Gus malzahn's Big Play Offense

[StatTiger 3,188]

Are you ready for some offense? A primary reason to be excited about Coach Gus Malzahn’s offense is it’s big play ability. This is the result of scheming to his personnel and his tendency to involve all of his “skill” players in his play calling. A variety of formations and plenty of motion will eventually result in the one on one match up he strives for.

Here are some numbers to consider…

-From 1987-2008, Auburn has attempted 7188 passes with 319 going for at least 30-yards or an average of 1 every 22.5 passes.

-During the same time period, Auburn has run the ball 10281 times, with 138 plays going for at least 30-yards or 1 every 74.5 plays.

-Over the past 22 seasons, Auburn has totaled 457 plays of 30-yards or more for 1 every 38.2 plays.

-During the Tommy Tuberville era (1999-2008), Auburn has completed a 30-yard pass or better every 21.0 attempts. Auburn has gained at least 30-yards on one run every 60.6 attempts. Overall, Auburn’s offense has come up with a big play every 34.6 plays during the Tuberville era.

-From 1987-2008, Auburn is 103-20-2 in games they have at least 2 plays of 30-yards or more. The Tigers record improves to 63-5-1 with 3 big plays or more on offense and 33-2-0 with 4 or more.

During the past three seasons, the Auburn offense has been void of the big play, with their ratio of 30-yard plays or better, dropping to 1 every 48.3 plays. This includes 1 big pass play every 29.7 attempts and a big run play every 82.3 rush.

The 2004 Auburn offense was the best big play offense over the past two decades, averaging a big play every 22.6 plays. In contrast, the 1992 offense was the worst, averaging a big play every 70.7 plays. The 2007 Auburn offense was close behind with a big play every 64.2 plays.

Gus Malzahn Offense:

During his three seasons as a college offensive coordinator, Coach Malzahn’s offenses have produced big plays at an alarming rate. Over the past three seasons, his running game has produced 39 running plays of 30-yards or more on 1775 rush attempts or 1 every 45.5 carries. His passing game has dialed up the big play 77 times on 1289 pass attempts or 1 every 16.7 passes. This is a staggering 116 plays of 30-yards or more from 3064 plays or a big play every 26.4 snaps.

-Over the past three seasons, the Auburn offense has totaled 51 plays of 30-yards or more compared to Malzahn’s 116 plays.

-The 2004 Auburn passing game produced 29 pass plays of 30-yards or more from just 308 pass attempts.

That’s a big pass play every 10.6 passes. The second best ratio came during the 1997 season; when Auburn had 28 big pass plays from 406 attempts or 1 every 14.5 attempts. In the last 22 years, only 6 Auburn pass offenses has produced a ratio below 20 attempts.

-Gus Malzahn’s passing game has accomplished this goal (below 20) 2 of 3 seasons and the one time he failed to reach it was at Arkansas with 1 every 23.2 attempts. The 23.2 ratio is still better than Auburn’s ratio over the past 4 seasons.

-Having Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield at Arkansas resulted in 15 run plays of 30-yards or more on 539 attempts or 1 every 35.9 attempts. Auburn’s best big play ratio in the running game from 1987-2008 came during the 2005 season, when Auburn had 1 every 40.1 attempts.

-Having 2 future NFL running backs at Arkansas was a big reason for Malzahn’s success but his running game at Tulsa (2008) produced 17 big run plays from 674 attempts or 1 every 39.6 run attempts.

It would be foolish to believe Auburn will have the same kind of success as Tulsa under Coach Malzahn. The Golden Hurricane has totaled 88 plays of 30-yards or more the past two seasons combined, including 49 in 2008. The 2004 Auburn offense had 38 big plays on offense in 13 games. Malzahn’s Arkansas offense totaled 28 plays of 30-yards or more, which was better than 18 of Auburn’s last 22 offenses.

The Southeastern Conference is easily the best defensive conference in the nation and long extended drives don’t often happen. In recent years, the offenses in the SEC with the most success have possessed the ability to hit the big play. If Coach Malzahn can duplicate the success he had at Arkansas, Auburn’s offense should be just fine in 2009. In 2006, the Arkansas Razorbacks averaged a play of 30-yards or more every 30.0 snaps. Only five Auburn offenses since 1987 have posted a better ratio (1995, 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2004).

[Tigermike 4,251]

Hope rings eternal in the hearts and minds of football fans.

More reasons to be optimistic. Thanks Stat.

Hopefully the new staff can make this offense work at AU while at the same time improving on a good defense.

WAR EAGLE!

[WarNole 141]

Good article, Thanks !

[Hoopie 6]

Big plays happen for 2 primary reasons:

1. Playmaker athletes.........which we don't have....yet

2. Schemes that can get players open enough to gain big yards.

CGM should have schemes to get players open. Of course, I thought Franklin would be able to do so also. I hope that if we can improve some of the skill player fundamentals, we can make big plays.

This has clearly been our offense deficiency the past several seasons.

Spring scrimmages will be against vanilla defenses and will probably cause the offense to look good and get the fans pumped up ....just like last spring.

[boyjeddah 1]

Spring scrimmages will be against vanilla defenses and will probably cause the offense to look good and get the fans pumped up ....just like last spring.

Why would the defense be vanilla??

[Tigermike 4,251]

Spring scrimmages will be against vanilla defenses and will probably cause the offense to look good and get the fans pumped up ....just like last spring.

Why would the defense be vanilla??

They will be wearing the white uniforms.

[OldNewby 27]

A white roof reflects maximum sun.

[abrnfanatc 6]

Spring scrimmages will be against vanilla defenses and will probably cause the offense to look good and get the fans pumped up ....just like last spring.

Why would the defense be vanilla??

DUH!!! They don't like chocolate or strawberry.

[SouthLink02 8]

Spring scrimmages will be against vanilla defenses and will probably cause the offense to look good and get the fans pumped up ....just like last spring.

Why would the defense be vanilla??

Coaches sometimes don't allow defenses to do some things in Spring games

I know that Richt doesn't allow the D's to run certain plays AND other restrictions

So, some D's can be quite vanilla during spring scrimmages if the coach puts them in that position

Also,

Are you ready for some offense?

My answer is no

[boyjeddah 1]

Spring scrimmages will be against vanilla defenses and will probably cause the offense to look good and get the fans pumped up ....just like last spring.

Why would the defense be vanilla??

Coaches sometimes don't allow defenses to do some things in Spring games

I know that Richt doesn't allow the D's to run certain plays AND other restrictions

So, some D's can be quite vanilla during spring scrimmages if the coach puts them in that position

I thought that he was talking in particular about AU's defense this upcoming year and not defenses in general. I thought that it's weird to predict that AU defense would be a vanilla especially that they return some pretty good players on defense + it's the head coach's speciality. i doubt that he will be quite as good at it as Tubs but nevertheless I do not expect AU's defense to regress at all... maybe 5% max if any..

I've heard your argument with respect to defenses in spring game but I've also heard that when it comes to spring games coaches like to hold back on offense much more.. For example, alabama came out in the spring game slinging it all over the place where in reality, the rest of the season was a predominant running offense..

[lca408 388]

I wish we wouldn't be vanilla on defense. Throw a few blitzes in there. Its all about preparing your players for the upcoming season, and even though the A-Day game is supposed to be geared more toward the fans, where else can you get a gameday like atmosphere and game without it being the season. I say there's no better place to practice those things.

Bring on blitzes and a few multiple looks, and put the offense in white jerseys. The defense has more or less been somewhat consistent this whole decade, its the offense that's got to prove itself. Make the offense the "road" team and have the crowd make some noise. That'll get the defense fired up and create a pretty cool gameday scenario.

Ryan

[SouthLink02 8]

I've heard your argument with respect to defenses in spring game but I've also heard that when it comes to spring games coaches like to hold back on offense much more.. For example, alabama came out in the spring game slinging it all over the place where in reality, the rest of the season was a predominant running offense..

I wasn't saying that my argument is the only one

I know that Les Miles runs this quirky weird Spring game points system or something

Richt also changes it every year so some years the offense kills the D and other times the D murders the Offense. I always laugh because UGA fans start freaking out on whatever side struggles. He basically sets up one side to win and admits that