No beauty for Auburn, but decisive
Someone watching the final score crawl across the TV screen might have thought the Southeastern Conference game at Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday night was at halftime.
Auburn 34, Arkansas 3 went about like Las Vegas oddsmakers expected, the Tigers (3-1,
1-1) booting a fourth-quarter field goal to cover the 30-point spread or thereabouts. As bounce-back victories go, Auburn got what it needed after losing, 22-21, to LSU (4-0, 1-0) on the same field the previous Saturday. But Auburn will need a better effort for its fans to roll Toomer’s Corner after late-season trips to Georgia (4-0, 2-0) and Alabama (4-0, 2-0).
Gus Malzahn’s fifth victory in six games against Arkansas, his former employer and home-state team, bore little resemblance to Picassoes painted by the Tigers offensively in
2013 and 2017 Iron Bowl wins over Alabama. The scoresheet and scoreboard hardly could have been more conflicting: Auburn won going away in a game that it was outgained, both rushing and passing, and finished even in first downs.
“They played great defense,” Chris Doering said later on the SEC Network, “and special teams is what really saved them.”
Auburn was more effective without the ball, especially when Arkansas had to kick. Arkansas once fielded the finest special teams in the land, helping a typically overachieving team compete on a national stage. Things that once helped the Razorbacks win games now get them beat. Auburn’s bounty included:
• Ryan Davis’ 48-yard punt return to the Arkansas 27-yard line set up the Tigers’ first touchdown.
• Arkansas kicker Connor Limpert’s 41-yard missed field goal blunted a drive that featured Ty Storey passing twice to Jared Cornelius for first downs and to Deon Stewart for
32 yards after stepping up in the pocket.
• Jordyn Peters’ blocked punt led to the Auburn touchdown that made it 14-0.
• Noah Igbinoghene’s 96-yard kickoff return gave the Tigers a 24-3 lead after Limpert’s field goal got the Hogs on the scoreboard.
• Davis’ 36-yard punt return to the Arkansas 15 and Carlson’s field goal from 43 yards made it 34-3 to delight those who gave Auburn and the points for betting purposes.
Said Peters, who ran past the punter on a Reid Bauer boot that was nearly blocked: “Every day in practice it’s pounded in our head that we’ve got to make a play on special teams. Not offense and defense; it’s just special teams. Every day. ‘Game-changing plays’ — it’s our motto.”
Arkansas went with Storey at quarterback, its second-game starter, for all but two plays. Against a manhandling front four, Storey inspired more with improvisation, scrambling for 63 yards and netting 44, than innovation. After six interceptions, including four by starter Cole Kelley, the previous week against North Texas, Arkansas coach Chad Morris sacrificed arm strength for mobility. Arkansas was 13 of 32 for 141 yards, getting a break on Auburn’s only interception.
The SEC Network broadcasters generally applauded Morris for not risking his freshmen QBs, Connor Noland and John Steven Jones, against Kevin Steele’s opportunistic Auburn defense. Arkansas can expect to play catch-up throughout the year: The kids will get other chances.
At that, Arkansas was fortunate to avoid a pick-six interception on the final play of the first half when Auburn was flagged for blocking in the back on Javaris Davis’ 80yard return of a carelessly thrown ball. Arkansas’ only lost fumble, returned 42 yards by Daniel Thomas, led to a Carlson field goal that made it 10-0.
Field-position flips like that repeatedly gave Auburn short fields offensively, an average of 51 yards from the goal. Arkansas’ average starting spot was its 22. Auburn, or any other good team, usually wins with such an advantage.
Arkansas played its best game defensively since the opener against Eastern Illinois, yet couldn’t collect a fumble or an interception. Stidham went 15-for-22 through the air but mostly throwing horizontal. The Auburn quarterback poses no running threat, depriving Malzahn
Amway Coaches Top 25 Poll of one of his favorite toys since coaching Arkansas high schools. Arkansas recorded four sacks, especially effective when Auburn kept the game in front of Dre Greenlaw, Randy Ramsey and others in the front seven.
Anyone think Alabama, with perhaps its best passer since the 1960s, will go conservative against the Hogs?
Auburn 34, Arkansas 3, while no masterpiece for the Tigers, got Malzahn’s top-10 team back on track. It was both predictable and problematic for a Razorback squad that, as Auburn ex-coach Gene Chizik said on the SEC Network, must learn to “pride itself on small victories.”