Auburn’s offense is in the middle of an identity crisis.

The Tigers entered the season wanting to build out their offense from a strong run game, centered on preseason All-SEC running back Tank Bigsby, but that ground game has struggled to get going midway through the season. The passing attack, meanwhile, has been sporadic — while also dealing with an injury to season-opening starting quarterback T.J. Finley, as well as injuries across the offensive line.

The results have not been pretty, and they’ve left second-year coach Bryan Harsin searching for answers, and for hope as his team embarks on the second half of its schedule this weekend with a trip to Oxford, Miss., to take on No. 9 Ole Miss (11 a.m. on ESPN).

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“I think the identity right now, we want to be balanced,” Harsin said Monday. “We want to run the ball, throw the ball. We want the play-action off some of the run game. We want to be able to get out on the perimeter and still be firm and be able to run downhill, inside the tackles, and really try to be balanced as much as we can. Utilize our personnel.

“So, that hasn’t changed. Have we been very good at that at this point? Are we where we want to be right now? We’re not. But that’s what our identity is.”

Through the first half of the season, Auburn ranks last in the SEC and toward the bottom of FBS in several offensive categories: scoring (20.3 points per game), third-down conversion rate (32.9 percent), passing efficiency (113.77), completion rate (55.2 percent), passing touchdowns (five) and total touchdowns (15). The Tigers are also 13th in the SEC in yards per play (5.56, just ahead of Missouri’s 5.52), 11th in passing offense (218.8 yards per game), 10th in yards per pass attempt (7.3), 10th in rushing offense (148.3 yards per game) and 13th in yards per carry (4.12).

Auburn has had to adjust its offense in recent weeks following the shoulder injury Finley sustained against Penn State, tailoring the gameplan to better suit the skillset of Robby Ashford. It has also had to navigate injuries along the offensive line — first losing starting center Nick Brahms before the start of the season, then losing his replacement, Tate Johnson, to an elbow injury; Alec Jackson and Austin Troxell also both sustained injuries during Auburn’s loss to Georgia.

“Injuries happen, unfortunately,” Harsin said. “Again, that’s where your depth comes in. You want to have really good depth. That’s why you’re building your team every year. Most of the time, you’re losing a quarter of your team, you’re bringing a quarter of it in, right? In the middle is where your depth is at—your starters and maybe some of your young guys. So, your backups have got to be ready to play. They’ve got to execute the gameplan.

“You can’t really pull back in the middle of a game. You’ve got to keep pushing forward.”

Auburn hasn’t helped its own cause offensively, with negative plays (36 tackles for loss, 13 sacks allowed), fumbles (an FBS-leading 16 total, with five resulting in turnovers) and penalties that have placed the offense behind the chains and often put itself in difficult down-and-distances. In its four games against Power 5 competition, Auburn’s average third-down distance to gain has been 9.43 yards.

As a result, Auburn has struggled to sustain drives and keep its offense on the field, punting 24 times over its last four games.

“What we put together each week — you don’t get to every single play,” Harsin said. “Sometimes the game changes, and you don’t get to all the plays you have in there. You don’t get to every single thing that you wanted to get to, because maybe you’re not in that field position. You’re not in that down-and-distance. You can bump it up, but you’re really game-planning that for that moment. That’s where sustaining drives, that’s where getting more plays, that’s where staying on the field is going to allow us to get more into that rhythm.”

The closest semblance of Harsin’s desired offensive identity that he has seen from his team came early on in Auburn’s loss to LSU two weeks ago. Auburn put together two impressive touchdown drives in the first half of its eventual 21-17 loss, including a six-play, 69-yard drive on the game’s opening possession.

On that drive, Auburn had a 4-yard run on a sweep to the perimeter by Ja’Varrius Johnson, followed by a third-down conversion from Ashford to Koy Moore for 10 yards. Tank Bigsby picked up 2 yards up the middle, and then after an incomplete pass, Ashford found Johnson on a deep ball for a 53-yard touchdown pass.

Auburn’s second touchdown drive was even more impressive on paper, as it went 99 yards on six plays while using up just under three minutes of clock, despite the ground game sputtering a bit. Ashford completed passes of 20, 61 and 18 yards on the drive while extending some plays with his legs. The 61-yarder got running back Jarquez Hunter involved in the passing game, and Ashford capped the drive with the 18-yard touchdown pass to freshman Camden Brown.

Auburn didn’t produce another touchdown against LSU after that, but the team still moved the ball more successfully than it has since its season-opener against FCS opponent Mercer, totaling 438 yards of offense and averaging 6.26 yards per play while generating more chunk plays through the air.

“Some of those drives — that’s what you want it to look like,” Harsin said. “I think we want to continue that.”

It’s on Harsin and his staff to adjust and tinker with the gameplan to best accentuate the ability of its playmakers — guys like Ashford, Bigsby, Hunter and Johnson — in order to better establish the team’s preferred offensive identity. Until that happens, Auburn will continue to totter offensively in search of answers.

“We’re still working on building that identity,” Harsin said. “We have the vision for it. We’ve got to actually do it.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.