Auburn beats Arkansas, 30-28
AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas and Auburn combined to produce a botched extra point, a kicker with two shots at potential game-winners and a hotly debated spiked ball.
Ultimately, Anders Carlson made the most of his second chance, hitting a 39-yard field goal with 7 seconds left to lift the 13th-ranked Tigers to a 30-28 victory over Arkansas on a rainy, blustery Saturday.
The Tigers (2-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) narrowly avoided a second straight loss, with drama and uncertainty continuing right up to that winning kick.
Facing third and 1, Bo Nix couldn’t handle the snap, picked it up and spiked the ball — appearing slightly behind him — to draw an intentional grounding flag. The play was reviewed and upheld.
“I just told them how you win a lot of times is so important,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “First of all, SEC wins are extremely hard. I’ll keep saying it with this year a 10-game SEC schedule, you’ve already seen it around our league.
“You can’t take anything for granted. You have to play your good football.”
Auburn avoided the fate of two other SEC teams from earlier in the day. No. 21 Texas A&M beat No. 4 Florida 41-38, and Missouri knocked off No. 17 LSU 45-41.
Carlson delivered after missing a 34-yard field goal wide right with 2:38 left. Auburn’s defense had forced a three-and-out, and the Tigers got the ball back at the 45 of the Razorbacks, who botched their first PAT and failed on two subsequent 2-point conversion attempts.
But the kick was made possible by the ruling on that spike. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman pleaded with the officials on the sideline after a brief scramble for the ball.
“I was told it wasn’t a backward pass,” Pittman said. “The ball went backwards 6 yards. I saw a fumble and a spike that went backwards 6 yards.”