BY BRANDON HUGHES
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Turnovers continue to plague the Auburn Tigers (2-2, 0-1), who fell 24-14 at home to the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-1, 1-0) in the conference opener for both teams. Arkansas has won the last two matchups in Jordan-Hare — something they have not done since the 2006 and 2008 seasons.
Before the season began, the Tigers’ schedule looked to be its most promising in recent history, opening with five home games. Four games in, however, Auburn has only two wins — both against lower-tier schools. It’s early, and there is a lot of football left to play, but the schedule only gets more challenging, so the path to six wins and a bowl berth is looking grim.
The defense played solidly and stood up time and again as the offense turned the ball over with alarming regularity, three of which came inside the Arkansas 30-yard line. Auburn entered the game among the nation’s worst in interceptions thrown, and Arkansas had intercepted at least one pass in 50 of its last 52 games, so perhaps the turnovers shouldn’t have been all that surprising.
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze called the offensive performance “miserable to watch.”
Arkansas opened the game with an 11-play drive to the Auburn 23 when they missed a 41-yard field goal. The Tigers took over and moved the ball well across seven plays before quarterback Hank Brown threw his first of three interceptions on the day. Razorback defender TJ Metcalf tipped the pass intended for tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, which Doneiko Slaughter corralled at the Arkansas 19-yard line. Metcalf would go on to intercept two passes and force a fumble in the game.
The Tiger defense appeared to hold the Razorbacks to a three-and-out, but Austin Keys was flagged for roughing the passer, giving the offense a first down. The visiting Hogs would capitalize on this second chance, taking a 7-0 lead with a one-yard run on the first play of the second quarter.
The teams exchanged punts on the following three drives. On the fourth drive in the sequence, the Auburn defense came up big with a sack on 4th down, giving the Tigers the ball at the 50-yard line. Auburn appeared to be on the way to tying the ball game when Damari Alston burst through the left side of the line and raced 36 yards for the score, only to have the football knocked out at the goal line. Arkansas recovered the ball in the endzone.
Auburn’s defense would hold Arkansas to a three-and-out, but two plays into the ensuing drive, Brown threw his second pick of the game at the Auburn 27-yard line. Auburn would return the favor one play later with an interception of their own and a 33-yard return, setting the Tigers up near midfield. After opening the drive with a 25-yard completion to Fairweather and Auburn making a push to score before halftime, Brown threw his third interception of the day at the Razorback 8-yard line, sending the game to halftime.
Heading into the locker room, Freeze told sideline reporter Ronnie Brown, “I gotta find a QB that doesn’t turn the freaking ball over. We got receivers running open, and we’re throwing it to the other team.”
Brown would be benched in favor of previous starter Payton Thorne as Auburn opened the half with the ball. Even though the Tigers ran for 101 yards in the first half on 12 carries, averaging 8.4 yards per rush, and struggling in the passing game, Auburn threw the ball on five of six plays and was forced to punt. Freeze dialed up a fake punt, and punter Oscar Chapman was stopped well short of the first down as he tried to tuck the ball and run for it. Arkansas took over in Auburn territory.
Three plays later, though, the Tigers’ Kayin Lee intercepted the Arkansas pass at the Auburn 27-yard line. Auburn promptly went three-and-out. After Auburn held Arkansas on three plays and forced a punt, the Tigers would finally put together a scoring drive. Aided by a 54-yard pass from Thorne to KeAndre Lambert-Smith to get the ball to the Razorback 10-yard line, Thorne and Lambert-Smith would connect two plays later for a 10-yard touchdown, knotting the game at 7-7.
With a new ball game and the home crowd reenergized, the Auburn defense took the field, looking to get the ball back to the offense with an opportunity to take its first lead of the day. Unfortunately, the defense gave up first downs on a 3rd and 13, third and 10, and a backbreaking third and 19, which resulted in a 58-yard touchdown pass that gave the Razorbacks the lead right back at 14-7.
The following Auburn drive ended after only four plays, with a Thorne interception setting up the Razorbacks at the Auburn 45. The Tiger defense held Arkansas to a field goal, extending the lead to 17-7.
Auburn would claw back to within a single score when, on 4th and 2, Thorne would find his favorite target, Lambert-Smith, for a seven-yard completion that Lambert-Smith would take untouched 67 yards to the endzone.
Arkansas got the ball up 17-14, and the Auburn defense appeared to get the ball back to its offense when a pass interference call on third down gave the Hogs a first down. The Tiger defense finally began to show the effects of the time of possession being so heavily skewed in Arkansas’ favor as the Razorbacks ran the ball ten straight plays, punching it in from a yard out. The runner appeared to be short of the goal line, but replay review upheld the call, giving the Hogs a 24-14 lead.
Asked about his message to the players after the game, Freeze said, “That life is full of tests and we’re being tested. And we’re either going to pass the next test or fail it. There’s no running from that. There’s no hiding from it as coaches and players. How we handle those moments, the good and the bad, really speaks to who we are. You can decide to fight and understand that we’ve got an opportunity to play a top-20 team at home next week. There’s signs that we can do some good things. But we cannot play as inconsistent as we are. That’s getting really frustrating and old. I’m sure it is to a lot of people.”
When asked who would get the start next week against Oklahoma, he said, “I have no idea, sitting here right now. But I’ll go back to work tomorrow, and I’ll be as locked in as I’ve ever been to try and get it fixed.”
By the Numbers
- KeAndre Lambert-Smith is 4th nationally with five touchdown receptions on the season. He had four all of last season.
- Auburn has 17 turnovers in its previous four games against power conference opponents. They are 0-4 in those games.
- Auburn’s turnover margin for the season is -10, which ranks 131/134 nationally. The Tigers have turned the ball over 14 times while forcing only four turnovers on defense.
Up Next
Home versus the Oklahoma Sooners at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
