FAYETTEVILLE -- Some of the University of Arkansas football program's glorious past was celebrated Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Darren McFadden -- who led Arkansas to an 18-8 combined record during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, when he twice won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back and finished runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting -- was honored for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The 1969 Razorbacks -- ranked No. 2 when they lost to No. 1 Texas 15-14 in the epic "Big Shootout" -- also were recognized on the field along with the 1989 Arkansas team that won the Southwest Conference championship. That's the last conference title for Arkansas in football.
Unfortunately for the Razorbacks and their fans, what happened on the field Saturday for the present team continued on an ugly path.
The No. 11 Auburn Tigers beat Arkansas 51-10 to extend the Razorbacks' SEC losing streak to 15 games. Chad Morris fell to 4-15 in his second season as Arkansas coach, including 0-12 against SEC opponents.
"I think they're very talented," Morris said of the Tigers. "The thing that probably is more impressive is the depth that they have, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
"They've got great speed. I think their defensive front, as I've said all along, is as good as I've been against. And then they're able to rotate in and keep guys fresh."
After being pounded at home by Auburn, the Razorbacks (2-5, 0-4 SEC) now have to go on the road to face No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0) on Saturday night.
"We're going to keep giving the effort, and we'll come back to work and obviously it doesn't get any easier," Morris said. "So we've got to continue pushing that rock."
Crimson Tide junior starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a high ankle sprain in the first half of Alabama's 35-13 victory over Tennessee on Saturday and didn't return.
Alabama Coach Nick Saban said Sunday that Tagovailoa won't play against Arkansas, but Alabama expects him to make "a full and speedy recovery."
The Tide still will be a prohibitive favorite for the Arkansas game with sophomore quarterback Mac Jones moving into a starting role. Jones completed 6 of 11 passes for 72 yards without a touchdown or interception against Tennessee after coming in for Tagovailoa.
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's easy," Morris said. "There's none of it, no part of this is easy.
"But there's no quit in us, either. These guys have the opportunity to come back and get a little bit better every day. That's all we can ask of our guys right now. That's kind of where we're at."
Arkansas is 0-7 in its previous games against No. 1-ranked Alabama teams, including a 65-31 loss in Fayetteville last year.
"You've got to face the opponent at hand," Arkansas senior defensive tackle McTelvin Agim said. "You've got to bury whatever happened this game [against Auburn], and then move forward to Alabama.
"It's a great opportunity. That's why you come to the SEC, to play these big games and play these top-ranked teams and eventually beat one of these top-ranked teams. So it's a great opportunity, and we're going to try to take advantage of it."
The Razorbacks have lost eight consecutive games to a No. 1 team since McFadden starred in their 50-48 triple-overtime victory over LSU at Tiger Stadium in 2007.
The Arkansas-Alabama game has a 6 p.m. Central kickoff Saturday night on ESPN.
"You don't get a whole lot of opportunities to play the No. 1 team in the country at their place at night," Arkansas senior quarterback Ben Hicks said. "So we're going to try to go out there and have a good game plan and cut it loose and just have fun. Just play our tails off like we have been."
Despite the mounting losses, Morris praised his players' effort.
"There's a group of young men in that locker room over there that are going to stay in the fight," he said. "I know everybody's frustrated and we're not having the success that we all want to have, that everybody wants to have.
"The only thing to do is for us to go back to work and keep pushing forward and keep developing the guys on our roster and keep recruiting. That's it."
Sports on 10/21/2019