Gus Malzahn Saves Auburn's Season by Opening Up the Playbook
AUBURN, Ala. — Two of the SEC's greatest offensive minds collided Saturday night in a battle of wits, explosive offenses and trademark visors.
In a game that featured 77 points and 1,086 yards of total offense, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn emerged victorious against his counterpart and good friend, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier, by pulling out all the creative stops in a wild 42-35 victory.
"Their coach is one of the better coaches to walk the sideline," Malzahn said. "Everybody saw that tonight. They did a lot of good things, but, at the end of the day, our guys found a way to win it."
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Spurrier went back to his Florida Fun 'n' Gun ways with a devastating passing attack that featured 10 different receivers and a no-punt attitude with five fourth-down conversions.
"They went for everything," Malzahn said. "That was the hard thing. They executed when they had to, and they did it time and time again. That is the reason it was a close game and the reason it went down to the very end."
Malzahn countered with a steady diet of read-option runs between quarterback Nick Marshall and primary running back Cameron Artis-Payne, but the second-year head coach didn't stop there.
Auburn had five different rushers record a carry, with three of them finding the end zone.
The Tigers handed the ball off to wide receiver Ricardo Louis—a former running back in his high school days—three times for 102 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown in the third quarter. ESPN.com's Greg Ostendorf shared Louis' "one-play" drive:
"[A balanced rushing attack] just helps us get the offense going, get the team going and get us some momentum," Louis said. "Everybody is good at different things, and when you're giving the ball to different types of people...it helps us out a lot moving forward."
Auburn also featured true freshman running back Roc Thomas early in the game, even using him in dual-back formations with fellow speedster Corey Grant.
Thomas helped the Tigers move the ball downfield by showcasing his burst into the second level.
"We have a great backfield, and we've also got great coaches," Thomas said. "That leads us to a lot of success."
The creative uses of Louis, Thomas and Grant against South Carolina opened up more opportunities for Marshall and Artis-Payne by keeping the Gamecocks off balance.
Their performances helped Artis-Payne set a career high of 167 rushing yards on 25 carries, while Marshall carried the ball for three touchdowns for the first time in his tenure on the Plains.
"That's great for the whole team," Artis-Payne said. "We've got a lot of different guys who bring a lot of different things to the table. We've got a lot of great runners when they've got the ball in their hands. You've got to get everybody in the mix who can help your team."
Auburn's 395 yards on the ground off an expanded playbook and supporting cast put less pressure on the athletic Marshall to make most of his plays through the air.
After struggling with his accuracy two weeks ago against Mississippi State, the senior was able to thrive in a run-first role, but his passing also received a boost:
| 12-14 | 139 | 1 | 0 | 192.7 |
Marshall's completion percentage against South Carolina was his best since the 2013 Arkansas game, when he completed seven of eight passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. His 85.7 percent mark on Saturday night was a career-best in games in which he threw double-digit passes.
"It feels great to have that, because we got back to playing Auburn football," Marshall said. "During the bye week, we went back to the basics and focused on getting back our edge on offense."
Keeping with the creative theme of Saturday night's shootout with South Carolina, Marshall's lone touchdown pass was to a surprise target—Brandon Fulse.
The senior H-back had only recorded five career catches before Saturday, and his short touchdown grab late in the first quarter put Auburn on the scoreboard and his name into the scoring books for the first time. SEC Network highlighted the Marshall-Fulse play, which resulted in a touchdown:
"Brandon has been a factor up to this point," Malzahn said. "That's what they were giving us...we saw that he was open, so we came back and checked that. He had a good touchdown."
One of the best days of Marshall's career also featured a rare catch.
Late in the second quarter, Auburn sent in third-string quarterback Jonathan Wallace and lined him up on the outside. Marshall took the snap and tossed it to the former starter, who looked deep down the field before tossing it back to Marshall on a throw-back screen.
Marshall was able to show off his open-field abilities after the catch and fought his way for an important first down. Four plays later, he tied the game up with a rushing touchdown.
"They were playing man-to-man," Malzahn said. "That's a play we've had up and running for the last month, and we've repped it 50 times, so we felt pretty confident. That was a big third-down play for us."
In a game that the Tigers offense needed to keep pace with a legendary offensive head coach who was playing like he had nothing to lose, Malzahn was able to stay a step ahead of Spurrier.
The Tigers used the off week to work on a few special plays while improving across the board on offense.
"Each moment you play, you have to strategically figure out the best plan," Malzahn said. "We felt like we needed to get in those situations with second downs and 3rd-and-shorts. That was part of the plan."
Continuing that theme of creativity and control will be important in the next few weeks for the Tigers, who will face a stingy Ole Miss defense next week in Oxford.
If Auburn can clear that hurdle, then it will be closer to capturing that important spot in the inaugural playoff—a spot that was in jeopardy Saturday night against Spurrier and Co.
"You can't get down on yourself when a team comes to play," Artis-Payne said. "We knew that they were going to be coming in here ready for us, prepared for us. It's just about execution at that point."
All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.
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