Bryan Harsin, Auburn offense 'still working on building identity'
AUBURN- Saturday’s matchup against No. 9 Ole Miss is the start of the second half of this football season, but Auburn’s offense is still struggling to find its identity.
When Bryan Harsin spoke to the media on Monday and talked about what kind of identity they want to see on the offensive side of the ball, he talked about a “balanced” offense. Harsin was also quick to say that they are not where they want to be at this point.
“We want to be balanced,” Harsin said. “We want to run the ball, throw the ball, we want to have the play action off some of the run game and we want to be able to get out on the perimeter- still be firm and be able to run downhill inside the tackles and really try to be balanced as much as we can- utilize our personnel.”
“Have we been very good at that at this point?” Harsin continued. “Are we where we want to be right now? We’re not. But that’s where our identity is. We’re still working on building that identity. We have the vision for it, but we’ve got to actually do it.”
It’s easy to point fingers at quarterback Robby Ashford when you look at the lack of performance in the offense. Numbers wise, Ashford had just a 34% pass completion rate against Georgia last week and Auburn’s only turnover. However, he was able to make multiple plays while scrambling and Harsin believes that his decision making has been improving.
“I think decision making has improved overall,” Harsin said. “We put the ball on the ground, that was something we don’t want to do. We want to take care of the football, but I think decision making has gotten better. I think it’s just operation… It starts with that. You’ve got to be able to operate, all right, and it’s not that simple… What I’ve seen from him too, when everybody is covering, he can pull it down and go make plays. He did that in the last game.”
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Junior running back Tank Bigsby is averaging just 4.4 yards per carry this season, lower than his past two seasons at Auburn. Bigsby only had 10 attempts for 19 yards against Georgia. As a team, Auburn’s rushing offense is ranked 75th nationally with a mere 148 yards per game. For an offense that is historically known for their run game, the numbers this season are just nowhere near what they normally are. Harsin spoke on the impact that the offensive line needs to have to allow Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter to get more positive yardage.
“Penetration slows the backs down,” Harsin said. “Depending on the run scheme, whatever it is… But you don’t want to give up penetration and I think that’s what’s happening… As far as adjusting, I mean blocking is a fundamental part of the game, probably the most important one… You don’t want to give up penetration… That’s the key to what we have to do up front is just not give up penetration, give those backs a chance to get started and they’ll do something with it.”
When it comes to the offensive line, Harsin says that the lack of success does not have to do with the talent. He talked about the schemes that Auburn’s offense runs and related it to other NFL teams, saying that it is “probably similar to quite a few teams.”
“Ultimately, your run game is going to come down to what your guys do up front.” Harsin said. “Their fundamentals of how they play and block and then working together on the double teams and working on the one-on-one situations. I think knowing when you’re in that situation is the key… That’s the difference.”
