The Auburn Tigers athletic department has been receiving a bunch of heat for hiring Gene Chizik as their new football head coach. Eyes will be on Chizik as he hires his coaching staff.
Gene Chizik hired Gus Malzahn as the new offensive coordinator at Auburn for the 2009 season. Malzahn had been the co-offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Tulsa. He leaves Tulsa with two very impressive offensive seasons. He will get his opportunity to prove if his no-huddle offense can transfer to the SEC(A chance he didn’t receive at Arkansas in 2006). The Tigers will need his offensive skills after only averaging 17 points a game during the 2008 season.
Let’s look at the numbers and see how productive Malzahn’s offense was at Tulsa.
2006 Tulsa Offensive Statistics (Before Malzahn arrived at Tulsa)
27.7 points per game (37th in the nation)
162 rushing yards per game (36th in the nation)
226 passing yards per game (37th in the nation)
394 total yards per game (24th in the nation)
2007 Tulsa Offensive Statistics (Malzahn offense)
41.1 points per game (7th in the nation)
172 rushing yards per game (42nd in the nation)
371 passing yards per game (3rd in the nation)
559 total yards per game (1st in the nation)
2008 Tulsa Offensive Statistics (Malzahn offense)
47.4 points per game (2nd in the nation)
254 rushing yards per game (2nd in the nation)
310 passing yards per game (7th in the nation)
565 total yards per game (2nd in the nation)
The most impressive result we see is the rushing yards improving from the year before. This isn’t a one trick pony offense. It gets results from both the passing and rushing game. The other big factor is the consistency and improvement in the second season. It’s evident teams were still unable to stop the offense after playing against Tulsa the next season. We’ve seen many coordinators fool you the first time but can’t do it the next year(Gary Crowton at LSU).
Many have complained about Gene Chizik’s resume but you can’t argue Malzahn’s efficiency as an offensive coordinator.
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