Malzahn, Auburn not overlooking Razorbacks
FAYETTEVILLE — It’s not likely that any Gus Malzahn-coached team would overlook Arkansas.
The Razorbacks (1-2) lost to non-Power 5 opponents Colorado State (1-3), 34-27, and North Texas (3-0), whose Mean Green embarrassed them, 44-17, Saturday in Fayetteville.
Now in his sixth year as Auburn coach, Malzahn, the Fort Smith native and former Razorbacks walk-on who led Shiloh Christian and Springdale to Arkansas high school state championships, always seems to have his Tigers (2-1, 0-1) primed to play the Hogs, whether as head coach or when he was Auburn’s offensive coordinator from 2008–11. Malzahn also served as offensive coordinator for the Razorbacks for one year before a one-year stint as head coach at Arkansas State.
With Auburn’s Tigers upended, 22-21, by the LSU Tigers (3-0, 1-0) on a field goal on the last play of the game in both teams’ Southeastern Conference West opener Saturday in Auburn, Ala., it seems he has additional incentive to keep Auburn from overlooking the downtrodden Hogs in Saturday night’s SEC West game at Auburn.
Coach Chad Morris’ Hogs plays their SEC opener at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, televised on the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79).
Those losses to Mountain West and Conference USA teams hardly compare Auburn’s heartbreaker against No. 6 LSU, which was ranked No. 12 last week. But a loss is a loss, and so are the incentives after a loss, Malzahn maintains.
“We have got Arkansas, and their backs are against the wall,” Malzahn said during his Tuesday press
conference via telephone at Auburn. “They are a team with a new staff, and they are going to improve each week, and there’s no doubt we’ll get their best. We have to worry about them. That’s easier said than done, and a lot of teams can’t do that. But that’s what we’re going to do.”
Malzahn explained his expectations, even if it seems the Tigers could relax from looking at the North Texas film and their own 52-20 rout of the Razorbacks last year in Fayetteville.
“I think we have a veteran enough team to understand in this league it doesn’t matter what happened in the past,” Malzahn said. “You are going to get their best. And I think, too, (Auburn) coming off a tough loss helps with that kind of deal. We need to play well, and our players understand that, and our coaches understand that.”
Malzahn touts Morris and vice-versa. As a younger up-tempo offensively-oriented high school coach in Texas, Morris sought input from up-tempo offensively-oriented high school coach Malzahn, whom he visited in Arkansas.
“We developed a relationship, and he’s a great person,” Malzahn said. “One of the good guys in our business. He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around. You look at Clemson (when Morris was Clemson’s 2011-14 offensive coordinator for Dabo Swinney before head coaching SMU from 2015-17). When everything really changed for them is when they hired Chad Morris. He went to SMU, and it was low, low, low, and he got them out of it, and he’ll do the same thing there (Arkansas).”
Quarterback seems one of many huge differences in their current situations.
Morris hasn’t settled on a quarterback. He hopes now it will be junior Ty Storey who came off the bench the first game, netted his first-ever start but then was second-half relieved by firstgame starter Cole Kelley in the second game. Storey did not play a snap against North Texas.
Morris went with Kelley until his fourth interception led to North Texas leading, 37-10, in the third quarter. He debuted true freshmen Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones mopping up, so Storey could start unencumbered.
In contrast, Jarrett Stidham quarterbacked Auburn to the SEC West championship and a win over eventual national champion Alabama after transferring from Baylor last year. He has completed 48 of 75 passes for 584 yards and three touchdowns versus two interceptions this season. Both interceptions were last week against LSU.
“He’d like to have a couple of those plays back, but Jarrett, we have a lot of confidence in him,” Malzahn said. “He’s going to play extremely well. He’s our guy. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in college football.”
Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis concurs.
“Very, very talented,” Chavis said Monday. “I think obviously he’s got an NFL arm, and it’s a shame that he runs so good, but he does. He can move around. He can make you miss. He can make plays. In the SEC, you expect to see good quarterbacks. Certainly I think he has developed into being a really good quarterback.”