The availability report was supposed to tilt this toward Arkansas. Auburn played without safety Sylvester Smith-Reed and linebacker Bryce Deas, and Chris Marshall was listed probable to give Jackson his top receiver back. The box score search didn't turn up Marshall's line, but it doesn't need to. A 139-yard passing day means Arkansas never took real advantage of a back seven missing 2 starters. That short-handed Auburn defense held up for 4 quarters, which was the exact question the preview said would decide this game.
For a half it looked like the version of this game Arkansas needed. The Hogs led 10-3 at the break and 13-9 after 3 quarters, and Auburn's offense had nothing going until the Tigers had spent most of the afternoon behind. The board had Auburn as a double-digit home favorite and the number drifted toward Arkansas before kickoff. With 15 minutes left, the Razorbacks were the team holding the lead.
Then the 4th quarter happened, and it was 17-10 Auburn. Brown's legs kept moving the chains. One 24-yard run around left end got Auburn to the Arkansas 19 and set up a score. Arkansas kept answering, which is more than it managed against Missouri or Texas A&M, but answering isn't the same as getting stops. The late field goal that decided it came after the Hogs had already given away a 7-point halftime lead.
Auburn is now 5-4 and 3-4 in the SEC, and after getting blown out by LSU and Ole Miss, this win keeps bowl eligibility very much in reach. Arkansas falls to 3-6 and 1-5 in league play and has lost 2 straight. This one is harder to take than the Missouri blowout because the Hogs were in it the whole way. A defense that got pushed around last week played well enough to win for 45 minutes, and an offense that only had to be competent couldn't get past 139 passing yards.
Kickoff was 64 degrees and cloudy with a 10 mph wind, so nobody gets to blame the weather. Silverfield's team only had 1 interception after turning it over 4 times against Missouri, and it lost anyway. That's the most damning stat of the day. Arkansas fixed the turnover problem the preview called out and still couldn't win, because the passing game stalled again and Brown kept making plays in the 4th.
