After a disappointing loss in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry last Saturday, Auburn will have to quickly learn from its mistakes as they prepare for a meeting with the Arkansas Razorbacks this Saturday.
“We reviewed the film, corrected mistakes, went over corrections in practice and did that kind of stuff,” Auburn center Nick Brahms said. “Now, we’re moving onto Arkansas.
Saturday presents a unique opportunity for Auburn and new offensive coordinator Chad Morris. Morris spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Arkansas.
Brahms not only wants to rebound after the difficult loss, but also wants to play hard for Morris.
“I would say it’s definitely personal for him,” Brahms. “In that matter, we’re playing for him, we’re playing for each other. I love that guy. I love Chad Morris. Coach Morris is awesome. I’m going to play for him, I’m going to play hard for him.”
This may be Morris’ first season on the Plains, but he has quickly earned the admiration of the players.
“I think everybody is honestly,” Brahms said. “Nobody takes him for granted because he’s a great person and a great man and a great coach. This is his former team that he coached for, so we’re going to play hard for him.”
The Auburn defense had its fair share of issues against Georgia. Although the Tigers were capable of holding Georgia to just three points in the second half, the Bulldogs also put up 24 points in the first half.
Auburn also allowed Georgia’s offense to convert on third down 64.3% of the time in last Saturday’s game. The Bulldogs finished the day converting 9-of-14 times on third down against Auburn’s defense.
Linebacker Owen Pappoe wants to make sure that Auburn works on getting stops on third downs in practice this week.
“It was definitely hard to see that out there,” Pappoe said. “It was a struggle, but we’re going to regroup in practice this week and make sure we never see anything like that again. We’re going to get that corrected for sure.”
Auburn is 1-1, with just eight games left in the season. The Tigers are planning to fix their mistakes from the loss to Georgia and watch Arkansas’ film to prepare for the second home game of the season.
Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks may have just joined the Razorbacks this offseason, but Pappoe feels that Franks has brought new life to the offense.
“I think they look better than they have the past few years,” Pappoe said. “Definitely better than last year. They’ve got a new quarterback in Feleipe Franks; he’s a really talented guy and I think he’s brought that offense together and has those guys playing hard and playing together.”
The Razorbacks have been a surprise through the first two weeks and Pappoe knows Auburn will need to be ready on Saturday.
“So I think it’s going to be a pretty good game for us,” Pappoe said. “We’re going to have to give them all we got, because they’re going to give us their best shot.”
No. 13 Auburn will take on Arkansas Saturday, Oct. 10, in Jordan-Hare Stadium at 3 p.m. CST and will be broadcasted on SEC Network.
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Mattison Allen is a senior from Springville, Ala. She's majoring in public relations communications with the goal of becoming a sports information director one day.
