Auburn vs Kansas State Football

Auburn running back Cameron Artis-Payne evades Kansas State defensive back Travis Green at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan., Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

(MARK ALMOND)

-- Kansas State stayed at home and Auburn couldn't run through the front door last week.



It was an unfamiliar sight for Auburn, which struggled to pick up yards as the Wildcats seemingly sniffed out every play, out-leveraged linemen and patiently waited for running backs to find an open gap -- only for it close before running back could make a cut.



When the running backs did crack the line of scrimmage, a linebacker or safety was waiting for Cameron Artis-Payne, Corey Grant and Nick Marshall. Nearly every play ended with a bone-crushing tackle.

The result last week was a 20-14 victory, but with it came the second-lowest rushing total (128 yards) of the Gus Malzahn era, a frustratingly low 2.8 yards per carry and several stagnant possessions.



No. 5 Auburn (3-0) hopes the performance doesn't turn into a trend Saturday against Louisiana Tech (2-2).



"I'm not concerned from a standpoint of we can't fix things," Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "Everything that we saw on film is correctable, it's just not characteristic of our guys. Going all the way back to last year and even this year, we haven't had a game where we felt like we did a lot of uncharacteristic things."



All of those missed blocks on film are concerning, sure, but were the hiccups the exception rather than the norm?



Auburn had the nation's most potent rushing attack entering the Thursday night trip to the Big 12 school, but the Wildcats snapped a nation-leading streak by holding the Tigers to under 200 rushing yards for the first time in 14 games. Every yard was difficult to pick up and Artis-Payne, the Tigers' primary between-the-tackles threat, didn't get much wiggle room to work with, but still picked up an eye-opening 1.6 of his 2.9 yards per carry after contact.



"They were disciplined," Artis-Payne said. "They stayed at home, they didn't get out of their gaps, they stayed in their gaps. It didn't create a lot of cutback lanes for the zone read, but it was a tough game."

RELATED: Auburn needed every grueling yard against Kansas State (analysis)



Still, Artis-Payne managed to grind out the tough yards and pick up first downs.



"It doesn't surprise me," Malzahn said. "Cameron is a big strong guy."



"He made some good runs, some third-and-short runs," Lashlee said. "Third-and-1 and -2, we still converted, largely because of him. There wasn't a lot there."



Artis-Payne picked up a first down with runs of 6 and 5 yards on the Tigers' final drive, forcing Kansas State to burn its final two timeouts. Three plays later, Auburn sealed the game when Marshall connected with D'haquille Williams for a 39-yard pass along the left sideline.



Coaches did not dive deep into the details, but linemen and H-Backs partially missed blocks, failed to pick up defenders and generally didn't execute at the level Auburn has commonly been judged since leading the nation in rushing last season.



"A lot of little things, but the game is about little things," Lashlee said. "If you're supposed to block a guy square on his outside shoulder, you can't be on his inside shoulder — it affects the whole play. Instead of getting a 12-yard gain, we get a 3-yard gain, and now we're all frustrated, and it's third-and-9."





Auburn: Inside the Numbers (2014)