Unlike most spread offenses, Gus Malzahn’s up-tempo attack is predicated to being a run-first offense, which sets up the pass in the play action-game.

The genesis of the same offense second-ranked Clemson uses, Auburn wants to spread you out and then pound you with the running back up the middle. If things are going well, like Clemson, it will run the same play over and over again until the defense proves it can stop it.

Last year, Auburn ranked fifth in the SEC, rushing for 196.3 yards per game. So it is understandable that Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables is a little concerned after his defense allowed rushes of 99, 65, 65, 40 and 34 yards this preseason.

“I’m always desperate to stop (the run),” he said. “They have had a couple. You always hear but you don’t always see. We have given up a few. They’re good enough to break some tackles, but we have corrected some mistakes that we made.

“Am I concerned? We are going against a really good running offense. You are dang right I am. It has a nice play-action passing game. I’m concerned. I’m always concerned.”

Granted Auburn is trying to decide between one of its three quarterbacks—Sean White, Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III—and they still have not named a starting running back. But none of the means anything to Venables because he knows whoever is playing in the Sept. 3 opener, they will be talented.

“I’m not going to saying, ‘Oh, we are going to smoke these guys.’ That’s not how I feel,” he said. “We are good enough to defend them well. We have a long season and a lot of work to do and a lot of improvement needed, but I like where we are at moving forward and we will see.

“When you go out and start playing other people, you kind of find out all about yourself … the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware says there isn’t going to be anything ugly to see. Though the Tigers’ defense has given up some big plays in the scrimmages, he says they have been fewer than last year at this time, a sign to him that they have made improvement.

“From top to bottom, overall we have done a good job. Everybody is going to blow up those one or two plays we given up to Wayne (Gallman),” he said. “It can’t happen. We had ten guys that were in the right spot and one dude was out of the gap, but overall we have been pretty consistent. But the one time we weren’t, it was a 99-yard run so everybody blows it up.

“I think we have done a good job. That can’t happen though, we have to do better.”