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Published Sep 21, 2024
Auburn position grades versus Arkansas
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Henry Patton  •  AuburnSports
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Yikes.

In what was an incredibly ugly game, Auburn lost at home to Arkansas 24-14 in a game that was hard on the eyes of everyone watching.

Outside of two big plays to Keandre Lambert-Smith, the Tigers' offense did nothing on an Arkansas defense that allowed 27 points to UAB a week prior.

Here are some Auburn position/unit grades from Saturday's game.

QUARTERBACKS: D

For now, the Hank Brown experience seems dead.

It was a dreadful first SEC start for Brown as he threw three interceptions and was benched after halftime. Auburn did not score once with Brown running the offense.

In came Payton Thorne.

Thorne was better. Not much better, though. He went 6-of-13 for 144 yards with two touchdowns to Lambert-Smith.

Overall, a rough day for Auburn's quarterbacks.

RUNNING BACKS: C+

As the game went along, Arkansas started to load the box more and more to dare Auburn and Brown to beat them through the air.

In the second half, Auburn ran the ball just 13 times and averaged 2.9 yards per carry.

On the day, Auburn ran the ball 23 times and 12 of those went for at least four yards.

Damari Alston had a run that looked like it'd end in a touchdown, but he fumbled into the endzone and Arkansas recovered.

RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: B

This grade is this high solely because of Lambert-Smith.

The Penn State transfer posted a career game with five catches and 156 yards to go along with two touchdowns.

Outside of him, it was a whole lot of nothing. The next leading receiver, Rivaldo Fairweather, had 32 yards.

It's tough to gauge the receivers with how poor the QB play was at times, but Thorne's interception went off of Cam Coleman's hands, so it's not as if the receivers were blameless in this offensive disaster class.

OFFENSIVE LINE: B-

The line was fine. Arkansas didn't have a sack all game, and the run blocking was good when Auburn wasn't running against loaded fronts.

Nothing noteworthy, but not a bad game by any means.


DEFENSE: B-

Auburn's defense did what it could for about 50 minutes. But like the Cal game, it got very little support from the offense and tired out by the end.

Long third downs killed the defense. The Razorbacks were 5-of-8 on third downs with a distance of at least nine yards including a 58-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-19 to give Arkansas its lead back.

For the most part, Auburn loaded the box and dared Arkansas to beat it through the air, which worked on first and second down, but then the Tigers rushed three and gave Taylen Green all day to throw.

Auburn's linebackers made their presence known on the stat sheet, specifically Dorian Mausi and Jalen McLeod, but the lack of QB containment hurt them more than a few times.

Auburn's secondary, which has struggled mightily to start the season, had a pretty solid day outside of one big play. Kayin Lee and Jerrin Thompson were both very good.

To rub salt in the wound, Champ Anthony had to be carted off, which means that Auburn's already thin defensive back room became even thinner.

OVERALL: D-

Things look bad right now.

Getting flattened by an Arkansas team at home that has a head coach on the hot seat is flat-out unacceptable.

This was a big game for Auburn. The Tigers needed positive momentum heading into their SEC gauntlet, but instead, they got the opposite.

The Tigers will play Oklahoma at home before heading to Athens and Columbia to play two top-10 teams.

If Auburn doesn't beat Oklahoma, it is staring down the barrel of 2-5.

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