We are six weeks away from Auburn football taking on Clemson at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday, September 3, so we continue to preview the upcoming season by looking at the Arkansas game.
This matchup has literally gone back-and-forth over the years as Auburn football holds the longest winning streak in the series at three. Auburn football has won two of the last three matchups since Bret Bielema took over in Fayetteville.
Arkansas Razorbacks News from Bleacher Report
Last year’s game went to four overtimes before the Razorbacks eventually won. It was a hard fought game by the Tigers, but Arkansas’ combination of Alex Collins and Brandon Allen proved to be too much in the end.
Fortunately, both of those players are now gone, and with them go 50 of Arkansas’ 62 touchdowns from a year ago. Last year Collins rushed for 1,577 yards and 20 touchdowns, while Allen threw for 3,440 yards and 30 touchdowns.
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They only return five starters on offense after scoring 35.9 points per game in 2015 and rushing for almost 200 yards a game.
Last year the Hogs started the season with bad losses to Toledo, Texas Tech and Texas A&M, but finished the year going 7-2 with their only other losses coming against Alabama and Mississippi State, which they lost 51-50.
It’s hard to imagine that offense not taking a significant step back this season after all they lost, but you know Bielema’s team will try to play smash mouth football and run it down your throats. I actually think Auburn’s defense will matchup very well with that type of offense.
It looks like junior Austin Allen will take over at quarterback, and senior Kody Walker will become the team’s new running back. Offensive lineman Dan Skipper is one of the best in the conference, and wide receiver Drew Morgan and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle will be solid options for the new starting quarterback.
They return nine starters on defense, including senior linebacker
and sophomore linebacker Dre Greenlaw. Ellis led the team with 102 tackles and 6.5 for a loos, while Greenlaw was named to the All SEC Freshman team after racking up 95 tackles.
Senior defensive end Deatrich Wise might be the best player on the defense after leading the team with 8 sacks and 10.5 tackles for a loss in 2015.
The secondary will have to improve tremendously if this team is going to improve on the 27.4 points per game that they gave up last year. They gave up 275 yards passing per game last season as teams took advantage of that weak secondary.
Game Preview
I gave Auburn a 63 percent chance to win this game in an article we did earlier this year ranking the difficulty of each opponent, and I think that’s a pretty good number.
Auburn gets them at home coming off a bye week, while Arkansas will be coming off a tough home game against Ole Miss. The only thing that could hurt Auburn in this game is if they’re caught looking ahead to their road game against Ole Miss the following week.
I think this could be a trap game for Auburn, and you know Bielema is going to pull out some stunts to try and beat Gus Malzahn.
Next: Biggest Trap Game for Auburn Football in 2016
In the end though, I don’t really see how Arkansas can beat Auburn with all they lost on offense. I do think Auburn will have to open things up a little more with the passing game as the Razorbacks will be pretty stout in the middle, but if they can get on the outside with some options it should be a breeze against that defense.
War Eagle!