Auburn running back Ben Tate leads the SEC in rushing, but offensive coordinator wants more out of his attack headed into the second half of the season. (The Huntsville Times / Robin Conn)

AUBURN -- Gus Malzahn isn't waiting around to see if SEC defenses are going to catch up with his offense in the second half of the season. He's looking for a way to grow it now, and there are apparently plenty of ways to do it.

Auburn's offensive coordinator, who has the Tigers ranked fifth nationally in total offense, says he's pretty much running the "base foundation" of his offensive schemes, or at least something that falls short of what he ran to put up blistering statistics at Tulsa the previous two seasons.
Tulsa finished in the top two nationally in total offense and scoring the previous two seasons under Malzahn. The Tigers are close to that on the stat sheet, but, Malzahn says, "we're a different team than Tulsa."
Malzahn would not guess at what percent of his offense Auburn is running, but it would seem to be well short of where he wants it to be, and maybe especially with the wildcat formation, which the Tigers have backed away from the last few games because of injuries.
It's still been plenty exciting to Auburn fans, who watched their offense land around 100 on the national charts the last three seasons.
Malzahn has mixed things up with his patented misdirection plays, plenty of passing and a power running game, the most important prerequisite for head coach Gene Chizik. But Malzahn says he can't sit on what he's done heading into Saturday night's game against Kentucky in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
While he says scouting last year's Tulsa game film might not reveal what Auburn is doing this year, watching the first six Auburn games of this season surely will.
"I think we're getting to where we can expand each week without much trouble," he said. "You've got to keep defenses guessing."
Is this much ado about nothing? Auburn is ranked fifth in total offense and 10th in scoring nationally. Malzahn shrugs at the numbers.
"It would mean something at the end of the year," he said. "Right now, we're just doing everything in our power to protect the football and score points. We're heading into some very tough competition, so if we ended the season there, that would be something to be proud of."
Modesty aside, Malzahn has already given defensive coordinators plenty to think about. He has the SEC's leading rusher in Ben Tate and the league's No. 2 passer in Chris Todd. Loading up on one to stop the other could be painful. Auburn had more than 500 yards three times and more than 400 yards two times in the first five games, including beating back respected Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin to the tune of 459 yards.
But Auburn was held to a season-low 375 yards in last Saturday's only loss, a 44-23 setback at Arkansas.
The Tigers had just 108 yards at half, but then put up 248 yards in the third quarter. Chizik found holes even in the plus-side of those numbers, however, noting the Tigers didn't run the ball well enough, saying half of Auburn's 242 rushing yards came on two plays, and one of those was an end-around.
Malzahn is looking for more options in the second half of the season, and especially another dependable wide receiver to go along with Terrell Zachery and Darvin Adams, who have a combined for 40 of the wide receiver's 48 catches. He wants another because he knows what defensive coordinators are thinking.
"In their scouting report those are the two guys they say, 'Hey, we really need to be aware of where they are.' In a perfect world, we want a lot of options, and I think our options will grow in the second half of the season," Malzahn said.
With traditionally tough games LSU, Georgia and Alabama comprising half of the remaining schedule, the more options, the more growth, the better for Auburn.