Arkansas head coach Ryan Silverfield knows his team isn't playing at a level that can even meet the moment against Auburn right now.
Silverfield sounded unhappy with his Razorbacks' preparation ahead of a Week 10 clash with the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium this coming Saturday.
“We better show up tomorrow and ready for a tough opponent at Auburn next Saturday,” Silverfield said after a 34-10 loss to Missouri in Fayetteville on Saturday night.
The Hogs gave up 211 rushing yards to a Mizzou squad that had Ahmad Hardy back after a long absence. Hardy was shot in the leg in the offseason and had 42 rushing yards on three carries. It was Jamal Roberts who carried the load with 138 rushing yards and a touchdown run on 23 carries.
Offensively, KJ Jackson continued an up-and-down season against Missouri, amassing 229 yards on a 20/34 passing performance with an interception. This season, Jackson has seven touchdown passes and five interceptions.
The Razorbacks' running game barely helped, with no rusher owning a yards-per-carry average of over 3.2. Arkansas was credited with just 59 rushing yards against Mizzou on Saturday night.
Auburn cannot lose to this disjointed Arkansas football team
This is not the kind of team Auburn can afford to lose to this Saturday.
There have been some seriously disappointing losses to the Razorbacks in recent seasons, with the 2022 loss being Bryan Harsin's last game before being canned, and the 2024 game proving Hugh Freeze had no idea what he was doing with quarterbacks Payton Thorne and current Iowa starter Hank Brown.
Losing this one would bring on a feeling of doom that cannot be overstated. Alex Golesh managed a difficult October decently enough, escaping with a Deep South's Oldest Rivalry win over Georgia. The blowout losses to Ole Miss and LSU were bad looks, though, and this Auburn fanbase is begging to at least beat the Arkansas and Mississippi States of the world.
If that isn't possible, this offseason will be a stressful one on the Plains. You'd likely see John Cohen canned as AD, and you'd definitely see many giving up on Golesh prematurely.
These Razorbacks are vulnerable. Silverfield made that clear on Saturday night.
Lose to them, and you'll have the Plains falling apart over its deeply disappointing football team. Again.
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