The Arkansas Razorbacks (2-1, 0-0 SEC) are set to see a significant jump in the level of opponent Saturday when they take on the Auburn Tigers (2-1, 0-0 SEC) to open Southeastern Conference play at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.
A week removed from playing down to the UAB Blazers in a 37-27 victory, the Razorbacks will have to step up their level of play if they want to defeat the Tigers. After losing 21-14 to California at home Sept. 7, Auburn rebounded with a 45-19 win over New Mexico last week in redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown's first career start.
As for high school star ratings, Arkansas' starters average out at 3.4 stars, while Auburn checks in at 3.3 stars per starter. Both teams are littered with former transfers playing as starters and the Tigers hit on a few of the portal's best over the offseason in Texas A&M transfer defensive tackle Isaiah Raikes, Penn State transfer receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Texas transfer safety Jerrin Thompson and more.
Arkansas has fared better than Auburn in every offensive category other than pass blocking on Pro Football Focus, which is a football analytics website that provides grades for each individual player and full teams after analyzing each game for all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Defensively, the Tigers grade out better than the Razorbacks in everything but run defense.
Here's a look at how both teams stack up based on stats from this year and high school star ratings:
Season Stats - Auburn | Arkansas (FBS rank out of 134 teams)
Offense
Auburn || Arkansas
Scoring: 44.0 (15th) | 46.0 (11th)
Total yards: 472.3 (22nd) | 587.3 (5th)
Passing: 283.7 (35th) | 328.3 (12th)
Rushing: 188.6 (42nd) | 259.0 (11th)
Third downs: 52.0% (19th) | 67.5% (1st)
Sacks allowed/game: 1.0 (t-36th) | 2.0 (t-84th)
Turnovers: 9 (132nd) | 4 (t-74th)
Defense
Auburn || Arkansas
Scoring: 14.3 (37th) | 22.0 (t-74th)
Total yards: 340.0 (74th) | 289.7 (39th)
Passing: 242.7 (99th) | 228.0 (86th)
Rushing: 97.3 (31st) | 61.7 (7th)
Third downs: 33.4% (t-51st) | 26.8% (t-20th)
Sacks/game: 1.7 (t-72nd) | 1.7 (t-72nd)
Turnovers forced: 2 (t-97th) | 2 (t-97th)
