Arkansas football continues its 2024 season against Auburn in just four days at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, and Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze spoke to the media Monday to preview the matchup.
Auburn opened its season with a 73-3 win over FCS program Alabama A&M, but dropped its Week 2 matchup against California at home, 21-14. In its latest matchup versus New Mexico, the Tigers exploded in the second half for a comfortable 45-19 victory.
Last season, Auburn finished with a 6-7 (3-5 SEC) overall record that included wins over Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas in 48-10 blowout fashion.
Though senior quarterback Payton Thorne returns from that squad, redshirt freshman Hank Brown was promoted to first team against New Mexico last week and will retain his starting spot against the Hogs. The 6-foot-4, 208-pound signal caller completed 17-of-25 passes against the Lobos for 235 yards and four touchdowns.
This will mark the 34th meeting between the two teams, as Auburn leads the series 20-12-1. The last time Arkansas won was in 2022, when the Razorbacks defeated the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium, 41-27.
Here's everything Freeze had to say about head coach Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks:
On Arkansas as a whole:
Freeze: "Hopefully we can build upon that as we turn our attention to what's a much, much improved Arkansas team. This quarterback is another one that's going to run around and make a lot of plays. They've got a really good offensive scheme that makes you prepare for a lot of different things, and experienced coaches that have done this a long time.
"O-line is probably the most improved unit that I've seen this year with the guys they brought in from the portal. They are really, really improved in the offensive line.
"Defensively, they're very similar to last year, a lot of returners. Probably better in the secondary a little bit. Front's the same guys, one linebacker’s back, so it's pretty similar defensively, and they're playing really, really hard right now.
"But offensively, it’s a lot to deal with, with the way they’re using their quarterback in the run game and in the pass game, and the running backs are really, really solid with an improved O-line.”
On Bobby Petrino's offense:
Freeze: "I haven’t watched them on offense yet. I’ve been watching their defense yesterday and this morning, but I did ask DJ (Durkin) yesterday, ‘Has anything changed from what he is normally?’ and he said it’s very similar. What makes him so different is typically it’s a very, very good mixture of the pro-style offense with some of the college flare in it and doing it out of a lot of mixed sets with a lot of tight ends that present extra gaps in the run game.
"Yet, he’s able to throw all of the three-level routes and play-action off of it also. If you can get 12-personnel and be effective in running the ball and take shots out of it, that’s scary. That’s a scary world to live in.”
On the biggest threat Arkansas proposes:
Freeze: “Well, a good football team that’s well coached. They are deep at some places, and they look like an SEC football team, particularly the O-line, running backs and tight ends. The quarterback’s very, very dangerous. Big defensive line, the inside guys are huge. (Number) 40 (Landon Jackson) is a preseason all-SEC guy at defensive end. They replaced a couple linebackers, but these guys seem solid. The secondary, they’re going to challenge you.
"We haven’t been challenged like this. They are going to get up press you and will bring a mixture of quarters, man and some three, but they disguise it pretty good. But in all of them, they’ll get up and press you, so it’s going to test us. How do we handle getting off the ball in press technique? We haven’t seen a lot of that. Cal’s DB’s were pretty good but they were press bail. It wasn’t true press, these guys will truly press you.”
