AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas co-defensive coordinator Travis Williams was obviously pumped to return against his alma mater. His defenders played like it, too.
The result was a methodical 24-14 win over Auburn on Saturday that wasn’t particularly a thing of beauty, but did show an opportunistic Razorback team. The Tigers also had five turnovers.
If there was a difference this year, the Hogs were able to take advantage of opportunities.
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Two teams looking to show they are better than a lot of people think in the SEC get their shot today.
Arkansas and Auburn are both 2-1, have a loss they feel they should have won and more questions than answers on both sides of the ball. At least for one weekend they’ll have a chance to show something.
Or generate more questions.
Nobody can blame the weather. It is a sun-splashed stadium at Jordan-Hare as kickoff approaches. Stick with us to keep up with views and highlights from the game as it plays out.
FIRST QUARTER
Crowd noise starting to play a role in game. Razorbacks get delay before runnning a play, then drive down and Kyle Ramsey pushes a 41-yard field goal attempt wide to the right. Hogs’ offense completely driven by quarterback Taylen Green, who is just taking off and running like he did a lot against UAB. Tyrone Broden and Andrew Armstrong dropped a couple of passes in the drive that ended on a sack by Dorion Mausi for a 7-yard loss.
2Q 14:47: Green leads the Razorbacks on a 15-play, 81-yard drive that was capped by Jackson bulling his way over the goal. Offense moving methodically and chewing up clock, keeping the ball for 11:41 of the first quarter, but they have the lead. Hogs 7, Tigers 0
For a game that’s only seen one touchdown, there’s been a ton of things going on:
• Armstrong was nearly cut in half making a catch in the first quarter, but returned to action and resumed being Green’s primary target.
• The player that delivered a completely legal and clean hit, Champ Anthony, was injured moments later and it appeared serious as he was carted off the field. It was more serious than what he delivered on Armstrong.
• Auburn quarterback Hank Brown took momentum away from the Tigers with a pair of draining interceptions. Those looked to be inexperience as much as anything else.
• The Tigers have turned the ball over four times in the first half, including one where running back Damari Alston was either going to be in the end zone or down inside the Hogs’ 5-yard line when it was knocked loose by TJ Metcalf and recovered in the end zone by Stephen Dix.
• The Razorbacks have one turnover, an interception by Green. We’ll see if anything like this turns into points in the second half.
Q3 5:44: Auburn makes a change at quarterback and Payton Thorne starts connecting on some passes and making key runs. Arkansas’ defense starting to show some holes and they look a little tired, which is the problem with depth that’s been discussed forever. The Razorbacks brought Malachi Singleton in for Taylen Green for a series before the Tigers put together a 77-yard drive in six plays with a big pass to a wide open Keandre Lambert-Smith for 54 yards. Hogs 7, Tigers 7
Q3 2:03: Razorbacks get a prayer answered when wide receiver Isaiah Sategna disappeared from the Auburn secondary while Green scrambled around and found him open for a 58-yard scoring bomb. Hogs 14, Tigers 7
FOURTH QUARTER
Q4 12:04: Razorbacks have another drive stalled as offensive line continues to force Green to scramble and deliver passes early as he’s getting blasted by defensive lineman and linebackers, but Ramsey bails them out with a 31-yard field goal for a two-score lead. Hogs 17, Tigers 7
Q4 9:50: It didn’t take Auburn long to answer the field goal. On a fourth-down play, Thorne found an unbelievably wide open Lambert-Smith running right down the hashmarks for a 67-yard score where he high-fived a teammate the last 5 yards … and still no Razorback defender was close. Hogs 17, Tigers 14
Q4 6:12: Razorbacks may have just sealed their third win of the year with a 1-yard run that was reviewed and the ball just grazed the goal line, but that counts as a touchdown. Hogs 24, Tiger 14
