There will be a familiar face in Auburn, Ala., to greet the Ball State University football team on Saturday, but it won't be one Cardinals fans are happy to see.
Gus Malzahn, the man who designed and ran the dynamic University of Tulsa offense that scored 45 points on Ball State in the GMAC Bowl, now has the reigns of Auburn University's offense. The Tigers are ranked eighth in the country in total offense. The scheme is rare in college football and has been widely successful everywhere Malzahn has coached.
"I've never seen anything like it," safety Sean Baker said. "You've got to be ready. Obviously we're going to be a lot better than last year. Not hard to do when you play a game like that."
In addition to running up 45 points on Ball State, Tulsa gained 632 total yards in January. Of those yards, 439 came on the ground, a hallmark of Malzahn's offenses. Since the bowl game, Doug Graber has taken over as Ball State's defensive coordinator and changed to a 4-3 defensive system.
Malzahn thinks that will improve the Cardinals' chances.
"They were an odd-stack defense last year and this year they're an even front," Malzahn said. "They're sound. They play extremely hard."
Coach Stan Parrish is even more familiar with the Malzahn offense, having visited Tulsa before last season to study the system.
"He does a tremendous job," Parrish said. "[He] did a great job at Tulsa and he's doing a great job there. He's got a lot of weapons and he knows how to use them."
Auburn's best weapon is running back Ben Tate, who has 349 rushing yards and a touchdown this season. He is augmented by Onterio McCalebb's 282 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Tigers' rotate quarterbacks with Chris Todd handling the passing duties and Kodi Burns offering more athleticism.
Baker said the quarterback situation is the biggest difference between what Tulsa did last year and Auburn this year.
"They have some plays for certain quarterbacks and some for the other," Baker said. "But a lot of motion, a lot of misdirection. They try to get you out of position and take advantage of that."
Saturday will be a test for the defense after showing a large improvement at Army last week, Baker said.
"We're making strides and we're getting better," he said. "We've got to keep improving. We've got a tough one this week and then we've got MAC play [that] is on us."
This is the fourth vastly different offense Ball State will have faced so far. They've seen a variation on the spread offense, the triple-option and a misdirection-heavy scheme.
"It's a challenge, but it's something you've got to be ready for," Baker said. "In the MAC there's a lot of spread offenses. Seeing all the different looks is going to help us out in league play."
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