After a rocky first few games, Auburn's offense found new life after offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee took over the playcalling duties, resulting in a 4-2 start and a spot among the best teams in college football.
No. 21 Auburn, listed as an early 9-point favorite in Saturday's home game against No. 17 Arkansas, is pleased with its solid start, but the brutal early schedule took a toll on the Tigers. With such a crucial SEC West showdown looming, Auburn used its bye week to lick its wounds.
"We got a lot of work with the guys that needed it that were healthy and the guys that were banged up after six games," Lashlee said. "We were able to be as smart as we could with them and so for this point in the season, six games in, I think we’re in decent shape for the stretch run."
Sunday evening's practice marked the end of the bye week and the beginning of preparations for Arkansas.
"(Tonight's practice) was good," Lashlee said. "We went a little longer with a little better energy than we would have on a normal Sunday because we didn’t play yesterday, so it was good to try to have a little bit of a jump start on the week."
Sophomore running back Kerryon Johnson, who suffered a right ankle injury against Mississippi State, partook in the Tigers' Sunday practice. Though his status for the game hasn't been decided, Auburn's confident he'll be ready to roll against the Razorbacks.
"He was moving around," Lashlee said. "He ran the ball some, caught some balls, so it was good to see him out there moving around."
The good news for the Tigers is that the second part of their one-two rushing punch, Kamryn Pettway, can be relied on as an every-down back. His 39 carries in Auburn's 38-14 win in Starkville was the fourth-most in program history. However, Lashlee would prefer to have both of his bruisers.
"It’s a day-to-day thing, but after today I feel like he’s got a shot, and just knowing the kid like I do, we’ll see as the week goes on," Lashlee said. "I'm optimistic still."
This bye week might have had more meaning to Lashlee than usual, as he was given two weeks to prepare for his alma mater. Lashlee played quarterback at Arkansas from 2002-2004 and graduated from the university in 2006.
Conventional wisdom suggests the SEC's official slogan for the 2016 season, "It Just Means More," is particularly applicable here. However, Lashlee doesn't see this game differently from the rest on the SEC schedule.
"After you play them for a while, that goes away to some degree," Lashlee said. "It just so happens it seems to be a pivotal game every year for us."
However, having been on both sides of the series, Lashlee sees a significant trait shared by the Tigers and Hogs. He believes this trait is the reason why most Auburn-Arkansas games — including last season's quadruple-overtime thriller in Fayetteville — are close affairs.
"At Arkansas they take great pride in being tough, in playing hard and just being scrappy and gritty," Lashlee said. "That’s what we took pride in there, and you look at Auburn, that’s something we take great pride in — being tough, being physical and just playing extremely, extremely hard."
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