ARKANSAS VS. NO. 11 AUBURN

A grudge with Gus?

Talk takes back seat to results

FAYETTEVILLE - Bret Bielema badly wants to beat Auburn tonight.

Arkansas’ first-year coach said it’s all about the players when BCS No. 11 Auburn, the surprise team in the SEC West, takes on the stumbling Razorbacks at 5 p.m. at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, but his incentive goes well beyond the players.

It gets into coaching philosophy and recruiting and staking out territory and wanting to start clearing what he calls “the fog” around Arkansas’ football program.

Arkansas (3-5, 0-4 SEC) has lost five games in a row after its 3-0 start and is more than a touchdown underdog against the Tigers (7-1, 3-1), whose upset victory at Texas A&M two weeks ago gave Auburn the best shot at knocking Alabama off its SEC throne.

The Razorbacks have won four of the past five games in the series - the lone exception being Auburn’s 65-43 home victory during its BCS championship season of 2010 - but Auburn has all the momentum with Gus Malzahn, a Fort Smith native, returning to Northwest Arkansas for the first time as a head coach.

“I have a lot of respect for what Auburn has been able to do this year,” Bielema said. “Obviously a very good football team.”

Malzahn pointed out Arkansas’ recent success in the series.

“It’s a tough place to play, and they’ve had a week off,” said Malzahn, who coached Arkansas State last season before returning to Auburn, where he previously served as offensive coordinator under Gene Chizik. “I know the extra week will help prepare them. I know our week off a few weeks back was real pivotal for us, especially being a first-year coach at a program. We know we have our hands full and we know we are going to get their best effort.”

Bielema wasted little time crossing swords philosophically this summer with Malzahn, a former Razorbacks receiver and offensive coordinator and a high school coaching legend in his home state. Bielema this summer took on the merits, from an injury standpoint, of the up-tempo no-huddle offense of which Malzahn is a key proponent.

Their sparring, though never in the same place at the same time, became an easy media angle to pit the new SEC West rivals against each other. Bielema said their exchanges are now more for fan and media consumption than for the teams.

“It’s a little bit more for the outside world than there is with a lot of hoopla over what was said,” Bielema said Thursday. “Honest to goodness now, the summer meetings, the whole no-huddle thing, that just played perfectly into you all’s hands.”

When Malzahn was told that some coaches had questioned the safety of full-time no-huddle offenses, he said he thought it was a joke. Bielema later replied that he wasn’t a comedian.

“When I was standing up for our no-huddle, it wasn’t directed at any one person,” Malzahn said. “As a matter of fact, at the time, there were a lot of people that were coming out and saying stuff regarding that and I was just standing up for our philosophy and what we believe in on that.

“As far as [Bielema] is concerned, he is an excellent coach. Look at his track record. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s won everywhere he’s been, and I know they are going to be prepared. He’s also got a very strong staff with him.”

“I saw Gus’ comments that you respect coaches that win,” Bielema said. “He and I obviously have won some games at previous places we’ve been. I admire his path just because he was a high school coach. I didn’t know he was from Arkansas … until I got here and heard the whole story.”

Both want to make their marks in college football’s toughest division.

This week, Bielema touted the NFL readiness of offensive linemen who come from his pro-style offense as being better than linemen who play in hurry-up and Spread offenses.

“The kids that have committed to us find our type of football fun,” Bielema said. “It’s the football that the NFL is running, and I understand there’s a little bit of a wave of [hurry-up no-huddle], but the greatest thing that can help us in our recruiting department is the more failure the Philadelphia Eagles have, all right?

“Because you’re in the NFL, and you’re playing defense on a team that’s going to put you out there repeatedly, over and over again, that shortens your career. And the bottom line is, every kid that plays offense and defense and special teams football in college wants to play in the NFL.”

Bielema also stoked the rivalry Monday when he complained that Auburn’s video exchange did not include a formation used on extra-point attempts.

“This has become much more personal than it normally is,” ESPN color analyst Trevor Matich said. “Players feed off of that. You do not want to … let your coach down when he’s mad at the other guy and it’s become personal, so this is actually good for Arkansas’ team.”

Matich, referencing Bielema’s career as a defensive lineman, said if Bielema thought you poked him in the chest, “he will poke you right back in the eye. That’s Bret Bielema.”

Bielema and Malzahn are also being compared for what they have done with first-year programs that bottomed out last year. While Malzahn’s Tigers have reached No. 8 rankings in The Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls, Bielema’s Razorbacks have struggled in SEC play with a scoring deficit of 179-50.

“It’s probably easy to say both of these programs had bad years last year, so how come Auburn, all of a sudden, is doing a lot better this year than Arkansas?” ESPN.com’s SEC blogger Chris Low said this week at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club. “I think that’s deceptive.

“To me that’s more indicative of Auburn’s talent. There’s no way they should have been 3-9 last year. They had a much better roster than 3-9, and I think you’re seeing now Gus has done a great job, he and his staff, of restoring the edge to that program.

“It’s apples and oranges a little bit. To me, you evaluate a coach not with one year, but you do after three years.”

Today’s game AUBURN AT ARKANSAS WHEN 5 p.m.

WHERE Reynolds Razorback Stadium (72,000), Fayetteville RECORDS Auburn 7-1, 3-1 SEC; Arkansas 3-5, 0-4 SEC RANKINGS Auburn is No. 11/8/11 BCS/ AP/Coaches BETTING LINE Auburn by 8 COACHES Bret Bielema (3-5 at Arkansas, 71-29 in eighth year overall); Gus Malzahn (7-1 at Auburn, 16-4 in second year overall) SERIES Auburn leads 11-10-1.

TELEVISION ESPN2 RADIO Razorbacks Sports

Network, including KABZ-FM,

103.7, in Little Rock; and KQSM

FM, 92.1, KEZA-FM, 107.9, KUOA-AM, 1290, and KUOA-FM, 105.3, in Fayetteville. XM-Radio 201, Sirius 112

Sports, Pages 19 on 11/02/2013

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