Auburn Football: Tigers' Offense Still Has Room for Improvement

AUBURN, Ala. — To some coaches, putting up close to 600 yards of offense and scoring 45 points against a conference opponent would be an A+ day.

But to Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, it's a B- day at best.

"I just think from the O-line to the receivers to running backs to quarterbacks, the whole, we were a little above average," Lashlee said, per AL.com's Brandon Marcello. "C+, B-. We played well. We did not have a lot of busts. At the same time we could have executed at a better level."

After Lashlee handed out his grade of the offense Monday night, his head coach echoed him in his Tuesday morning press conference.

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"Overalll, we are happy that we won," Malzahn said. "We are 1-0 in the SEC, but we have a lot of areas to improve. We made some mistakes, and we will work very hard this week on correcting them." 

Upcoming opponents, you have been warned—the Tigers aren't satisfied after a game in which they went 4-for-4 with four touchdowns on red-zone scoring chances and averaged 8.5 yards per play.

"Compared to last year, we made fewer mistakes, but there are still so many things that need to be tweaked," Malzahn said. "We have to make sure our alignments are correct and the things that allow you to execute a play."

Here are three main areas that the two Auburn coaches say need "tweaking" as the Tigers head into game No. 2:

Third Down and Short Conversions

Judging from a quick look at the box score, Auburn performed well on third downs against Arkansas. The Tigers converted nine of their 14 chances, good enough for the 11th-best average nationally and the second-best average in the SEC on college football's opening weekend.

But two of the ones the Tigers missed stood out to Lashlee after his review of the film.

"The most disappointing part of the first half was probably the third and shorts," Lashlee said, per Marcello. "That's something we were really good at last year, so we've really got to be better in that area moving forward. We had chances with the lead to stay on the field and maybe try to extend our lead."

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Auburn missed a pair of 3rd-and-short conversions in the first half, and the momentum Arkansas gained from those failures helped turn a two-touchdown lead into a tie game heading into halftime.

A blitz from the Arkansas defense stopped senior running back Cameron Artis-Payne for a loss of one yard on 3rd-and-1 midway through the third quarter, which led to a Daniel Carlson punt. The Razorbacks scored on the ensuing drive to tie the game at 21.

The Tigers couldn't muster a response after Artis-Payne was stopped for no gain on another 3rd-and-1, once again coming off a strong Razorback blitz.

"Honestly, we didn't execute," Lashlee said, per Marcello. "They showed us some blitz looks that we were ready for, and we just didn't get it cut off on the back side in both situations."

The two stops were surprising, especially for a team that grabbed a first down on the ground 79 percent of the time last season when it was facing third down and three yards or less.

But once Auburn got adjusted to the blitzes, Artis-Payne was much more effective in moving the chains. The Tigers finished the second half 5-for-7 on third-down conversions, and the senior running back had 177 yards on 26 carries.

Fumbles

With all the extra plays and drives Auburn had through its hurry-up, no-huddle offense last season, ball security was a major issue.

The Tigers fumbled the ball 30 times last season, third-most nationally. However, they were fortunate to recover 19 of those times, giving them the nation's 12th-lowest fumble loss percentage and the SEC's best at 36.7 percent.

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Auburn let the ball go only twice during last Saturday's game against Arkansas, with debuting wide receiver D'haquille Williams getting a fumble to bounce out of bounds on the last drive of the second quarter and Artis-Payne turning it over near midfield early in the third quarter of a close game.

"We protected the football in the passing game, and that’s always very important, too," Malzahn said. "I know we had the one turnover with Cameron, but we'll work on getting that corrected."

Auburn's coaching staff put a big emphasis on ball security this offseason, and Lashlee said the two fumbles in the season opener were "not acceptable."

The Tigers are not going to rely on having one of the nation's best rates at getting those fortunate bounces off fumbles, so look for improvement in that area as the season continues.

Penalties

Auburn's offense avoided the dreaded whistle before the snap against Arkansas—but after the ball was in play, it was a different story.

The Tigers had six penalties for 61 yards against the Razorbacks, a mark that was above their game average from last season, when they finished fourth in the SEC and 30th nationally in avoiding the yellow flags.

Auburn had two big plays called back in the first half on offensive penalties—a holding call on Sammie Coates and a face-mask call on Patrick Miller.

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Lashlee was glad the Tigers recovered from those fouls to find the end zone on those drives, but he marked those down as other areas to improve on the average offensive grade.

"Fortunately, in both cases, we were able to convert the third down and still score the touchdown, and usually that doesn't happen," Lashlee said, per the Montgomery Advertiser's James Crepea. "The statistics will tell you that most times when you have a touchdown called back it won't end well. We've got to clean that up."

Anything that slows down the high-powered Auburn offense, even penalties that don't affect the end result of the drive, are getting highlighted and corrected by Malzahn and Lashlee.

Even though the Tigers are favored by 30 points against San Jose State this weekend, Malzahn wants to see a lot of improvement from his offense starting this Saturday.

"The great thing about a first game is you usually improve more from the first game to the second game than you do all year, and that is what we have to do," Malzahn said.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of CFBStats.com.