The Auburn Tigers are coming off its lowest offensive and scoring output in the Gus Malzahn era, but the Tigers’ head coach believes his team will be better because of it.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to play better,” Malzahn said. “We didn’t play our best but we won. Now, I think that’s the bottom line. Our guys understand that, our coaches understand that. But when you don’t play your best and you can win against a top 20 team, I think that’s a good thing.”

Auburn enters Saturday’s Homecoming game against LA Tech a 32-point favorite with a chance to improve as its hopes of an SEC championship and College Football Playoff berth remain in tact. Beginning next week, the Tigers face seven ranked opponents in nine weeks.

Malzahn, though, knows his team is close.

“We’re not too far away,” Malzahn said. “I don’t want you to think we are trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s a matter of us getting better at what we do and trying to be perfect.”