed to their standards.

But they’d love to do even better in Tampa.

“I think we can play our best game in this bowl game,” fullback Spencer Nigh said. “We need to play our best game and finish it the right way.”

Last season, when Auburn was worse in most offensive categories, it blew the doors off Purdue in the Music City Bowl as just a 3.5-point favorite, scoring the most points by an SEC team ever in a bowl game with a 63-14 victory.

Minnesota, with a secondary led by a unanimous All-American and a total defense that ranks No. 14 in the country, is no Purdue. But the 7-point underdog Gophers saw this year’s Iron Bowl as the most recent showing for Auburn’s offense, and last year’s bowl game as what the Tigers have most recently done to a Big Ten team.

“They're coming from all angles, different formations,” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said of preparing for Auburn’s offense. “It's hard to be able to find — when you break them down, it's hard to be able to say, hey, they have tendencies out of this formation because he does such a great job of changing the formations, changing the motions, changing personnel groupings and always keeping you off balance that way. And like [Malzahn] said a little bit about us, they have players everywhere. I mean, every single one of them are players.”

Kickoff between the Tigers and Gophers is set for noon CST on New Year’s Day.