Bryan Harsin knows what he wants Auburn football's offensive identity to be. Can he unlock it in time?

AUBURN — Bryan Harsin's offense might not have a distinct moniker like the Air Raid, Flexbone or West Coast offense. But absence of name doesn't mean absence of identity.

"I think the identity right now, we want to be balanced," the Auburn football coach said Monday. "We want to run the ball, throw the ball, we want to have play-action off some of the run game. We want to be able to get on the perimeter, still be firm and be able to run downhill inside the tackles, and utilize our personnel."

Easier said than done.

Is having a balanced offense a goal unique to Harsin? No, but that doesn't make it a cliche or illegitimate. It can still be an identity. Whatever identity Harsin wanted the Tigers to have, though, has been destroyed by injuries, lack of depth and a shaky offensive line.

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When Harsin coached at Boise State, his identity was crystal clear. In each of his seven seasons there, the Broncos ran slightly more than they passed. They had a 1,000-yard rusher in every non-COVID season. They were steady, consistent and powered by a workhorse — Jeremy McNichols, Jay Ajayi and Alexander Mattison each had 300-carry seasons.

Theoretically, Tank Bigsby can be the next in that line of bellcow Harsin backs. Few SEC backs match the 6-foot, 213-pound junior's size-and-speed combination, but it hasn't yet translated to results. Bigsby's run for just 109 yards on 41 carries in SEC play. He's averaged 13.1 rushes per game, compared to 17.1 last season.

While Auburn's usage of Bigsby has been frustrating at times, there's only so much he's been able to do, with the Tigers' offensive linemen losing battles and committing penalties which force passing situations on first and second down.

"The key to what we have to do up front is just not give up penetration," Harsin said. "Get those backs a chance to get started, and they'll do something with it.”

In a perfect world, Auburn's rushing game and blocking would be its backbone. To Harsin, while there are tactics involved, much of it comes down to fundamentals on an individual level.

"Working in the one-on-one situations, knowing when you're in that situation is the key," he said. "Have I got help or am I single? That’s the difference. When you've got some help, it's a little bit different of how you treat your footwork when you don't have help.

"A lot of times on the offensive line, you've got to win the one-on-one. That's what it comes down to. We've got guys that can do that. They're not perfect. We've got to help them, and there are some things we can do schematically that can help them."

Harsin pointed to drives, such as Auburn's two early touchdowns against LSU, to show what the Tigers are capable of. Sometimes, he said, game flow changes. Negative plays and penalties happen.

"Are we where we want to be right now? We're not," Harsin said. "... We're still working on building that identity. We have the vision for it, but we’ve got to actually do it.

"The game plans, what we put together each week, you don't get to every single play. Sometimes the game changes and you don't get to all the plays you had in there."

But for an identity to be effective, it has to be able to thrive in less-than-optimal scenarios.

Harsin didn't mention specific scheme adjustments or plays that would offset the Tigers' injury, depth or penalty issues. It's understandable that he wouldn't want to divulge too much. But at this point, Auburn must quickly learn to execute Harsin's identity, or he'll have to make the aforementioned alterations.

The Tigers' season — and their coach's job — depends on it.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Can Auburn football find its offensive identity under Bryan Harsin?