Gus Malzahn says Auburn had ‘old school’ practices after Georgia loss, ready for physical Arkansas team
Last week, Auburn had a disappointing showing when it suffered a lopsided 27-6 loss at Georgia. But the Tigers have an opportunity to bounce back this week as they go up against Arkansas, their first matchup of the season against an unranked opponent.
And it appears that Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn has been pleased with his team’s preparations for this week’s contest.
“We really had some good, old-school practices to try to improve fundamentals and execution,” Malzahn said on Tiger Talk this week (h/t Mark Murphy of 247Sports.com). “That has really been on our mind, too, and just developing that depth.”
Auburn leads the all-time series against Arkansas 17-11-1, which includes wins each of the past four years. However, the Razorbacks are coming off their first victory under new head coach Sam Pittman, an upset road win at Mississippi State.
So, Malzahn is aware that his Auburn team can’t overlook its opponent this week.
“First off all they are playing extremely hard when you watch them on film and they had a great defensive plan and I thought they executed that plan very well,” Malzahn said on Tiger Talk. “I thought their offense did a solid job moving the ball. … It was a very impressive road win last week for them.”
Auburn has some difficult games ahead, with four of its final five contests coming against ranked opponents. So if the Tigers are going to compete in the SEC West this season, they likely can’t afford to lose matchups like this one against the Razorbacks.
Auburn and Arkansas are set to kick off at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.