AUBURN — It's not a secret Auburn football's offense left much to be desired in 2023.

The Tigers ranked No. 11 in points scored per game (26.2) in the SEC and their passing attack averaged 162.2 yards a contest, which was good for the worst mark in the conference by nearly 20 yards. In short, the unit was broken. Receivers couldn't win 50-50 balls, the offensive line struggled with consistency in pass protection and transfer quarterback Payton Thorne didn't exactly look like he did at Michigan State.

Heading into his second season, coach Hugh Freeze has changed plenty in an attempt to remedy those woes. New offensive coordinator Derrick Nix replaced Philip Montgomery in January, and just two receivers from last season — Camden Brown and Caleb Burton III — remain on the roster. There won't be a change at QB, but Thorne is getting a full offseason to get acclimated; he arrived late last year and missed spring practice.

It's to be determined whether or not those changes were enough. If they are, fans will likely see these three stats improve in 2024:

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Yards per attempt

Auburn needs to do a better job of making its pass attempts count. Of the 14 main SEC starting quarterbacks last season, Thorne ranked No. 12 in average yards per throw with a mark of 6.62. That's narrowly better than what Ken Seals did at Vanderbilt (6.61) and Haynes King at Texas A&M (6.52).

It may not be a Thorne-only issue, though. According to Pro Football Focus, Thorne's average depth of target last season was 9.1 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That's a middle-of-the-pack number in the SEC. Thorne tried to push the ball down the field at times, but for one reason or the other, the Tigers struggled to link up on those deeper attempts.

That's got to change in 2024. It's why Freeze brought in five-star freshman Cam Coleman and Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith, among others.

Conversion rate on 3rd downs

With an offense that struggled to throw the ball as much as Auburn's last season, staying ahead of the chains is tough. Opponents knew the Tigers wanted to run the ball more often than not, and that oftentimes put Auburn in a disadvantageous position on third down.

The Tigers converted on 32.9% of their third downs last season. The only team in the conference that did worse was Mississippi State, which finished with a mark of 30.8%.

Georgia, LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M and Missouri finished 2023 with the best third-down conversion rates in the conference. Those programs combined for a record of 53-14. The bottom five teams in this category — Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Mississippi State — went 23-38.

Trips to the red zone

Auburn wasn't awful when it got to the red zone — it scored either a touchdown or field goal on 83.3% of its trips — but it struggled to get there often. The Tigers got inside the 20-yard line 42 times last season, which was tied with Kentucky for fifth-fewest in the conference.

If the Tigers can move the ball better in 2024, more chances in the red zone will come naturally. That's needed.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: 3 stats that need to change for the Tigers in 2024