No.2 Auburn and un-ranked Arkansas meet for the 16th time Saturday (Oct.7) in a battle between two SEC western division teams that are undefeated in conference play. Auburn is coming off a 24-17 victory at South Carolina last Thursday while Arkansas had a bye. The Razorbacks earned a 24-23 double overtime victory over Alabama in Arkansas’ last contest Sept. 23rd. The game will kickoff at Noon (EDT) and will be televised nationally by CBS.
There are a few similarities between the Arkansas and Auburn football teams. Old friends and Arkansas natives, Tommy Tuberville, a Camden native and coach of the Tigers and Houston Nutt the nine-year Arkansas coach and a Little Rock native coach both teams. The two best running backs in the Southeastern Conference will be on the field, Auburns’ Kenny Irons and Arkansas’ Darren McFadden. Auburn will field the leagues best defense to oppose an Arkansas offense that could be considered … a work in progress. That is why Auburn has been installed as a 15 ½ – point favorite by most Las Vegas odds-makers. Arkansas is 3-1 straight up, 2-0 in SEC play and 0-4 against the spread while the Tigers are 5-0 SU, 2-0 in the SEC and 3-1 ATS.
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The reason the Arkansas offense could be considered, in the developmental stage is it’s shifting from a more traditional smash-mouth philosophy to a more wide-open spread (no huddle) style. In the first four football games, only bits and pieces of this new offense have been unveiled. Running this offense on the field is true freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain, the high school phenom from Springdale High School in Arkansas. Mustain’s old high school coach and offensive guru Gus Malzhan has been hired to orchestrate the offense as coordinator.
The Razorbacks are not abandoning their rush first policy but trying to make things more balanced. If they can accomplish that it will make things easier for All-SEC tailback Darren McFadden who is currently second in the SEC in rushing at 102.2 yards per game and 22nd nationally after rushing for 112 yards in a 24-23 double-overtime win over Alabama. The 112 yards against the Crimson Tide was his seventh 100-yard rushing performance in his 15 career games as a Razorback and his second this season.
Mustain’s top receiver, junior Marcus Monk is turning in the best numbers of his career with 14 catches for 277 yards through four games. He has caught two touchdown passes and is averaging 19.8 yards per catch. Monk ranks 10th in the SEC in receiving yards.
Defensively Arkansas is led by senior All-SEC linebacker Sam Olajubutu who grew up less than 45 miles from the Auburn campus in LaGrange, Georgia. Olajubutu has 35 career tackles in three games against Auburn.
Another All-SEC player, senior Kenny Irons who ran for 117 yards last week at South Carolina, paces auburns powerful running attack. Despite missing a Sept. 23 game against Buffalo he is still ahead of the pace he set last season when he led the SEC in rushing with 1,293 yards. Irons leads the SEC in rushing with an average of 109.8 yards per game, and his 439 yards rushing through five team games is 120 more than he had after five games last season.
Senior wide receiver Courtney Taylor has helped Auburn maintain its great offensive balance by hauling in 119 career receptions more than any other active player in the SEC. His 1,661 career receiving yards already ranks him seventh in Auburn history and his 119 career catches are fifth best.
Arkansas has had an extra week to work on its offense since its last game and win over Alabama. Tuberville in his Monday press conference made some comments on what he expects. “Arkansas is a very good football team.” Tuberville said. “The Razorbacks are much improved each week and well coached. I really enjoy this game being from Arkansas.
