AU FOOTBALL: Wildcat paying off for Tigers

When Kodi Burns lines up behind center, Lee Ziemba switches from left tackle to right tackle and Chris Todd lines up as a wide receiver, the Tigers aren’t exactly fooling anyone.

The Jordan-Hare Stadium scoreboard might as well flash “Wildcat” in big letters, as far as the Tigers are concerned.

Still, though the initial setup lacks any sort of surprise, the formation has allowed the Tigers to catch defenses off guard and punish them in the red zone.

The reasons behind Auburn’s success with the now commonplace formation have been multiple, but the biggest one is about as simple as it gets.

“It’s math,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “It’s how many players you’ve got in the box. Because not only do they spread the field, but then you have to account for the quarterback as a runner, which in a traditional offense you don’t.”

For Roof, there’s no such thing as a “win-win” scheme to stop the Wildcat.

If you stick with a standard seven-man front, the opposing offense is one-for-one with blockers, making the defense “minus-1,” Roof said. Put an extra player in the box and you’re risking a wide-open pass play because of the straight man coverage.

“If something creases you, it’s going to the house. It’s a big one,” Roof said. “So you’ve got to decide what your philosophy is there and what you want to do and how you want to play it.”

The philosophies used against Auburn haven’t exactly worked in the first two games of the season.

Burns’ rushing numbers aren’t spectacular by any means — 17 carries, 56 yards — but the success rate of his trips behind center has been better than anticipated. His plunges and jukes up the middle have resulted in a number of first downs and four touchdowns — three of which came from 1 yard out against Mississippi State.

Burns has deflected much of the Wildcat-oriented praise directed his way.

He only scores the touchdowns. Everyone else does the work.

“Everybody is just doing a good job on the perimeter, as well as the offensive line,” Burns said. “Once we get in the red zone, we know with the Wildcat the mindset is to put the ball in the end zone.”

And just when it appeared Burns was going to keep chugging up the middle during the third quarter against Mississippi State, he abruptly stopped, stood up straight and found a wide-open Philip Lutzenkirchen for quite possibly the easiest touchdown pass of his up-and-down career.

Coach Gene Chizik said the plays are designed to make Burns only make throws he’s comfortable making, but the former everydown quarterback doesn’t see it that way.

Burns still considers himself a viable candidate for Auburn’s starting job in 2010, so this is just another way he can prove his value behind center.

“I’m really smart with the football,” Burns said. “I know not to put it in jeopardy or my team in jeopardy, so I’m really going to make good decisions and good reads with it.”

Burns’ emergence as a reliable wide receiver, though, has made the Wildcat even more effective.

With Burns on the field regularly, the Tigers are able to transition into the formation with quickness. Few, if any, substitutions are required, so defenses are forced to adapt on the fly.

The options are minimal in the formation. Burns can either hand the ball off to a speedster who lines up at wide receiver and comes across in motion, run it up the middle himself or fake the first two and look downfield for a throw.

He’s done all three and that’s really all there is to it.

“Right now it’s effective simply because there are some new things off of it that we can do,” Chizik said. “After four or five weeks, now, you run out of things and you just got to execute better than the other guy.”

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart had a more prototypical Wildcat quarterback in Pat White last season and ran variations of the formation throughout his time there. The Mountaineers don’t run it anymore, instead reverting to the pistol, but he’s certainly used his memories of the past as a guide to preparing for the Tigers this week.

“When he was in the backfield, it was a different dimension, and that is what Kodi (Burns) brings to the field,” Stewart said. “If we can get ahead, then maybe they will have to throw the ball more and it will take them out of the running game. The biggest thing is to get them off rhythm and off schedule.”

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