Trailing 21-10 at the half, Auburn's defense came up big in the fourth quarter with a quartet of turnovers, guiding the Tigers to their first SEC win of the season, 33-24, over Arkansas at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday.
With the win, Auburn extended its all-time series lead over the Razorbacks to 21-13-1, winning eight of the last 10 in the series, dating back to 2016.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Quartet of forced turnovers changes the trajectory of the game
Auburn was staring a five-point deficit in the eyes midway through the fourth quarter and seemed to be well on its way to a fifth-straight loss.
But Auburn’s defense did everything it could to will the Tigers to victory and showed up big with a quartet of turnovers on Arkansas’ final four drives.
The first came by way of a Rayshawn Pleasnt 49-yard pick-six, scoring one of Auburn’s two touchdowns on the day. Per Justin Ferguson of The Auburn Observer, it was Auburn’s first pick-six since 2023 and first in an SEC game since 2020.
After Arkansas converted on two first downs on the ensuing drive, the second one ended in a fumble punched out by Xavier Atkins, which led to the Tigers converting on a 47-yard field goal off the boot of Alex McPherson.
Once more, on the third consecutive drive, Pleasant was not finished making his mark on the game. He picked off Green, leading to another 37-yard field goal before Kensley Louidor-Faustin capped it off with essentially a game-ending interception, which gave way to an Auburn victory formation.
However, Arkansas’s explosives through the air haunt Auburn
Entering the day, Arkansas’ offense was tied for first nationally in plays gaining 10 yards or more with 151 plays. On Saturday, the Razorbacks’ offense was fueled by their explosive plays.
As stellar as Auburn’s defense has been this season, it entered Saturday’s matchup ranked 130th in the nation with a 52.6 coverage grade, per Pro Football Focus.
And Arkansas took full advantage by tacking on 217 yards on six BIG (plays of 15-plus yards) plays through the air. The Razorbacks’ passing offense, led by the nation’s leader in total offense in quarterback Taylen Green, averaged 19.1 yards per completion – when it didn’t end up in an Auburn defender's hands.
Inept offense in the red zone
Auburn had no trouble moving the ball into the red zone on Saturday against an atrocious Arkansas defense.
Five of the Tigers' 11 offensive drives ended in the red zone, and not a single one ended in six points. After a forgetful weekend last week, McPherson scored every point inside the 20 for the Tigers, going a perfect 6-of-6 on field goal attempts.
But too many times on Saturday, Auburn opted to drop back and pass when threatening to score.
Ashton Daniels takes over
Auburn started the game off with 10-straight points and scored its third opening-drive touchdown in as many weeks.
Jackson Arnold started his day off with a 7-of-7 mark for 73 yards, but went on to miss the mark on his next five attempts and was benched for Ashton Daniels after an 89-yard pick-six to give the Razorbacks their third consecutive score to go up by 11 points to end the half.
Daniels was inserted into the game with 40 seconds left in the second half and finished his day with 77 yards through the air with a 6-of-8 mark. He added 35 yards on the ground, averaging five yards per carry, and turned in a positive 2-point conversion after Pleasant’s interception return.
Run game comes alive
Against the SEC’s worst run defense, Auburn hammered the Razorbacks’ defense on Saturday for 230 yards on the ground.
Jeremiah Cobb carried the load for the Auburn offense, averaging 5.5 yards per carry and notching a career-high 153 yards on 28 carries.
The Tigers averaged 4.6 yards per carry with 130 rushing yards coming on a fresh set of downs, with an average of 5.7 yards per attempt.
Auburn will return to action next Saturday, hosting Kentucky at 6:30 on SECN.
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