The Auburn Tigers, despite all Alex Golesh promised in the offseason, have struggled enormously to rush the ball over the course of the first five games of the season. There have been strong moments, like Byrum Brown’s 107 total rushing yards against Tennessee, but by and large, the Tigers have been almost completely ineffective on the ground throughout SEC play.
Auburn’s offensive coordinator, Joel Gordon, is clearly unsatisfied with the output of his rushing attack so far this season, and on Monday, he shared a bit of insight into the issues the Tigers have been facing.
“I think every game that we've played we’ve tried to give [the rush] an opportunity to get going,” he said. “We didn’t get out to a very good start in the last game. [We] didn't have great field position early on, and to be honest with you, that's when you need to be able to run it, to dig yourself out of a hole. We weren’t able to do it.”
The Tigers entered the preseason with three different players vying for the starting job, but despite all the theatricality and speculation from that spring, the Tigers’ leading rusher at this point in the season is not a running back– it’s their quarterback, Byrum Brown, who has rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns on 81 carries.
Jeremiah Cobb, who emerged with the starting job back in September, has carried the ball 45 times for 245 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry, though he’s only turned in 21 carries over the course of three SEC games and has yet to have a game with more than 12 carries.
Omar Mabson, the underdog pick for the starting spot back in spring, has actually been a touch more effective so far this season, rushing for 213 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, good for 6.7 yards per carry, the best of any Tiger with at least 10 carries. Much of Mabson’s production, however, came against Southern Miss, so there has been some concern as to how his play is translating against SEC defenses.
Bryson Washington, a Baylor transfer who was once a popular pick for the RB2 spot with the Tigers, has struggled to get much production this season, carrying the ball just 18 times for 71 yards and averaging 3.9 yards per carry.
Needless to say, the Tigers have a lot that needs to get figured out in the rushing attack, though their recent bye week may prove to be helpful in that regard. They’ll be tested quickly, though, as they are scheduled to take on the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs, hot off a win against Alabama, this weekend.
Despite the strength of their upcoming matchup, Gordon was clear that the Tigers’ rushing philosophy is not going to change.
“At the end of the day, we have to be able to overcome whatever it is,” he said. “We’re backed up, it's noisy, whatever it is, it’s going to be that way every single week. We have to continue to find the best things for our players to be able to be in situations where they can go and execute, and when we put them in those situations, we have to execute. It’s top to bottom. We’re going to try to run the ball every single week. That's not going to change.”
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