AUBURN, Ala. – There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday's matchup inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn is looking to bounce back. Arkansas is coming off its first SEC win since 2017. First-year Auburn offensive coordinator Chad Morris is facing his former team.
But the primary objective for the Tigers is simple. Play to the Auburn standard.
Next Game:
Arkansas
10/10/2020
3:00 PM
TV: ESPN
Radio: Auburn Sports Network
"We have to keep developing," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "We've got to get better, so that's what we are going to continue to do. We are going to practice with a mindset that we have to improve. Our guys understand that, and they will do that.
"Georgia was an experience that we can take with us. It's behind us now, but we can improve and get better because of it. Our goal moving forward is to get better each week, and I really believe the teams that can do that, specifically this year with the unique circumstances, I think will have the advantage. The great thing for us is we have the potential to do that, and I really believe we will do that."
Nick Brahms was a freshman in 2017 when Auburn lost the second game of the year at Clemson and the offensive line allowed 11 sacks. It wasn't pretty that day, especially for the offensive line, but nobody folded. Instead, that group responded. They used the adversity from the Clemson game to as motivation to rally together. The Tigers won eight of their next nine games that season, and the offense scored 40 or more points in seven of those games. The same offensive line who allowed 11 sacks to Clemson was later named one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award.
"They came together, and they did something great that year," Brahms said. "That was my message to the guys and the coaches' message: 'Hey, we can learn from this. The season is not over just because we lost one game to Georgia.' And so there's still plenty to fight for. That's not even a question. We can still accomplish all of our goals that we want to."
It's a message not just for the offensive line but for the whole team.
Auburn and Arkansas will kick off at 3 p.m. CT from Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN with Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchomb and Lauren Sisler on the call. You can also listen to Andy Burcham, Stan White and Ronnie Brown who will have the radio call on 93.9 Tiger FM, Sirius 133/XM 190, online at AuburnTigers.com and on the TuneIn app.
THREE QUESTIONS WITH … LB OWEN PAPPOE
Q: How happy have you been with the response from the defense this week?
A: I'm really proud of everybody. We all know our performance Saturday wasn't Auburn football to the standard that we should have played at, but we're looking past that. It's behind us now. We're looking at it to just learn from the mistakes we made to make sure we don't have a game like that again.
Q: How do you improve the third-down defense?
A: It was definitely hard to see (the third-down numbers) out there. It was a struggle. But we're going to regroup in practice this week and we're going to make sure we never see anything like that again. A lot of the things throughout the whole game, not even just third down, were just the little things. So just looking at the small details, making sure everybody is in their gap, right leverage on coverage, things like that. Just sharpening up on that. But we're going to make sure we get all that corrected.
Q: What are your initial thoughts about Arkansas on offense?
A: I think they look better than what they have the past few years, definitely better from last year. They've got a new quarterback in Feleipe Franks. He's a really talented guy, and I think he's got that offense together and got those guys playing hard. I think it's going to be a pretty good game for us, and we might have to give them all we got because I know we're going to get their best shot.INSIDE THE SERIES: ARKANSAS
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Auburn holds a 17-11-1 advantage in the series history with Arkansas. The Tigers are 8-5-1 in games played at Jordan-Hare Stadium and 8-5 in games played in Fayetteville. The two sides are split in the only two neutral-site games with Auburn winning in Memphis (1984) and Arkansas winning in Little Rock (1995).
Last year, in the most recent meeting, Auburn cruised to a 51-10 victory in Fayetteville. The Tigers have won each of the last four meetings by at least 31 points, which is the first time in program history they have won four straight games against an SEC opponent by 30 or more points. The current four-game winning streak by Auburn is also the longest winning streak by either team in series history.
Through the first 25 games in the series, Auburn outscored Arkansas by a total of just 633-629, an average differential of just 0.16 points per contest. The first 10 games (1984-2000) featured six games decided by six points or fewer, including one tie.
Series: Auburn leads 17-11-1
At Auburn: Auburn leads 8-5-1
At Fayetteville: Auburn leads 8-5
At Neutral Sites: Tied, 1-1
Most AU points: 65 (2010)
Current Streak: Auburn, W4BY THE NUMBERS
2017: True freshman running back Tank Bigsby led Auburn with 31 yards rushing and 68 yards receiving on seven catches against Georgia. Bigsby is the first player to lead the Tigers in rushing and receiving yards in the same game since Kerryon Johnson totaled 167 rushing yards and 66 receiving yards against Georgia in 2017.
4: Auburn had four players post double-figure tackles at Georgia: Jamien Sherwood (14), Jordyn Peters (13), K.J. Britt (12) and Zakoby McClain (11). All four of those players set or tied career bests. It was the first time Auburn had four or more players with double-figure tackles since last year's LSU game, when Auburn had five.
46.3: Auburn has allowed opponents to score a touchdown on just 46.3 percent of their red-zone trips since 2016, which leads the FBS. This season, the Tigers have allowed a touchdown on three of their opponents' trips into the red zone, tied for 15th nationally. Wisconsin, Clemson and Cincinnati are the only other FBS teams to allow a touchdown on fewer than 50 percent of their opponents' red-zone opportunities during that span.
Fearless and true.#WallpaperWednesday pic.twitter.com/cAHqhxY5hq
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) October 7, 2020