Auburn Football 2011: Can Gus Malzahn Do It Again?

Offensive Coordinator and universally accepted offensive guru Gus Malzahn has a history of tailoring his offense to the unique talents of the players available to him.

In 2006, he helped create an offense at Arkansas that produced 5292 total yards and 55 touchdowns; 26 touchdowns and 3199 yards of that were from rushing the football.

He moved to Tulsa for the 2007 season, where his offense produced 7615 yards and 79 touchdowns; 49 touchdowns and 5194 yards were produced by his passing offense that year.

He stayed at Tulsa for the 2008 season, where his offense produced 7978 yards and 90 touchdowns; 40 touchdowns and 3752 yards were from his rushing offense that year.

Upon completion of the 2008 season, he accepted the offensive coordinator position at Auburn. Auburn had a total of 3635 offensive yards and 25 touchdowns for the entire 2008 season.

Gus Malzahn had taken what looked to be an impossible task.

In his first season at Auburn in 2009, his offense produced 5613 yards and 55 touchdowns; 25 touchdowns and 2857 yards were the result of the passing offense, while 24 touchdowns and 2756 yards were the result of the rushing offense.

Gus Malzahn seemed to have accomplished the impossible. He had doubled the offensive output of a major SEC team in only one season. It was a balanced attack that took full advantage of the talent available to him.

In 2010, the Malzahn effect continued as Auburn produced 6989 offensive yards and 75 touchdowns; 41 touchdowns and 3987 yards were the result of the rushing offense.

Gus Malzahn had once again adapted his offense to the talent available to him.

The Auburn offense experienced a thousand yard and 20 touchdown improvement in year two. This is remarkable under any circumstances, but there is more.

Gus Malzahn has accomplished all of this with a first year quarterback each and every year. He has never had a quarterback in his system as the starter for more than one season.

The 2011 season is no exception.

For 2011, the majority of the available offensive linemen and skilled playmakers were picked and recruited by Auburn for the Malzahn offense. This is in stark contrast to the players that he inherited who were recruited for a west coast style of the pro set offense.

This season Malzahn will have more players recruited to run his system than at any other time in his career. The list of talent at every position is impressive indeed.

Auburn lost four offensive linemen, the quarterback and two solid receivers after the 2010 BCS Championship Campaign. This is old hat for Gus Malzahn and a situation that he has had to deal with each and every year of his collegiate career.

While no one knows what the Auburn offense will look like in November, it would be foolish to assume that it will fall off in production from simple attrition of players.

It is likely that Auburn will again field a very formidable offense as history seems to repeat with Gus Malzahn.