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Published Oct 20, 2019
Trending Stocks: CJ O'Grady, Pass Protection, Defense
Landon Braden
HawgBeat.com

Arkansas lost miserably to the Auburn Tigers Saturday afternoon at home in Fayetteville. The Tiger defense suffocated the Razorbacks' offensive line and limited the Hogs to only 234 yards of offense. The 11th ranked Tigers put on a show against the Hogs, beating Arkansas 51-10.

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Tight End Cheyenne O’Grady

O’Grady was everything that Arkansas could ask him to be in this game. He finished with a team high seven catches for 72 yards and scored the Razorbacks' lone touchdown. He averaged 10.3 yards per catch and even ran the ball in a "QB sneak" to pick up a big first down on 4th and 1. O’Grady was a bright spot among an overall poor offensive performance by the Hogs.

O'Grady's only knock in the game was his 44.1 PFF grade in pass blocking, coming on just six pass blocking snaps. He was credited with giving up one sack on Ben Hicks.

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Running game

Arkansas was held to only 52 total yards rushing against Auburn's stout defensive front. Rakeem Boyd, the conference leader in rushing, was held to only 39 yards on 13 attempts. This is the first game this season that Boyd was held under 50 yards rushing. Arkansas then had to rely on the passing game, which did not bode well against a stellar Auburn defensive line. Devwah Whaley also averaged just 3 yards per carry on four attempts.

Ben Hicks

Hicks’ talent definitely isn't trending up but his playing time was on Saturday. Chad Morris left Hicks on the field through the duration of the game, much to fans dismay. There was no 2nd half Starkel and no garbage time for true freshman KJ Jefferson, which fans and myself included would have liked to see.

Hicks went 19 for 39 with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked three times and was also stripped on the first drive of the game setting Auburn up just outside the Arkansas redzone. Hicks earned a 46.2 on PFF, a season low.

Pass Protection

As expected, Arkansas's offensive line was eaten up by the Auburn defensive line. With the pocket constantly crashing around him, Hicks was having to throw quick and off his back foot. Ricky Stromberg and center Ty Clary played all 71 snaps giving up a combined three quarterback hurries. Dalton Wagner played all but two snaps and gave up a sack and three pressures.

The team as a whole gave up 14 pressures and Hicks was under duress all night long. Starters Colton Jackson and Austin Capps were each banged up in the first half and had to sit out the second half for still-undisclosed injuries. Capps was the highest graded lineman while Jackson gave up four pressures and a sack in his 26 snaps.

Defense

It was a rough one for the Razorbacks with 17 points given up to the Tigers in the first quarter. True freshman quarterback Bo Nix had no problem throwing touchdowns to wide-open receivers and handing the ball off to a barrage of runners. Arkansas's defense gave up 491 total yards, 298 on the ground and 193 through the air. Nix threw three touchdowns and ran for one while his back up Joey Gatewood got in the mix with a TD pass of his own. Nix posted a season-high grade against the Razorback defense. Auburn had five different rushers rush for 25 yards are more.

The Razorback defense had moments of working as a solid unit. They even held Auburn to zero points in the second quarter, but then started to wear down due to turnovers and consecutive three and outs by the offense. The Hogs defense ended with two sacks, three tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery.

John Chavis and his assistants did work in a season-high 27 players on defense with subs like Grant Morgan, Simeon Blair, Deon Edwards, Brenden Young, Andrew Parker and more receiving a handful of snaps each.