Auburn game preparations continue

FAYETTEVILLE – The Razorbacks continued their game preparations for 20th-ranked Auburn on Wednesday with a two-hour practice on the fields behind Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

The Razorbacks wore shoulder pads and shorts as they continued to work on the game plan for Auburn.

“The guys came out and worked hard today,” Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said. “I think that our attitude is still good and our focus is good. I think that when we study the video we think that it’s going to be a very hard, physical football game. That’s what we expect, to go in and compete and play physical and play with great effort and get the game in the fourth quarter with a chance to win it.”

Arkansas is expecting Auburn to line up and run the ball this weekend and has geared its defense to be prepared for that

“I think that we all know that they will probably run the ball more,” Petrino said when asked about the firing of Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. “They have a physical offensive line and great running backs so we have been practicing to do that anyway since we saw the first part of the Vandy game. You feel bad for Tony or any coach that gets fired but that is part of the profession.”

Petrino and his coaching staff had spent some time watching the video from last season’s Arkansas-Auburn game in Fayetteville and Petrino himself is familiar with some of the Tiger coaches having worked with some when he was the offensive coordinator there in 2002.

“We’ve been watching some of last year’s video. I know those assistant coaches real well from working with them and understand what they like in the run game and the passing game, play action so we’ve been kind of preparing for that.”

The Tigers had been trying to implement a spread offense this season and coach Petrino knows that the Razorbacks can’t expect the Tigers to toss away their playbook from the first half of the season.

“We still have to be prepared for [the spread],” Petrino said. “Particularly on third down and things that they have had some success with. I think that they will get to what their comfort zone is and I think that we can go off their tendencies and what they do off video.”

Petrino also spoke about Arkansas cornerback Jamar Love who had surgery on his hand and about Ramon Broadway who is expected to start in Love’s place.

“The report was that they put two screws in there,” Petrino said. “They are optimistic that he could be back in two weeks it all depends on how quickly the growth of the bone starts. We have a bone stimulator on there and we’re optimistic that he’ll be back in two weeks, but we aren’t sure yet.”

“[Ramon] Broadway is a good football player,” Petrino continued. “He’s played a lot in every game we’ve been in. He plays the boundary side and is a very good tackler. He really understands not only our package but he understands offenses. He has that scary part of being a defensive back where sometimes they cheat and sometimes they jump on things and as a quarterback sometimes you don’t like that because you aren’t sure what he is going to do. He could come up with a couple of big plays and interceptions for us. He already has one this year. Because he has that knack I’m looking forward to seeing him get some production and get some picks for us.”

The Razorbacks get back to work on Thursday afternoon to implement the final pieces of the game plan in preparation for Saturday’s game. For more information regarding Razorback football or University of Arkansas athletics please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.