Auburn’s offensive rehab begins with a blank slate

Alert readers may have noticed over the weekend that Auburn has a new offensive coordinator, Scot Loeffler, about whom there is little to say except this: He has a tough act to follow, in more ways than one. On one hand, his predecessor, Gus Malzahn, was generally regarded as the most respected offensive guru in the SEC, and was by far the highest paid at $1.3 million per year after the Tigers' prolific, Cam Newton-led march to the BCS championship in 2010. On the other, Malzahn's stock took a steep tumble along with Auburn's numbers last year, a rebuilding campaign that produced no new stars and no coherent identity to build on after Malzahn bolted for the top job at Arkansas State. Once again, the Tigers are starting over from scratch. Not that anyone expected much fireworks in the wake of massive attrition from the 2010 team. But even by the dramatically lowered preseason standards, the 2011 edition was a flop: After a solid start in September, the Tigers managed just...