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

Auburn football area of improvement #2: Containing the run

This game could swing heavily in Arkansas’ favor if the holes in the Tigers defense opened up by Georgia’s RBs and Georgia State’s Tucker Gregg can be similarly exploited by Arkansas’ ground weapons.

KJ Jefferson will probably launch a touchdown or two through the air coupled with a couple hundred passing yards. Max Johnson, Stetson Bennett, and Sean Clifford all made life difficult for the AU secondary so it’s borderline inevitable Jefferson does damage as well.

What needs to be prevented are the game-breaking runs Jefferson himself is capable of as well as the potential damage Raheim Sanders and Trelon Smith can do.

Arkansas’ high-tempo attack needs could test Derek Mason’s defense and mess with his substitution patterns. As Harsin said, Tiger defenders need to be ready (via AL.com):

"Depth is important, conditioning is important, but it’s really about toughness; it’s mental toughness. You’re on the field, and you’re not going to be able to sub when they’re going that quickly. So those guys have to stay in their play. It’s just a matter of mentality, they’re trying to attack on offense, and you’ve got to have the same mindset on defense."

When it comes to the Arkansas rush, the Tigers need to track ’em (like beagles) and give ’em hell (you War Damn Eagles).

Failing to do so will put a ton of pressure on the offense to outperform its 17 point per game average against Power Five teams this season.