It wasn’t pretty, but Arkansas made enough plays to win a huge road game 24-14 over Auburn. The Razorbacks are now 3-1 and 1-0 in SEC play.
The story of the game was the defense, led by Auburn alum Travis Williams. We discussed that the key for the defense was containing the Auburn run game and forcing Hank Brown to beat them. That’s exactly what happened, and… Brown did not beat them, to put it mildly. He was 7 of 12 for 73 yards and three interceptions when he was pulled at halftime in favor of old starter Payton Thorne. The Razorbacks had all kinds of offensive issues of their own, but led 7-0 at the break.
In the second half, Thorne threw for more than 200 yards, but he also tossed a critical interception that set up an Arkansas field goal to make the score 17-7 in the fourth quarter. Much of Auburn’s offense came in the form of two huge passes to KeAndre Lambert-Smith: a 54-yarder to set up their first touchdown and a 67-yarder to score their final one. Other than that, the Razorback secondary was brilliant, totaling five turnovers, with four forced by safety TJ Metcalf: he tipped a pass to Doneiko Slaughter for a pick in the first quarter, then stripped an Auburn running back in the red zone for Stephen Dix Jr. to recover in the second, then picked off Brown himself late in the second, then picked off Thorne late in the third.
Arkansas’ offense was mostly bad, as Taylen Green struggled with Auburn’s tight man coverage. Green threw two picks, both of which were bad throws, and he completed just 11 passes on the game. Arkansas can get away with Green not being very accurate if they can run the ball, but for the first time all season, they couldn’t run the ball for most of this game.
Auburn’s 67-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-3 to cut the lead to 17-14 with 10 minutes left in the game felt like the beginning of a typical Arkansas collapse. A quick score was basically the one thing Arkansas couldn’t allow there. But what followed was not typical Arkansas: a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that melted more than six minutes off the clock and essentially ended the game. The final 10 plays of the drive were runs.
Hugh Freeze has a major mess on his hands, but hopefully this game will give the Hogs a boost of confidence heading to a stretch of mostly-winnable games.
Other scores of note
Tennessee 25, Oklahoma 16. Heralded Sooner QB Jackson Arnold, who has struggled this year, was finally pulled, allowing the Sooners to mount a comeback with the backup. Tennessee looked good but very beatabLle, as their offense failed to record 400 yards. Their defense is certainly improved, especially against the run.
Mizzou 30, Vanderbilt 27. The Commodores outplayed the Tigers, but missed a 50-yard field goal for the lead with three minutes left, then missed a 31-yard field goal in the second overtime. Imagine how much different Arkansas football would be if the Hogs were 1% as lucky as Missouri (starting with playing Vanderbilt every year).
LSU 34, UCLA 17. UCLA is very bad, so it’s not ideal that took LSU a while to put them away. The Tigers have very little run game but boast one of the SEC’s most productive passing attacks.
Texas A&M 26, Bowling Green 20. Bowling Green is pesky, but this was a very unconvincing performance by the Aggies. QB Marcel Reed struggles to pass, so next week should be interesting.
Florida 45, Mississippi State 28. The Bulldogs are very, very bad, and now QB Blake Shapen is out for the season. What a disaster.
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