AUBURN, Alabama — Auburn needs to heal bumps and bruises, and the Tigers need to figure out a way to trick future opponents already wise to their tendencies on offense and defense.

The open date comes at a great time this week for No. 19 Auburn (6-2, 4-1 SEC), which enters the ninth week of the season with a multitude of injuries. At least five starters are dealing with injuries of varying degrees, including three offensive linemen, and backup running back Kamryn Pettway (heel) seems to be inching closer to 100 percent health after a three-touchdown performance in a 52-20 victory at Arkansas last week.

“We were a little beat up coming into this one,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said Saturday. “It’s going to give a chance to heal up. That’s really going to be our priority next week. We’ve played good football tonight so we can build upon this. I think we’re in a good spot to finish this thing strong.”

Practices will be light this week, many players will sit out, rest and seeks treatment from trainers. Offensive linemen Darius James (leg), Casey Dunn (ankle) and Mike Horton (ankle) are expected to return to action when the Tigers return to the field Nov. 4 at Texas A&M.

Meanwhile, Auburn’s coaches will spend most of their time breaking down film, devising future plans and focusing on recruiting.

“You get a chance from a coach’s standpoint to catch your breath, really evaluate things and that really helps,” Malzahn said. “A lot of times if you just go back and watch everything. You can see some deficiencies and you can see some strengths and you can get a really good plan moving forward. I think we’ve been pretty good after bye weeks the last few years and we need to do the same thing.”

Malzahn points to the open week following a loss to LSU in 2013 as the jumping off point to Auburn’s run to an SEC title, and the Tigers have seemingly been better after open weeks. Auburn is an impressive 6-0 under Malzahn after bye weeks.

“Obviously we’e got a big stretch here at the end but we’re going to take it week by week, starting with (Texas) A&M,” Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham said. “Obviously A&M is a really good football team, so we’re going to have to go in there and fight our butt off and hopefully get a win and do everything we can to keep progressing forward and keep moving forward. There’s still a lot of potential in this team but we’re starting to really head the right direction.”

Auburn’s offense has certainly been impressive in its four SEC wins as the Tiger have out-scored opponents by an average of 49-17. The issue? The four teams Auburn defeated have a combined conference record of 3-13. Auburn’s three remaining SEC opponents — Texas A&M, No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama — are a combined 12-1 in the conference.

“You take it week by week but this week will be more about us and getting healthy and cleaning up the things we need to clean up to get better,” Malzahn said.

Auburn could also focus on its tendencies on offense, which had made the Tigers rather predictable in certain situations. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey defied such tendencies against Arkansas last week, opting to throw the ball eight times on 25 first downs — an improvement of 9 percent in run-pass ratio compared the previous seven games. Auburn did that despite building a 30-point lead and running the clock throughout the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Auburn finds itself at the top spot in the SEC with a pass completion percentage of 75.6 on first downs. Still, Auburn ranks 12th in the SEC in pass attempts on first down and second in rush attempts on first down — a predictable tendency for a team trying to be balanced.

Stidham leads the SEC completing 65.8 percent of his passes and is on pace (216 yards per game) to record the most passing yards in Malzahn’s five years as Auburn’s head coach.

“I love the game of football,” Stidham said. “I wish I could play every week. This off week comes at a great time for our team.”

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