Razorbacks rewind

Tigers prey on Hogs' intrusion

Arkansas' Devaroe Lawrence (94) stands up after sacking Arkansas quarterback Ty Storey deep in Arkansas territory on 3rd and long in the fourth quarter during their game Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas players were meeting at midfield during the informal pregame period, as they've done for all their other games, when things got a little tense before Saturday's 56-3 loss to No. 17 Auburn.

The Auburn players, who were gathering for their team prayer, weren't happy about the pep talk on their "AU" logo at the 50.

Players of the week

Offense

WR Keon Hatcher

• Hatcher, a senior from Owasso, Okla., caught 7 passes for 81 yards. Hatcher had 2 catches for 33 yards during Arkansas’ field-goal drive.

Defense

DE Deatrich Wise, Jr.

• Wise, a senior from Carrolton, Texas, tied safety Josh Liddell for the team lead with 8 tackles, with 6 of those unassisted, and 1 quarterback hurry.

Players did some jawing, but cooler heads prevailed as the Razorbacks moved to another portion of the field to continue their team huddle.

The Tigers used it for motivation during their dominating performance.

"We were already amped up for this game because of the loss last year and it was just fuel to the fire," Auburn cornerback Carlton Davis said.

"We were motivated coming into this game, but them stepping on our AU felt a little disrespectful," said running back Kamryn Pettway, who triggered the Tigers' attack with a career-high 192 yards and two touchdowns.

"Normally we pray before every game and we pray around the AU," said linebacker Tre' Williams. "They were standing in the middle of our AU. That's low-key disrespectful to stand on our logo. We just tried to let them know that they needed to get off of our logo."

Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said "We have never had that happen before in our prayer circle. But we were wanting to win the football game, and we were plenty motivated."

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema was not asked about the incident during his postgame remarks.

Last season, 350-pound offensive guard Sebastian Tretola had a confrontation with LSU players and security personnel while going through his pregame ritual on the Tiger eye at midfield in Baton Rouge, La.

Concerns

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said the Razorbacks will address problems on both sides of the ball when they begin making corrections today and turning their attention toward an open date and the Florida game on Nov. 5.

"I think it's easy to say and look at the defense, but we've got to kind of look at everything," Bielema said.

If No. 14 Florida maintains its ranking after Saturday's game against Georgia, Arkansas will be playing its fifth top 15 opponent at the time of their game. Auburn moved from No. 21 to No. 15 in the AP poll on Sunday.

Injury report

Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen will have nearly two weeks to recover from the sprained knee he suffered on Saturday at Auburn.

Allen was injured in the second quarter on a low hit from behind by Carl Lawson. He missed two plays at the end of that series, but returned for Arkansas' next possession. The junior was pulled for good early in the fourth quarter and headed to the locker room for further examination.

"The reason we pulled him at the end, it started swelling up on him and getting a little more tight," Coach Bret Bielema said. "Don't know the full extent of that."

Offensive tackle Brian Wallace went down in the fourth quarter with a severe ankle sprain.

Wallace was not putting pressure on the foot as he left the field, and was carted toward the Arkansas locker room before being given crutches to go inside.

Ground gash

Arkansas allowed a program-high 543 rushing yards with no sacks and no lost-yardage tackles in its 56-3 loss to Auburn. The only negative-yardage play for the Tigers came on James Franklin's kneel down on the game's final play.

Arkansas fell to 111th nationally in rushing defense and are allowing 221.8 rushing yards per game, the second-most in the SEC.

Poll lull

Arkansas fell from No. 17 to out of the rankings in both the Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls on Sunday.

The Razorbacks had been ranked for six consecutive weeks, the longest stretch under fourth-year Coach Bret Bielema.

Arkansas is still receiving votes in both polls as the 29th highest-rated team in the AP poll and the 30th highest-rated team in the USA Today coaches poll.

Pulley drop

Arkansas had a chance to get back in the game early in the first quarter when it was trailing 7-0. Defensive end Deatrich Wise got pressure on Auburn quarterback Sean White on his first pass, and White threw in the direction of Tony Stevens, who was near the left sideline. Arkansas cornerback Ryan Pulley turned and saw the pass headed low but right at him, but the ball bounced off his hands and incomplete.

"Ryan had a real good read on that," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. "You've got to make those plays if you want to be a good team."

Truitt take

Auburn sophomore Stanton Truitt had a career day against Arkansas, with two rushing scores, a touchdown catch and 123 all-purpose yards. Truitt changed positions from receiver to running back after the season started.

Truitt, who went to high school in Atlanta, is the son of Stan Truitt, who was on the roster at Arkansas but never lettered.

"There's not really any bad vibes about it, he just really wants to see me do well," Truitt said.

Top Tigers

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said he had to tip his hat to the players on the Auburn defensive front, who made it tough on the Hogs.

"55 and 1 [Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams] are probably two of the premier players in our league, and today that was very, very evident," Bielema said.

Sports on 10/24/2016