Auburn Lacking Explosiveness Typical of Malzahn Offense in Frustrating SJSU Win

Although Jordan-Hare Stadium never reached Jacksonville State levels of panic Saturday, some familiar frustrations continued to plague Auburn in a closer-than-expected nonconference victory.

Auburn scored five offensive touchdowns in its 35-21 win over San Jose State—which entered the game as a 21.5-point underdog, according to Odds Shark—and rebounded from netting only three field goals in a home loss to Mississippi State last weekend.

But Gus Malzahn's offense still lacked the consistent explosiveness that has defined it during the previous two seasons.

According to Auburn's official StatBroadcast, the Tigers recorded only seven "chunk plays" to San Jose State's nine.

All three of quarterback Sean White's passing plays of 15 or more yards came in the first half—he only went 1-of-2 passing after halftime Saturday—and two of Auburn's four rushing plays of 10 or more yards came in the fourth quarter against a tired SJSU defense.

That offensive production sounds like a whimper to the big bang Auburn had against the same San Jose State program last season.

Statistic	2014 Auburn	2015 Auburn
Points	59	35
Total Yards	493	342
Yards per Play	6.8	5.9
First Downs	26	15

In the last two seasons, Auburn finished in the top 30 nationally in offensive plays of 20-plus yards.

Heading into Week 5, the Tigers only had eight so far in 2015, which tied them for the second-worst mark in the country. The five they added Saturday against San Jose State will move them to a tie for 118th nationally at best. 

Saturday's matchup against San Jose State was a prime chance for the Auburn offense to take the next step and show improvement in its second game with White at starting quarterback.

But the Tigers were outgunned by former Auburn assistant coach Al Borges' SJSU offense, which did almost everything right except for taking care of the ball against a mistake-prone but opportunistic Auburn defense.

The Tigers scored 14 points—the final margin of victory—off San Jose State's four turnovers. One of Auburn's offensive touchdowns came off a short field thanks to Joe Gray's first-quarter interception.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Running back Peyton Barber should get all the game balls in the Auburn city limits Saturday for what he did against the Spartans.

He scored all five of the Tigers' touchdowns and continued his impressive work of dragging an underwhelming offense behind him.

Barber definitely can grind out tough, shorter runs and do everything possible to find the end zone. 

But the 225-pound sophomore doesn't seem to have that extra burst of speed Auburn needs to create explosive runs. His two "chunk plays" came late in the game, when SJSU's worn-down defenders just couldn't bring the hard-running Barber down after early contact.

That's not say Auburn's offense didn't show flashes of finding the next level against the Spartans.

Wide receiver Ricardo Louis and running back Roc Thomas broke free for Auburn's first two runs of 10 or more yards. The duo also recorded long receptions, as Thomas showed better north-south running on a 42-yarder in the first quarter.

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

And while Malzahn went with a vanilla, run-first offense in the second half, White came close to recording Auburn's longest touchdown pass of the season on a missed deep ball to a wide-open Jason Smith.

As Brandon Marcello of AL.com noted Saturday, the lack of explosiveness in the passing game against SJSU fell on Malzahn.

"White delivered some great passes downfield, so why did the play calls stop? His receivers didn't help him out on a few throws," Marcello wrote. "...Malzahn has not expressed confidence calling deep routes and it shows in the stat book."

While there's nothing wrong with Auburn going with a run-first offense—the Tigers went to the national championship game with one in 2013—it just puts more pressure on a young quarterback who isn't a dual-threat and an offensive line that has struggled to open up big holes so far in 2015.

Auburn won't necessarily mind a grind-it-out win in, say, an SEC road game.

But having one of those against what was supposed to be an overmatched nonconference opponent at home is far from encouraging.

The trademark "boom" for Malzahn's explosive offense just isn't there this season.

And until the Tigers can find it again, they'll have to scratch and claw just to gain bowl eligibility in 2015.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. 

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.