As the calendar flips to November, the feeling on The Plains is different than a year ago.
Last season, Auburn was licking its wounds from a tough defeat on Halloween – a 27-19 loss to Ole Miss. The Tigers were 4-4 entering last season’s final month and finished the campaign 6-6 with losses to five of their six SEC West rivals.
This season, however, Auburn is firing on all cylinders as matchups against rivals Georgia and Alabama loom on the horizon. Gus Malzahn’s team is 6-2 after rattling off five straight wins following a disappointing 26-10 home loss to Texas A&M.
Unlike last year, teams now fear Auburn, who jumped to No. 11 in this week's AP rankings.
For the first time since his first season at Auburn, Malzahn can say with certainty his team is getting better each week.
The 2013 season was unforgettable for any Auburn player, coach, or fan. The 2013 offense, led by quarterback Nick Marshall and running back Tre Mason, put up staggering numbers against SEC defenses. That offense, particularly the rushing offense, was regarded as one of the best, if not the best in the country.
The 2016 Auburn offense started so slowly this season that Malzahn’s time at Auburn looked as if it was nearing its end. Following the loss to the now ranked No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies, Malzahn turned over play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee.
Since then, the offense has taken off, led by the gutsiness and clutch play ability of sophomore quarterback Sean White and the pounding run game that Auburn was known for during the 2013 season. This year’s offense, without the big names of the 2013 team, is putting up nearly identical numbers as the 2013 offense through the first eight games.
Through the first eight games of the 2013 season, the Tigers had scored 296 points, averaging 37 points per game. This season, Auburn has scored 290 points, averaging 36.3 points per game. The 2013 team had gained 4090 yards through the first two months of their season, averaging 511.2 yards per game. Lashlee’s offense this season has gained 4061 yards, good for an average of 507.6 yards per game.
The unstoppable rushing attack in 2013 led the Tigers to a SEC Championship. That season, through eight games, Auburn averaged 315.6 rushing yards per game, totaling 2525 yards on 393 attempts. This season, Kamryn Pettway and company have ground out 2427 rushing yards on 437 carries, averaging 303.4 per contest.
This year’s Tigers hold the slight advantage in the air, but the numbers remain nearly the same. The 2016 Tigers have thrown for 1634 yards, completing 124 of their 182 attempts. The 2013 SEC Champion Tigers struck for 1565 yards through the air through eight games, completing 112 of their 188 attempts.
The rushing and passing numbers are nearly copies of each other, but the similarities do not stop there.
The 2013 offense averaged 23.1 first downs per game in their first eight games, which was good for a total of 185 first downs. This year, the offense has racked up 203 first downs, averaging an astounding 25 per game. The Sean White led offense has converted 57 of their 117 third down attempts this season, good for 48.7 percent. The Nick Marshall led Tigers were 44 of 107 on third down at this point in their season, good for 44.8 percent.
The numbers continue to be nearly identical once the Tigers enter the red-zone. In 2013, Auburn scored on 27 of their 31 red-zone visits, good for 87 percent. This season, the Tigers have scored on 34 of their 40 drives that ended inside the opponent’s 20 yard line, good for 85 percent. Both offenses scored 21 touchdowns in the red-zone through their first eight games.
At this point in the 2013 campaign, Heisman Trophy finalist Tre Mason had yet to take off. The junior had totaled 753 yards on 129 carries. Mason had nine touchdowns through his first eight games.
This season, sophomore running back Kamryn Pettway has carried 148 times for 936 yards and seven touchdowns. The Montgomery, Alabama native leads the SEC in rushing, and is sitting at No. 11 in the nation. Tre Mason finished the 2013 season as the leader in the SEC and fifth in the country. Pettway is poised to become a 1,000 yard rusher, which would be the eighth consecutive season an Auburn back has accomplished the feat.
Auburn has turned their full attention to Vanderbilt this weekend, but it is hard to not look ahead a bit to what could be a de facto SEC West Championship game in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 26.
Auburn enters the weekend as a 25 point favorite against the Commodores, and will likely be a double digit favorite in Athens next weekend against Georgia. Auburn is hoping to finish this season as it did the 2013 season with victories over Georgia and Alabama.
The 2013 offense got better as the season wore on. If this year’s offense can continue to follow suit, the sky is the limit for the Tigers.
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