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A spirit that is not afraid

Tigers Tackle Razorbacks

Rod Guajardo / PHOTO EDITOR
Rod Guajardo / PHOTO EDITOR

The Auburn Tigers (5-0, 2-0) will try to get their first 6-0 start since the 2004 season as they travel to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-2, 0-2).

The Tigers are coming off a 26-22 conference win against the Tennessee Volunteers last Saturday making head coach Gene Chizik the third Auburn head coach in history to win his first five games, joining Terry Bowden and Mike Donahue.

"It was a sloppy win, but a win is a win," said senior defensive end Antonio Coleman. "However you look at it, we're 5-0."

Auburn has a record of 10-7-1 all time against the Razorbacks, but is 3-5 in Fayetteville.

The Tigers are fifth in the nation in scoring offense (41.4), total offense (512.8 yards per game) and rushing offense (253.8).

So far Auburn has scored 207 points, which is one shy of all the points Auburn scored last year.

The offense is led by senior quarterback Chris Todd, who ranks seventh in the nation in yards per completion (15.19), tied for seventh in touchdown passes (12) and eighth nationally in passing efficiency (160.81).

Joining Todd are senior running back Ben Tate and freshman running back Onterio McCalebb, two of the top five rushers in the SEC.

McCalebb led the Tigers with 204 all-purpose yards in last week's win against the Volunteers.

Tate ran for a team-high 128 yards, ranks 13th nationally in rushing (108.0), and is eighth in school history with 2,499 career rushing yards.

"Ben Tate ran for some tough yards," Chizik said. "I'm really proud of the way he ran the football."

The Tigers worked on correcting mental mistakes from the Tennessee game and will make corrections for the Arkansas game this Saturday.

"The defense gave up too many points," Coleman said. "Throughout these first five games the defense always finds a way to shoot themselves in the foot and let teams come back when we should just put the nail in the coffin."

The Razorbacks are coming off a 47-19 win over previously undefeated Texas A&M and are led by red-shirt sophomore Ryan Mallet who leads the SEC in passing yards per game (287.0).

Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof realizes Auburn will face a tough challenge from the Razorback offense.

"They (Arkansas) are putting up big numbers on offense this season," Roof said after Sunday's practice. "A lot of people say their quarterback, Mallett, has one of, if not the best, arm in college football. So we are going to have to be ready to go Saturday."

Although the Hogs lead the SEC in passing offense, they are last in passing defense (283.5), total defense (404.5) and scoring defense (29.0).

The defense is led by senior defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard, who leads the SEC in tackles for loss per game, averaging 1.4.

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Arkansas is sixth nationally in kickoff returns (29.0) with help from sophomore tailback Dennis Johnson, who is third in the SEC averaging 29.8 yards per return.

With last week's win over Tennessee, Auburn is in the Top 25 polls for the first time this season, ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press Poll.

The last time the Tigers played a game as a nationally ranked team was last year against Arkansas when Auburn entered the game ranked No. 20. Arkansas won 25-22.

Saturday's game will be televised nationally by ESPN and will kickoff at 11 a.m. CDT.


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