The Auburn Plainsman sports staff gives their preview of Saturday's matchup between No. 21 Auburn and Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Will Sahlie, sports editor

Nathan King, assistant sports editor

The last time Auburn was coming off a crushing road loss in which the offense proved anemic in the second half, the Tigers almost fell at home to Mercer.

Auburn escaped Jordan-Hare with a 24-10 victory over the FCS Bears on homecoming, revealing that Gus Malzahn's team didn't have much of a fire lit under them after losing in Week 2 at Clemson.  Last week's loss to LSU is a much different situation. Auburn was favored in that contest and losing came in a meltdown fashion, as opposed to the methodical win by Clemson. 

Last season, it was injury after injury that stalled out the Auburn offense after they ripped off a six-game winning streak. When at full power (notably with a healthy QB under center) Auburn terrorized opponents. This year's offense hit a brick wall after the opening quarter-and-a-half of play against LSU, and needs to turn it around fast before they get stunned by an Arkansas ballclub desperate for a season-altering win.

The Razorbacks are 2-4 (0-3 SEC) and will be playing their first conference home game of the year. Fresh off a beating at the hands of No. 1 Alabama, the Arkansas offense will rely on redshirt freshman QB Cole Kelley, who is still heading the squad after an injury to starter Austin Allen. Kelley's performance against the Crimson Tide was modest at best, however some home cooking may be just the spark that Arkansas needs to play a competitive in-conference game. 

Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham should be able to get back on track against a lowly Razorbacks secondary, but don't count on the Tigers to run away with this one. After losses in the Malzahn era, Auburn is outscoring their opponents 453-316 -- an average victory of 30-21. Toss out a few bounce-back games against Alabama A&M, Idaho and Arkansas State, and Auburn is barely batting .500 coming off losses. 

Expect Kerryon Johnson to have another solid performance, even if Kamryn Pettway again inexplicably touches the ball five more times than backups Kam Martin and Devan Barrett combined. If Johnson is spelled by the talented youngsters, he could run wild.

Arkansas will stay in the game until the fourth, when the Tigers defense should be able to wear down the Razorbacks' offense line and start beating up on Kelley. However, if Arkansas is able to grab a few turnovers early, keep the crowd in the game and expose Auburn's offense again, we could be looking at the upset of the week.

Score prediction: Auburn 24, Arkansas 16. 

Tyler Roush, sports reporter

Sumner Martin, sports writer

Peter Santo, sports writer

Bennett Page, sports writer