Malzahn's Tigers lean on run game

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Auburn Tigers were in the midst of putting together a special season, with victories over well-regarded Oregon and Texas A&M and a 56-23 pounding of Mississippi State, and rising as high as No. 7 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Then they traveled to The Swamp at Florida on Oct. 5 and came away smarting from a 24-13 loss.

The Gators punctured an Auburn defense that Coach Gus Malzahn touted as probably the best he'd been around, for 398 yards, and the Tigers lost top tailback JaTarvious Whitlow with a knee injury in the setback.

The No. 11 Tigers (5-1 overall, 2-1 SEC) had a open date to process that loss, heal some bruises and prepare for their second SEC road trip of the season.

No doubt Malzahn and the Tigers are relishing an opportunity to get back on track Saturday morning against the reeling Arkansas Razorbacks (2-4, 0-3 SEC) who are riding a 14-game SEC losing skid and a three-game losing streak.

The SEC West rivals kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday with Auburn looking to win for the sixth time in the last seven games of the series.

Malzahn, the Fort Smith native and former University of Arkansas offensive coordinator, said on Sunday the Tigers were spunky while getting in extra prep time for the Razorbacks.

"I think they were refreshed over the weekend and came back ready to practice tonight and that was a good sign," Malzahn said. "We've got a head start on our game plan preparing for Arkansas."

Many Auburn fans might see the road date at the Razorbacks as an easily manageable weigh station that bridges difficult games against top 10 LSU, Alabama and Georgia on the back half of the Tigers' schedule.

Malzahn can't think like that.

"You've got to look at it from a coach's standpoint," he said. "We know A&M is a good team. They played them very close all the way down to the wire and could have won the game. Then this past week at Kentucky, which I know is a tough place to play, they were winning the majority of the game and still had a chance towards the end.

"They're playing hard. You can't take anything for granted. We are expecting them to play hard and do what they've been doing. They are close and continuing to fight and really it's about us playing good football. That's really the message I've been having to my team. We have a lot of respect for them."

The respect flows stronger from the Razorbacks.

"Auburn, when you look at their team, they've got speed all over," Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said. "As good a defensive front as I've seen, that I've been able to play against."

Morris also praised Kevin Steele's work as Auburn's defensive coordinator and the Tigers' strong tackling.

Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock thinks defensive tackle Derrick Brown ranks among the best defensive linemen in the SEC in recent memory.

"He's a really, really, really good player," Craddock said. "I made the comment ... we've seen Jadeveon Clowney in this league, coached against him, and my first thought is this kid right here, No. 5 [Brown] is probably the best interior defensive linemen we've ever faced or ever seen on film.

"He's very powerful. He's strong. He's quick-twitch. He gets off blocks really easily."

The Tigers are No. 37 nationally in total defense (336.7 yards per game), No. 20 against the run (101.33) and No. 18 in scoring defense (18.3 points per game).

Offensively, the Tigers have leaned on the run game, and true freshman quarterback Bo Nix, who won the starting job in camp over Joey Gatewood, is a big part of that.

Nix is second on the team with 191 rushing yards and has scored two rushing touchdowns to go along with 1,125 passing yards and 8 passing touchdowns.

"He's a dual threat," Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis said. "He can beat you throwing, he can beat you running. He's a guy you've got to account for in this offense. Their staff has done a very good job getting him ready to play in the SEC."

Nix is last among the 12 SEC qualifiers in completion percentage at 54.6%, bogged down by a 13 of 32 performance (40.1%) in the opener, a 27-21 victory over then-No. 11 Oregon.

In the same game, Nix ran for 42 yards and found Seth Williams for a 26-yard game-winning touchdown pass with 9 seconds remaining.

"We knew what Bo was coming out of high school, just a great, talented quarterback," Morris said. "He's a freshman, but he's doing a great job of running the offense as Coach Malzahn has asked him to do."

With Whitlow out, the Tigers will turn to senior Kam Martin, a part-time starter who rushed for 458 yards each of the last two seasons, as their lead back, with Shaun Shivers the top reserve. Martin has 174 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns and averages 5.1 yards per carry, and Shivers has 144 yards and averages 5.3 yards per carry.

Backup quarterback Joey Gatewood has scored three rushing touchdowns among his 122 rushing yards and Anthony Schwartz (6 carries, 78 yards, 2 TD) and Eli Stove (6-56, 1) have been dangerous on jet sweeps.

"They want to run the football," Morris said. "That's what they've always been built on. Obviously with losing a running back, they've got a couple of other guys behind him that are just as talented. Kam Martin ... has speed to burn. These guys have got some great speed."

The Tigers used a reverse pass for a 62-yard touchdown against the Razorbacks two years ago, the kind of gadget play they could hone during their open date.

"There's going to be a few things I'm sure that we haven't seen, but our guys are looking forward to the opportunity, and you could tell that last night as we came back in here," Morris said Monday.

Sports on 10/16/2019