After taking a whooping from Auburn this past Saturday, the 2-5 Razorbacks will travel to Tuscaloosa this weekend to take on No.1-ranked Alabama.

The Crimson Tide boast a perfect 7-0 record this season. Despite the impressive win-loss ratio and beating all of their opponents by more than two scores, Bama has only played one ranked team which was then-No. 25 Texas A&M.

What makes the Tide so lethal is their passing game in their RPO offense. Twenty-nine of their 43 total offensive touchdowns have come through the air. Alabama, with their speedy wide receivers, loves to run the slant route.

“I think one of their best plays is slants," junior linebacker Grant Morgan said. "If you score on slants the majority of the time, then obviously you got something going for you. It’s their speed. They’re just really fast and they’ve got four of them.”

Although the Crimson Tide’s pass offense is ranked 4th in the country with a stud wide receiving corps, the rest of the team is not quite up to the same standards. Bama’s running game is ranked at 68th nationally while their total defense is ranked just outside the top 25 at 26th.

More interestingly, Alabama will be without starter and Heisman candidate Tua Tagovailoa due to an ankle injury. Tagovailoa, who is responsible for 27 out of 29 passing touchdowns for Alabama’s offense, is sidelined indefinitely after getting surgery. The injury will force the Tide to roll with unproven redshirt sophomore Mac Jones.

“He’s got a good arm and he can move around a little bit and get away from pressures,” said defensive coordinator John Chavis when asked about the backup QB. “Like I said, he’s the next guy up at Alabama because he’s a fine football player.”

Besides garbage time in blow out games, Jones got most of his real playing time last week against Tennessee, replacing an injured Tagovailoa in the middle of the second quarter. The former 4-star and Rivals250 quarterback completed 6 of 11 passes for 72 yards, taking one sack and gaining negative yardage on two rushing attempts.

Alabama will likely try to make Arkansas stop the run before they have to rely on their backup quarterback. The Razorback run defense is ranked 100th nationally. Crimson Tide starting running back Najee Harris has three 100+ yard rushing games this season, two against SEC defenses. He's also a weapon in the passing game with 16 receptions, and a favorite target in the red zone with more receiving touchdowns (4) than rushing touchdowns (3) this season.

The Hogs' best chance of stopping this high-powered offense is stopping the run and making the inexperienced Jones uncomfortable in the pocket.

“To me, we feel like we just want to get a lot of pressure in front of Mac Jones’ face, make him uncomfortable and get him off the spot,” senior linebacker De’Jon “Scoota” Harris said. “I feel like if we do that, we’ll have a chance to compete and you never know at the end what will happen.“

On defense, the Crimson Tide is starting a slew of freshmen including two defensive linemen and two linebackers. Despite the youth, the Tide still is very talented.

“We’re playing a lot of freshmen,” Head Coach Chad Morris said. “I think we’re the second in the country in playing freshmen and I think it’s right behind Alabama. So they definitely are young, but they’re playing extremely well.”

The Alabama D is led by senior defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, a projected first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He has only 30 tackles this season but, at 6-foot-7, 317 pounds, he provides a strong anchor in a youthful group.

Alabama freshman linebacker Christian Harris is a standout to the Arkansas coaching staff. Harris, who has great size at 6-foot-2, 244 pounds, has posted 34 tackles this season and 13 solo tackles.

“He flies around to the ball, he’s a big guy,” Offensive Coordinator Joe Craddock said. “Any freshman that they’re playing, obviously, is going to be a good player if they are playing as freshmen for them.”

Alabama is ranked seventh in the SEC in run defense, allowing an average of 130 yards per game on the ground. Arkansas will try to replicate last year’s performance against the Tide when they rushed for over 170 yards behind a 102-yard game by Rakeem Boyd.

Kickoff against ‘Bama is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The game will be televised on ESPN.