Missouri has one of the better defensive units in the SEC, but the Tigers never saw anything like this in the East.
In fact, not many teams can emulate Auburn coach Gus Malzahn’s no-huddle, hurry-up offense. The Tigers rang up 677 yards while averaging 8 yards per play in a 59-42 victory over Missouri in the SEC Championship game Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
It was a stunning display of offensive efficiency considering the opponent and the stakes, so Missouri coach Gary Pinkel was asked how anyone can stop Auburn’s attack.
“Everybody has problems with it,” Pinkel said. “I’m the wrong person to ask because I’d have stopped it if I could have. It’s a great scheme. More people are going to use it, probably.
“Gus does a great job with it and (has) a great quarterback. He has a lot of good people that can damage you. They have a lot of talent. You put that with a good scheme, and you’ve got problems.”
It’s not as if Auburn hurt Missouri with a balance of run and pass. Amazingly, Auburn ran the ball on 74 of its 85 offensive plays and gained 545 rushing yards for an average of 7.4 per carry.
Instead, Auburn wreaked havoc on Missouri with its tempo, misdirection, big runs and efficient and explosive passing plays.
Missouri’s defenders had to worry about quarterback Nick Marshall handing off to a running back in Auburn’s deep stable, faking it and keeping it himself or giving it to a wide receiver on a reverse. Missouri also had to avoid overplaying the run and allowing Marshall to make easy completions.
One key play in the first quarter highlighted how difficult it was for Missouri to defend all of those elements. Marshall faked a pass, feigned a reverse handoff to Corey Grant, then scrambled and passed to Sammie Coates for 38-yard touchdown.
All of Auburn’s offensive action happens at a fast pace so defenders have to make quick decisions with few chances for breaks between plays.
“Our offense is very versatile,” Auburn running back Tre Mason said. “There’s so many different ways we can get players the ball. Also, (it’s) using our other weapons, our receivers. We have a lot of running backs, talented running backs.”
Mason set an SEC Championship game record with 304 yards rushing and 46 carries. Marshall had 101 yards rushing, and three other running backs combined for 144 yards on just 10 carries.
Perhaps the elements that bring it all together for Auburn’s offense are the line and the chemistry between Marshall and Mason.
When Malzahn took over as coach after last season he said he evaluated the team and decided the offensive line is its strength “so we kind of asked them to really carry us.”
“They work their tails off every day,” Mason said of his linemen. “Those guys open up some of the biggest holes that I’ve ever seen, that I’ve ever ran through.”
For the read option plays to work, Marshall and Mason have to be on the same page. They consistently were against Missouri, with Marshall’s decisions to keep or hand off usually working out.
“They have something special, there’s no doubt,” Malzahn said. “It’s hard to explain. They work extremely well together. It’s a thing of beauty to watch.”
