Auburn football: 3 areas Tigers need to improve on to beat Arkansas

The Auburn football program took a tough loss to Georgia last Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and now faces a critical Week 7 SEC West showdown with Arkansas in Fayetteville.

AU fell 34-10 in a performance that was as frustrating as…well, the first half of the Georgia State game. At leas that one had a happy ending, though.

The Bulldogs came in and outclassed the Tigers in just about every category and knocked them out of the AP Top 25. 

Now, the season hangs in the balance against a Hogs squad that is reeling after two straight losses. Those losses couldn’t have been more different, with one being a 37-0 drubbing at Sanford Stadium at UGA’s paws and the other a 52-51 shootout that ended with a failed two-point conversion toss from an overthrown KJ Jefferson ball.

If Bryan Harsin wants to avoid a spooky situation where AU is 4-3 with Matt Corral and the Rebels coming to town on Halloween eve, Auburn needs to focus on these 3 areas of improvement:

Auburn football area of improvement #1: WRs catching the ball

The prevailing narrative from the Bulldog beatdown at JHS under the sultry southern sun was the disappointing performance from the Auburn wide receivers.

It’s unacceptable to drop seven passes, especially against a top two (now undisputed #1) team in the country in a rivalry game.

The WRs have been beaten up enough, but things need to improve immediately for Eric Kiesau’s group. As fun as it is for some to blame Bo Nix for all of the offense’s issues, the reality is that this group is starting to become a glaring issue, with the most dropped passes in the SEC.

Perhaps deploying TE Landen King in passing situations could lead to better results for Harsin and co.