Arkansas-Auburn: One a contender, one a pretender in SEC West
There are only three matchups between teams in the Top 25 this weekend, and all three are in the SEC.
Specifically, all three involve clubs from the West. Six of the seven squads in the division are ranked: No. 1 Alabama, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 17 Arkansas, No. 21 Auburn, No. 23 Ole Miss and No.25 LSU.
Texas A&M-Alabama is the headliner, as both are undefeated and looking to take control of the West. The winner would essentially have a two-game lead over the loser since head-to-head results are the primary tiebreaker. Ole Miss-LSU — two programs clearly going in opposite directions — will wrap up a busy Saturday.
In between is Arkansas-Auburn. Both the Razorbacks and Tigers have exceeded expectations to some degree in 2016.
Austin Allen of the Hogs has thrown for more yards (1,861) and touchdowns (18) than any quarterback in the conference. Despite having never fired a pass that mattered before this season, his talent trumped his inexperience.
Not only does Arkansas have the league’s top passer, but it also possesses the SEC’s top rusher. Rawleigh Williams III — fresh off a career-high 180 yards against Ole Miss — has run for 785 yards and averages 5.6 yards per carry. Devwah Whaley has contributed with 306 yards as a reserve.
A much-maligned offensive line finally won the battle in the trenches a week ago in a 34-30 victory over the Rebels.
“We have three new starters in our lineup that have gotten better every game,” Razorbacks coach Bret Bielema (below) said Wednesday on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference. “They’ve done some really good things. Everybody wants to show the negative plays they had against Alabama, but there were a lot of plays where they played very, very well. I think if I dwell on the negatives like everybody else, we for sure wouldn’t be getting to where we need to be. Our guys have made steady improvement.”
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The Hogs will have their hooves full with an Auburn defense that is playing much better than it did a year ago. In 2015, this was just a collection of blue-chip recruits. But this season, the Tigers are more cohesive.
Auburn is fourth in the conference in scoring defense and fifth in total defense — 16 points and 346.8 yards allowed per game, respectively. It’s a rather balanced unit, ranking sixth against the run and third against the pass. After only recording 19 sacks all of last year, the Tigers already have 14 in six games.
First-year defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is doing what one-and-done Will Muschamp couldn’t: make a difference immediately.
The top priority for Arkansas will be blocking defensive end Carl Lawson. With 5.0 sacks in his past three games, he’s one of the more feared pass rushers in the league. Safety Johnathan Ford is a punishing tackler, too.
Unlike Florida, which has padded its stats defensively against inferior competition, Auburn has faced some high-flying offenses. Its only two losses have been to No. 4 Clemson and No. 6 Texas A&M. Quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Trevor Knight — both fringe Heisman Trophy candidates — only threw one TD each.
Allen, who has been knocked around as much as any signal caller in the SEC, will surely have quite a dirty uniform again.
On the other side of the ball, the Razorbacks haven’t been nearly as effective. They are 11th in scoring D (27.9) and ninth in total D (398.9). Stopping the pass (seventh) has only been marginally better than stopping the run (ninth).
With Dre Greenlaw out for the remainder of the season — he broke his foot in the Alabama game — more pressure has been placed on the shoulders of fellow linebacker Brooks Ellis (below). While he might be the leading tackler in Fayetteville, the senior hasn’t made a stop behind the line of scrimmage since Week 3.
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The Hogs need more from D-end Deatrich Wise Jr., too. Their top pass rusher was sackless against Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss.
Now they must deal with an Auburn offense that seemingly always runs the ball well and has also made improvements through the air. Credit coach Gus Malzahn for tweaking his scheme to accommodate quarterback Sean White.
While White isn’t nearly the running threat Malzahn tends to feature at the game’s most important position, he has an accurate arm — vastly superior to the more mobile QBs on the roster, Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III — and doesn’t make many mistakes. Very quietly, White is the No. 1-rated passer in the SEC.
The Tigers also run their system at a dizzying pace. Even more so than Ole Miss, which caught Arkansas napping a few times last week.
The Razorbacks did a little too much celebrating after making plays defensively. While they were still high-fiving and primal-screaming, the Rebels were snapping the ball and stealing some extra yardage here and there.
“We’re going to cut that out,” Hogs safety Josh Liddell said Wednesday, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “You can’t worry about what happened last play. You can’t celebrate. You can’t high-five each other. You have to get the call, line up and get ready for the next play. That’s the key against Auburn.”
If Alabama takes care of business vs. Texas A&M, then Auburn could control its own destiny in the West. The Tigers finish their schedule, of course, with the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. Having lost to the Crimson Tide and Aggies already, Arkansas needs chaos — and lots of it — to get back into the divisional race.
Arkansas-Auburn is a battle of pleasant surprises. The winner is alive as a contender. The loser is exposed as a pretender.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
