Arkansas football goes back to basics in preparation for Auburn

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas must rally behind whatever pluses they can find as a 30-point underdog on Saturday in the team’s Southeastern Conference opener against the No. 9 Tigers in Auburn, Ala.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game is scheduled to be televised by the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79).

Coaches and players acknowledge they are up against it at Auburn (2-1, 0-1). Auburn thumped former coach Bret Bielema’s team last season, 52-20, in Fayetteville, and opened this season defeating

Pac-12 favorite Washington (2-1, 1-0), 21-16.

The Tigers have a defense Arkansas coach Chad Morris said is among the best he has ever witnessed. Auburn is coming off of a 2221 loss on a game-ending field goal last week against LSU (3-0, 1-0). “They’ve got as good a front seven defensively as I’ve seen,” Morris said. ” We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Arkansas is 1-2 after defeating Eastern Illinois (0-3), 55-20, in the season opener before blowing a 27-9 lead to lose, 34-27, at Colorado State (1-3) and being embarrassed, 44-17, at home by Conference USA member North Texas (3-0).

Morris said he started the week simplifying the offense Arkan-

sas operated against Colorado State and North Texas. Senior tight end Jeremy Patton, a second-year junior college transfer, said less is more simply has caught on.

“I think we kind of went back to our roots a little bit,” Patton said. “We’re just really narrowing it down to what we installed first. Last week, we felt we had an advantage against their defense and we tried to do a couple of things and I think now we are reverting a little bit more to what you saw in the Eastern Illinois game.”

Any basic comfort zone familiarity at least gives the Arkansas offense a basic starting point.

“Coach Morris is narrowing it down to the plays that we really believe will have a positive effect against their defense,” Patton said.

Defensively, the Razorbacks played better last week than a 44-17 score would indicate. Arkansas quarterbacks Cole Kelley, Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones were intercepted six times.

The turnovers, plus poor punting, constantly put Arkansas on a short field, defensively. North Texas scored 14 points directly off an interception return and a 90-yard yard punt return with Arkansas fooled that a fair catch was signaled though it was not.

Arkansas junior middle linebacker Scoota Harris made 12 tackles and two pass breakups, played exceptionally.

” I think Scoota was playing good football for Arkansas last year,” said Arkansas defensive coordinator and linebackers coach John Chavis. “There’s no question about that. He’s mature and he’s smart. It didn’t take him long to fit himself into our scheme and I think it’s a good fit for him.”

It also seems a good fit for senior defensive tackle Armon Watts. Logging mostly bit part action the last three years, Watts netted his third sack in three games among his two tackles, and also broke up a pass.

The Hogs do figure to have a solid first-team defensive line with senior Randy Ramsey finally debuting at one end last week. He missed the first two games with hamstring problems. Seniors Watts and T.J. Smith start inside, freeing junior Sosa Agim to move outside to the other end.

“Armon is playing at a high level,” Morris said. “A lot of times when you get a player that has been in the program for as long as he has, once it’s their turn they’re the guy. His effort is allowing us to put Sosa out there on the edge.”