MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The only certainty the woebegone and Tony Franklin-be-gone Auburn offense will present West Virginia tonight: No Bo Jackson. Too infirm. Too old, at 45. Zero eligibility left, to boot.

Then again, zero offense, or a close facsimile thereof, has been the Tigers' plight. They have gone six and five quarters at a time without a touchdown, endured a stretch of games in which they scored just six offensive touchdowns, and won the first 3-2 game in 43 years.

Two weeks ago, in a midseason personnel move rare in the college province, Auburn and coach Tommy Tuberville jettisoned his offensive coordinator (Franklin) and the spread.

So what offense will the Tigers (4-3) operate tonight across Mountaineer Field?

The Mountaineers (4-2) have no earthly notion.

"We don't know what they're going to do," said cornerback Ellis Lankster, an Alabama native. "If they come out with something new, you have to adjust to it. It's going to be one of those games."

Safety Quinton Andrews figures Auburn, once as highly ranked as the Top 10 and now earning grief for its coach, will employ elements of the spread and its former I-formation. "Because you don't have [time] to change too much in one or two weeks."

Asked about an offense that ranks 97th out of 119 major-college teams in scoring and 108th in yards per game -- compared to West Virginia's 84th and 77th -- standout Auburn defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks seemed to harp on the past seven games for precedent.

"That ain't my job; that ain't my call," Marks said of his offensive brethren. "If they give us points, that's an extra benefit for us. If they don't, we got to go out and stop West Virginia from scoring a point."

With Steve Ensminger assuming control of the ragged offense, things have changed. The Birmingham (Ala.) News reported yesterday that the players are pleased with the slimmer playbook that allows linemen to hunker into a three-point stance for running plays, better utilizes the run and simplifies the previously complex passing game.

In other words, it sounds as if Auburn is returning to its old ways of run-first football. It should be noted that when tailbacks Ben Tate and Brad Lester combine for 115-plus yards rushing this fall, the Tigers are 3-1 -- losing only at Vanderbilt after going away from a ground game that gave them a 13-0, first-quarter lead. "That's their pedigree," Mountaineers coach Bill Stewart said.

"We're going to try to get ourselves together. Pick up a few of the pieces ... " Tuberville said this week amid an eye-opening news conference in which he stated, without being asked, that he didn't have a stroke, didn't negotiate an escape in his contract and didn't lose his zest for coaching. "It has been a tough time.

"We've got an offensive identity now. We've got an offense we're going to run. Every day in practice, we're going to rep and rep and rep and get better at it. We've got to help out the defense."

Kodi Burns, 1-1 in two starts, will play quarterback "along with maybe somebody else," Tuberville said. With starter Chris Todd ailing, that means reserve Neil Caudle or freshman Barrett Trotter might well play.

"They've stumbled like we've stumbled," Stewart said of Auburn, pointing to a one-point loss at Vanderbilt and a three-point Arkansas loss in which the Tigers had the ball at the Arkansas 4 late but failed to score. "By people's standards, high expectations and what have you may not have been met. ... People say we're not any good; we probably really aren't, I guess. We're rolling around here OK, not great, not bad. Same thing with Auburn."

Though Stewart said he wouldn't be shocked to see a low score at night's end, this after all is an Auburn team that already this season has won by the third-lowest possible winning score in football, besides 3-0 and 2-0. That 3-2 triumph against Mississippi State, however, was the old Auburn offense.

"We were guessing" on some plays, backup tailback Tristan Davis told The News about the Tigers trying to execute the previous offense.

"It's a lot different from what it was when coach Franklin was here," receiver Rod Smith added. "If we didn't run a play right, sometimes we'd just run the next play [without stopping to correct mistakes]. With the few plays that we're going to be running [now], it's going to be a lot better. Everybody out there knows what we're going to be doing."

Everybody, that is, except the Mountaineers.