Sometimes you have to go deep inside the stat sheet to find something positive after three straight losses.
Auburn could choose to look at quarterback Kodi Burns' first wire-to-wire performance as something to build on for the final third of the regular season.
Burns made his fourth career start and the first in which he didn't have to share the job in Thursday's 34-17 loss to West Virginia. Burns directed Auburn to scores on its first three possessions and a halftime lead and completed seven of his first eight passes.
Alas, Auburn and Burns weren't as good in the second half once West Virginia decided the Tigers wanted to mostly run and that Burns' passing game was not built around the long ball.
Still, tight end Tommy Trott said Burns "played a whale of a game."
"He ignited our offense. He made some plays with his feet and made some throws."
Perhaps more importantly, "He looked comfortable,"
Trott said.
Auburn helped Burns do that with a limited playbook, though West Virginia's defense of him in the second half suggests the Tigers will have to have more against the likes of Georgia and Alabama.
"You've got a young quarterback who is trying to learn a system,"
coach Tommy Tuberville said, "so what we tried to do was take the pressure off him, not have him execute every play, and sometimes turn around and hand it off to take the pressure off him. I think it helped."
Auburn hopes building Burns' confidence and experience will pay dividends down the stretch - a stretch filled with potential pitfalls at Ole Miss next Saturday, at home against Tennessee-Martin, at home against Georgia and on the road at Alabama.
The Tigers will need to play with more consistency. Auburn's offense has failed to score in 15 of its past 24 quarters, including the final two at West Virginia. Auburn went three-and-out in five of its last eight possessions in Morgantown.
"I thought Kodi made some improvement, but still has a long way to go,"
Tuberville said. "He made some good reads, made some bad reads."
"I thought he handled the offense very well in terms of what we were doing. Again, he has a lot of room for improvement, which gives us a lot of hope."
Tuberville said the offense is going through its second transition of the season - first to the spread with former offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, and now to the run/spread offense.
The Tigers may grow into their new offense, Tuberville said.
"I thought as the (West Virginia) game went on, Kodi played smarter, he played more aggressive."
A harder critique: "He gets too deep (when he drops back to pass) and that causes those outside ends to get to him."
"He's got to learn those little things. If it's a five-step drop, you can't go any deeper than that, because the offensive line is protecting you for a five-step drop - not a three-step, not a seven-step. But those will come."
"I'm proud of Kodi, because there's a lot of pressure on a quarterback. There were some situations that three weeks from now, he'll do much better."
Check out Goldberg's blog at blog.al.com/goldmine/ cgoldberg@bhamnews.com
