LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Senior center Reese Dismukes has started all 49 games he has played at Auburn University. He’s a two-time All-SEC performer, an All-American, a Rimington Trophy winner and a conference champion.

The dude knows a thing or two about offenses throughout college football.

“It’s pretty fun, not really complex,” Dismukes said of Gus Malzahn’s spread rushing attack in an interview with Saturday Down South. “I was in a system that was complex. You’ve got good things about both systems.”

To the naked eye, it seems impossible to believe Malzahn’s offense could be considered “not really complex.”

After all, it’s an offense built on establishing the run out of spread passing formations, and it’s predicated on misdirection and numerous moving pieces before the snap. Not to mention tempo is an enormous part of what makes the offense successful, forcing players to react quickly between snaps.

Nevertheless, the man who anchored the Tigers offensive line in 2011 when Malzahn was the offensive coordinator, and again in 2013-14 with Malzahn returned as head coach, insisted otherwise.

“With the way we do it, we run the football a lot we’re not really going to spread you out and throw it on you but we can do that when we need to,” Dismukes said, noting Auburn’s propensity to stick with its philosophy no matter the opponent.

When Dismukes said he played in a complex offense, he was referring to Auburn’s 2012 season under then-head coach Gene Chizik and offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler while Malzahn was the head coach at Arkansas State.

Loeffler ran a pro-style offense that year, nixing Malzahn’s hurry-up spread attack in favor of a slower, more methodical system. This offense was predicated on reacting to defensive formations and keying in on the little nuances of every play.

While a lot can happen on any given play in Malzahn’s system, Loeffler’s scheme had one primary outcome and a necessity for every element of a play to be perfect for it to work.

That’s a lot to ask of a college team playing in an SEC dominated by fast defenses at the time.

It’s no coincidence that Auburn averaged at least 25 points per game in 2011, 2013 and 2014, but just 18 points per game in 2012. Dismukes seemed to think it just wasn’t the right fit for that particular team, but didn’t discredit the philosophy.

“I think (spread offense) is kind of the thing right now. A lot of guys are doing it, and it’s successful. I think you still have your traditional teams and I think there will always be a little bit of both,” Dismukes said. “At the end of the day you’ve got to control the football and not turn it over and you’ve got to score points. Whatever’s working, I think people are going to go to it and if not they’re not.”

Seems easy enough, and Malzahn’s “simple” offense has worked just fine the last two years, even with a former converted defensive back playing quarterback.

Give Malzahn athletes, and he plugs them right in. Perhaps Dismukes is right. Maybe it is that easy.

One thing is for certain — the 983 points Auburn scored the last two years (37.8 per game) speak for themselves.