Auburn Football: Can Tigers Keep Offensive Momentum Going vs. Arkansas?
At a time when Auburn needed it the most, Gus Malzahn's offense turned back the clock last Thursday night in Lexington, Kentucky.
The Tigers scored on their first two possessions as quarterback Sean White moved the ball with efficiency and explosiveness downfield. The rushing attack came through near the end zone with a pair of touchdowns from the ever-reliable Peyton Barber and another one from the young Kerryon Johnson.
And, perhaps most importantly in a tight road win, Auburn didn't turn the ball over while converting more than 60 percent of its third-down attempts for the first time all season.
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For most of its 30-27 victory against Kentucky, Auburn's offense looked more like a true Malzahn attack than the error-prone and completely flat one that took the field in back-to-back SEC losses.
"We wanted to be more aggressive," Malzahn said, per James Crepea of AL.com. "We're starting to settle in. We're starting to get some rhythm in practice."
Now comes the hard part for the Tigers: keeping that rhythm going as they continue their season-salvaging efforts against Arkansas.
Was the more-explosive performance by the Auburn offense a fluke, or was it a true signal of better things to come?
Wide receiver Ricardo Louis says he believes it's the latter.
"[The win] is going to give us a lot of confidence moving forward," Louis said, per Wesley Sinor of AL.com. "I can feel the team really coming to play. We're finding our rhythm on offense and defense...and that's what it takes to win."
Louis definitely found his rhythm in the offense Thursday night against Kentucky. The senior set a new season-high for receiving yards before the first quarter even ended, grabbing five catches for 114 yards.
He later had a 34-yard reception from White, the redshirt freshman who was widely rumored to be replaced in the starting lineup by Jeremy Johnson, to set up a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown.
In Auburn's first game without the talented but troubled Duke Williams, Louis became the go-to target for the offense by making some leaping catches that were reminiscent of what Williams did last season.
"He made some big-time plays with the ball in the air," Malzahn said, per Tom Green of the Opelika-Auburn News. "He high-pointed the ball, and he helped us win tonight."
Louis proved that he could be the new No. 1 for an Auburn wide receiving corps that will get plenty of action from the hard-throwing White for the rest of the season.
That chemistry between White and Louis will be vital this weekend. While Arkansas is ranked ahead of Kentucky in total yards allowed per game, most of that is due to how much the Razorbacks hold onto the ball on offense.
Arkansas has allowed 5.92 yards per play this season, which ranks 100th in the FBS. The much-maligned Auburn defense, on the other hand, is slightly ahead at 83rd.
Auburn needs more of the chunk plays downfield that it generated against Kentucky because Arkansas will shrink the window of opportunities for the Tigers to score with its clock-melting offense.
And those plays will most likely need to come in the passing game where Arkansas has struggled in its losses this season.
| UTEP | Won 48-13 | 58 | 146 | 3.85 |
| Toledo | Lost 16-12 | 81 | 237 | 5.13 |
| Texas Tech | Lost 35-24 | 171 | 315 | 8.38 |
| Texas A&M | Lost 28-21 | 65 | 358 | 8.81 |
| Tennessee | Won 24-20 | 133 | 232 | 5.21 |
| Alabama | Lost 27-14 | 134 | 262 | 5.01 |
While there will be more pressure on the young White on Saturday in Fayetteville, Auburn can also build off some of the successes it had on the ground against Kentucky.
Kentucky held Auburn to less than four yards per carry for the first time all season, but it added a successful wrinkle to the grind-it-out style of Barber.
Kerryon Johnson, a true freshman running back, took five snaps out of the shotgun in the Wildcat formation and scored his first career touchdown out of the package.
"It was huge," Johnson said, per Green. "It was kind of surreal just thinking months ago I was in high school and now I’m scoring my first college touchdown. I enjoyed it a lot."
The unbalanced set kept Kentucky's defense off-balance, especially when backup quarterback Jeremy Johnson lined up at wide receiver and ran fake handoffs.
Malzahn's creativity in the formation could turn into several big plays against Arkansas. Auburn used sophomore running back Roc Thomas on a sweep there, and the fakes to Jeremy Johnson seem like they're setting up a potential pass play for the former starter.
The long-term successes of both Auburn's passing and running games are linked to its offensive line, which has been steadily progressing in the last two weeks.
Auburn showed great improvement in pass protection against Kentucky, allowing only one sack on a day when White attempted 27 passes.
The front five must continue to be tough in the running game during the second half of the season. In addition to the large and physical front of Arkansas, Auburn has contests against Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Alabama—three teams with elite defensive linemen.
If the linemen stay strong in front of a developing White and a multi-headed rushing attack, the explosiveness Auburn found in Kentucky will make its way to Arkansas.
Get off to a good start there, and the Tigers will make Bret Bielema and the methodical Hogs play catch-up in their own backyard. That's the ideal plan for a second straight SEC road win and a 5-2 record.
Unless otherwise noted, other statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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