With all of the preparation and film study for Arkansas vs Auburn behind them, Travis Williams opened the floor to his players on the eve of their SEC opener.
TJ Metcalf took advantage of the opportunity. The sophomore defensive back had something to say.
“He let some of the starters talk in front of the defense,” Metcalf said. “My thing was just coming back home. Auburn didn’t offer me out of high school, so it was kind of personal for me to come in here and get the win.”
The Birmingham, Ala., native backed up his words with the game of his life, having a direct hand in four of the Tigers five turnovers as the Razorbacks went down to the Plains and came away with a 24-14 win.
Arkansas certainly didn’t lack inspiration Saturday.
Not only was it personal for Metcalf, but the entire defense took it upon themselves to play inspired ball for Williams, their second-year defensive coordinator.
Back in the town he called home from 2001-05, when he was an All-SEC linebacker for the Tigers, and again from 2014-20, when he worked his way up from analyst to co-defensive coordinator, he dialed up a defense that held Auburn to only 14 points.
“I know it means a lot to him, him just having a baby girl and him coming back to his alma mater where he played; I know he wanted to come in here and get this win,” Metcalf said. “So we all just came together like, ‘We gotta do this for him,’ and that’s what we did.”
The Tigers’ two touchdowns were the result of two big plays, but outside of those, head coach Sam Pittman said he didn’t think the defense “could’ve played a whole lot better.” As a result, he awarded his first ever game ball — to Williams.
“I think it meant a lot to him, playing here,” Pittman said. “I know he’s got a love for Auburn but I know that win was big for him. It had to be.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Arkansas’ defense wanted to atone for last year’s dud of a performance in Fayetteville — even though only four of the defensive starters from that game even made the trip to Auburn this year.
With bowl eligibility still on the table, the Razorbacks let go of the rope and gave up 48 points on 517 yards.
“We were talking about last season the whole time,” said Doneiko Slaughter, who transferred in from Tennessee this offseason. “We got our ass beat, so we came in with a great mindset. Believed in Coach T-Will and came out and did our thing.”
TJ Metcalf Enjoys Storybook Homecoming
Much of the attention this week was understandably on Travis Williams returning to his alma mater.
However, it was also a homecoming of sorts for the growing number of Alabama natives on the Arkansas football roster. The Razorbacks have recruited the state harder than ever before in recent years, but Saturday marked the first time it truly paid off for them in an SEC game.
TJ Metcalf, who went to Pinson Valley High just outside of Birmingham, overtook Hudson Clark as a starting safety before the season and has lived up to the hype he built up during the offseason.
“He’s just a great kid and he wants to be good,” Pittman said. “I’m just so happy that things are going his way. … He works hard, he’s a very good tackler, physical guy. He’s earned the respect more and more from his teammates. I know we damn sure believe in him.”
In addition to intercepting two passes himself, the sophomore also deflected a pass that teammate Doneiko Slaughter then intercepted on Auburn’s first drive of the game and stripped running back Damari Alston on a long run that looked like it might end up in a touchdown for the Tigers.
That last play, which resulted in a turnover when Stephen Dix fell on the ball in the end zone, sounds like the one Metcalf was most proud of.
“The forced fumble, that was really a big play for me because (of) the stuff we work on at practice,” Metcalf said. “Coach (Marcus) Woodson’s always getting on us about tracking the near hip, so I couldn’t let him cut back and go score, so I had to do what I had to do. Get the ball out.”
Although the offense failed to cash in on each of those turnovers, running back Ja’Quinden Jackson said they were critical plays that helped keep the momentum on their side, even when they weren’t moving the ball well.
It was the kind of performance left tackle Fernando Carmona envisioned from Metcalf after seeing the work he put in this offseason.
“I kind of knew this was coming from the summer,” Carmona said. “I just saw the way he worked. I tried to be the first one there and him and his brother (freshman Tevis Metcalf) were already in the indoor doing some type of drills. They were always working, and I think it showed today, man.”
Auburn could have witnessed all of that had it offered him as a borderline four-star recruit. AU coaches were certainly aware of him, as he said he took unofficial visits, but those would have been during the Bryan Harsin era. Of course, Hugh Freeze doesn’t get a pass – he recruited and coached D.K. Metcalf, TJ’s cousin, at Ole Miss.
“I don’t know what they were thinking,” Metcalf said as he cracked a smile when asked why Auburn passed on him.
Defense Shines for Arkansas Football
After playing so well for most of the first two games, Arkansas’ defense let up some in last week’s lackluster win over UAB. Going on the road and facing a much better team, the Razorbacks knew they had to play better or it could get ugly.
If anything, though, that performance led to a renewed focus for Travis Williams’ unit.
Even without top cornerback Jaylon Braxton (tendinitis) and veteran safety Hudson Clark (back), Arkansas’ play was simple: Make Auburn’s first-year quarterback Hank Brown beat you.
Sam Pittman stressed that point to his defensive staff and players multiple times throughout the week.
“They had a guy that had his first career start last week,” Metcalf said. “We just wanted to put pressure on him. Make him play quarterback. If anybody was going to beat us on the field, it had to be him. We were going to shut everybody else down.”
The biggest task was slowing down star running back Jarquez Hunter and they managed to do that to the tune of 67 yards on 12 carries. The biggest chunk of that came on a 24-yard run early in the second quarter. Take out that run and he averaged just 3.9 yards per carry.
That’s significantly better than the 109 yards on 16 carries – for a 6.8-yard average – he had against Arkansas last year.
“(We wanted to) shut that run game down and that starts with the entire defense,” Slaughter said. “We came in knowing (Brown is) a freshman, so he doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he’s still a good player. Just make him force the ball and that’s exactly what we did.”
After playing well last week against New Mexico, Brown struggled in his SEC debut. In fact, his 7-of-13, 72-yard, 3-interception showing in the first half was so bad that Auburn made a change in the second half, shifting back to Payton Thorne.
The same quarterback who led the Tigers to last year’s win at Razorback Stadium, Thorne managed to complete 13 of 22 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns, but most of that came on two passes to KeAndre Lambert-Smith
Take away the 54-yard completion against a busted coverage and 67-yard slant on a desperation fourth-and-2, Thorne had a pedestrian 92 yards and Arkansas likely would have pitched a shutout.
While it was the secondary that forced the takeaways, Pittman credited the surge in turnovers to increased pressure from the defensive line, which didn’t necessarily show up in the box score (1 sack, 1 QB hurry by linemen).
“If you go back and you look at, not every interception, but a lot of them, it’s about the pressure, the hit — it’s something,” Pittman said. “Guys standing back there for a while, you don’t really get them. So we were covering them well, but I felt like we got more pressure on the quarterback than what we had our first three games.”
It culminated in a storybook return to the Plains for both Travis Williams and TJ Metcalf, but more importantly, helped Arkansas start SEC play 1-0 and in position to push for bowl eligibility.
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Hear from Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman after the Arkansas vs Auburn game:
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