Auburn gets its final SEC home game of the season Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and the matchup with Arkansas comes with a little extra intrigue for head coach Alex Golesh.
The Tigers are coming off an October grind that featured nearly every heavyweight in the league. They went 1-3 in that stretch, but the month did include a statement win over No.
1 Georgia. Now the schedule eases up a bit, starting with a home date against the Razorbacks.
Golesh is facing Arkansas head coach Ryan Silverfield for the fourth straight season, thanks to his time leading Memphis while he was at USF from 2023-25. He has not beaten Silverfield yet, so Saturday gives him his first shot at changing that. Still, Golesh said the focus is on the task in front of Auburn.
“This is a big one for us because it's the next one and you're playing a football team that, in a lot of ways, is trying to, in year one, find their true identity, as is anybody in this conference,” Golesh said earlier this week. “We have to go play our best football on Saturday, and we have to go find a way.”
Auburn’s offense will again lean on quarterback Byrum Brown, one of the SEC’s most dangerous dual-threat players. Brown has topped 200 passing yards in only one SEC game this season, but he has found the end zone on the ground in every conference game. The Tigers also need more from the rest of the backfield, with senior Jeremiah Cobb a key piece in that effort.
The bigger concern has been on the other side of the ball. Auburn has not put together a complete defensive performance in recent weeks, allowing 31 points in a loss to LSU two weeks ago and then surrendering 28 unanswered points to close out the defeat against Ole Miss.
Golesh pointed to that finish after the Ole Miss game.
“I thought we got worn down at the end of that game,” Golesh said about the Ole Miss loss, “and everything was a step behind and we can't live like that.”
Arkansas comes in with the conference’s lowest scoring average at 16.4 points per game, giving Auburn a chance to steady itself on defense.
The Tigers are 10.5-point favorites at home, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, with the over/under set at 53.5 points.
Weather should be a factor only in the sense that it won’t be much of one. Cooler conditions are expected on the Plains, with cloudy skies at kickoff and temperatures around the mid-60s for much of the afternoon.
Auburn has the upper hand in the all-time series, leading Arkansas 21-13-1. At Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Tigers hold a 9-7-1 edge. The teams last met in Fayetteville, where Auburn won 33-24 last October.
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