Observations: Auburn 33, Arkansas 24
Even with just one offensive TD against a bad defense, the Tigers finally found ways to finish a close SEC game with a total team win.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The plan surely wasn’t for Auburn to win on a touchdown by its third-string cornerback from Tulane.
The plan surely wasn’t for Auburn to get six field goals and just one offensive touchdown against one of the worst defenses in major college football.
The plan surely wasn’t for Auburn to bench its former 5-star quarterback and go to an insurance policy of a veteran backup who didn’t join the team until the summer.
The plan surely wasn’t for Auburn to have to force four fourth-quarter turnovers.
The plan surely wasn’t for Auburn to beat Arkansas like this on Saturday.
But when you’ve lost four games in a row and you’re just fighting for survival, sometimes the plans have to go out the window.
“Those feelings that we’re having at the end of the last few games, we don’t want to have that feeling anymore,” wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. said after Auburn’s 33-24 win over Arkansas. “We want to win. That’s it.”
For the first time in more than a month — and the first time in SEC play in more than 11 months — Auburn football didn’t walk off the field with that losing feeling.
Instead of crumbling in the face of adversity and not responding in what would have been the fifth straight game, Auburn rallied and let the other side fall apart for a change.
No, it won’t win any style points. It might not even win any Auburn fans who had decided they were ready for the end of the Hugh Freeze era. After all, Arkansas came into this game with an interim coach and an even longer losing streak than Auburn.
But Freeze got to celebrate with his team in Fayetteville on Saturday afternoon. He hugged his happy players. He even kissed one of them — on the forehead — after Rayshawn Pleasant scored a go-ahead touchdown with 9:15 to play.
He got to exhale.
“Yes, man, this is a breath of fresh air,” Freeze said. “But you know, when you sign up for these, you’re fighting for your life from Game 1. And that’s what we do. And we signed up for it.”
The fight will continue for Auburn next Saturday with a home game against fellow struggling SEC team Kentucky. The offense will continue to face questions about its inability to finish drives. It could very well be Ashton Daniels’ first Auburn start.
But the Tigers will return to the Plains with a victory, thanks in large part to a defense that came up with the most clutch of performances — and a special teams unit, particularly kicker Alex McPherson, that bounced back from so much struggle.
“It hasn’t gone our way, but we just continue to fight,” Daniels said. “That’s what I love about this team. Our theme this week was Fight Club. You’re just gonna stand in there and fight when things get hard, and things got hard in the first half, and our guys just continue to go out there and fight and fight and fight.
“It came out on our side.”
Here are five Observations from Auburn’s streak-snapping road win at Arkansas.
