Bowl Hunting: Offenses Trending Up for Auburn-Hogs
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — About a week ago, the clash between Arkansas and the Auburn Tigers looked to be lifeless. The Razorbacks had looked anemic and were fighting to avoid a Chad Morris-esque slide. Auburn's offense looked to have been stuck in neutral all year.
One week later, Auburn has stacked back-to-back performances of over 400 total offensive yards in double-digit wins over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt and are one win away from bowl eligibility. Meanwhile, under new offensive coordinator Kenny Guiton, the Hogs offense put up 481 yards of total offense in the program's first win in Gainesville and suddenly have a path to a bowl of their own. AuburnDaily and AllHogs exchanged questions to preview the matchup (see AuburnDaily's story here).
Daniel Shi: What has been the progression of Payton Thorne and the Auburn offense that has looked better lately?
Joshua Collins of AuburnDaily: The progression of Payton Thorne has had a lot of growing pains throughout his inaugural season with the Auburn Tigers. Despite having a deep understanding of the RPO style offense for some reason the offensive scheme hasn’t clicked as quickly as most would have liked. Perhaps this has to do with the “verbiage” of Offensive Coordinator Philip Montgomery that Coach Freeze has noted in press conferences he has had difficulty matching. Or it could have been the pressure of coping with the now infamous “Two Quarterback” system, constantly having to look over his shoulder to see when he might be pulled to the sidelines next. Nonetheless, Payton has adapted and has kept a clear head through the adversity and has put together some of his most impressive performances so far this season during the past few weeks. I believe a catalyst to this success has not only been Coach Freeze imputing himself more into the play caller role but also the implementation of a quicker read style system. Giving Payton fewer decisions so to speak under center. We could still see some better production from the receiving corp, as dropped passes have plagued them all season, but all in all the offense is clicking a lot better going into the latter half of the season.
DS: How will the Auburn defense deal with the new Kenny Guiton tempo offense?
JC: Considering Coach Guiton has made his career thus far as a wide receivers coach coupled with his experience as a collegiate quarterback, I think this will be an interesting contest. Auburn’s Defensive Coordinator Ron Roberts has brought the spark back to Auburn’s defense. His ability to scheme pressure from any and everywhere will prove to be a solid test for Coach Guiton during Saturday’s matchup. It is said that Coach Guiton can dissect blitzes very well and it will be interesting to see how he counters Coach Roberts’ style of play-calling.
DS: What is it about Auburn that continually produces some of the best specialists in the country?
JC: This is somewhat of an Auburn staple. The SEC has some of the stiffest competition in college football and every game can legitimately end up being decided by a field goal. The Auburn coaching staff year over year has genuinely taken this sentiment to heart. Producing some of the greatest placekickers to ever put on a college jersey, while also developing some of the best kick and punt returners in the nation. This, in my opinion, is not by luck but by design, with not only how they coach but also by how they recruit (often looking overseas to pick up their placekickers and punters). Having developed a system of recruiting and coaching special teams players at an elite level over the past decade, Auburn has a template that they will continue to follow.
DS: Who is the best deep threat in the receiving game?
JC: This is honestly a tossup between tight end Rivaldo Fairweather and wide receiver Jay Fair. Rivaldo has the size to big body most defenders he comes into contact with allowing him to win one-on-one matchups a majority of the time. He is the type of player that you can just loft one to and he will go up and get it. Jay Fair on the other hand has an incredible amount of top-end speed that allows him to gain separation from defenders. This coupled with the surest hands thus far in the receiving room has put him at the top of the list in that respect. Fairweather has been reliable the majority of the season only dropping a few gimme passes that should have been caught. If both of these young men are on point during the game Auburn can really open up the playbook a bit and begin slicing up defense with balance.
DS: Your thoughts on a complicated relationship between Coach Hugh Freeze and the Hogs...
JC: Coach Freeze has had a rather storied relationship with the Arkansas Razorbacks during both his time at Liberty and Ole Miss. He is familiar with Coach Pittman’s play-calling ability and coaching acumen. This being said, Coach Freeze is 3-3 when it comes to coaching against the Razorbacks, coming off of a win last year with Liberty. One would hope that Coach Freeze’s ability to best Arkansas last year with an arguably lesser talented team would bode well for the Tigers going into this contest. However, this is college football in the SEC and anything can happen.
Auburn visits Razorback Stadium 3 p.m. Nov. 11 to take on the Hogs. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network and fuboTV.
HOGS FEED:
RAZORBACKS PICK UP SIGNATURE OF A FORMER NO. 5-RANKED PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY
SEC IGNORING LONGSTANDING RIVALRY WITH TEXAS IN FUTURE BASEBALL PERMANENT OPPONENTS
AUBURN FOOTBALL MAY HAVE FALLEN INTO THIRD OF RELEVANT SPORTS DOWN ON THE PLAINS
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