What's wrong with Auburn?

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Something is amiss.

A season meant for greatness has fallen off the tracks. A team eyeing the golden trophy has tumbled into the SEC cellar.

But Auburn has been here before. Two years after winning the BCS national title in 2010, the Tigers finished last in the SEC. Two years ago, Auburn won the SEC and fell 13 seconds short of a national championship.

Today? Well, the Tigers (4-4, 1-4 SEC) are at the bottom of the SEC West, again looking for answers in a season gone wrong. From preseason SEC champions selected by the media to last-place underdogs, Auburn has provided the country one of the most confusing tales of the college football season.

How can third-year coach Gus Malzahn start his SEC career 7-1, but stand at 1-7 in his last eight SEC games? More importantly, how can a program go from first to worst twice in five years?

"I have no idea," said Dan Wolken, national college football writer for USA TODAY. "I wish I had a theory. I just don't think there is one. They have a good coaching staff. It's not like there are clear weaknesses on this staff, it's not like they have don't have talented players."

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Auburn's best quarterbacks over the last five seasons had a lot to do with the Tigers' success on the ground.

"We all know Cam Newton is a transcendent talent," said Clay Travis of OutkickTheCoverage.com and FOX Sports. "But now I'm starting to wonder whether Nick Marshall was lightning in a bottle, an incredible and unexpected talent who fit Malzahn's system perfectly. Is that kind of talent simply rare? Why hasn't anyone on this roster been decent at quarterback? I'd attributed much of Marshall's success to Gus, now I think the opposite could be true.

"I think it's fair to say Malzahn's offense demands a dynamic playmaker more than most offenses do. The question I now have is this: how rare is the talent to run Malzahn's system at a high level? If it's rare, that explains the offensive peaks and valleys. Entering this year I thought Auburn would never need to worry about its offense under Gus. I'm no longer convinced of that."

A superstar can change any team's season. Newton did it as a Heisman Trophy winner in 2010 and led the Tigers to a 14-0 record. "Without Cam, that's probably a 7-5 team in the SEC," Feldman said. Three years later, Marshall perfected the zone-read attack, throwing for 1,976 yards, running for 1,068 more and orchestrating four magical fourth-quarter comebacks on the way to an SEC title and trip to the BCS National Championship against Florida State.

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