FAYETTEVILLE — No. 21 Auburn came into Saturday night’s game reeling after losing a 20-0 lead and the game at LSU the week before.
But for the second straight year, Arkansas was just what the Tigers needed to feel really good about themselves.
Auburn put up 629 yards total offense and blew open a close game into a blowout with a 28-point third quarter in what turned into a 52-20 win over Arkansas. It came a year after the Tigers (6-2, 4-1) rolled to a 56-3 win over the Razorbacks (2-5, 0-4).
“I am real pleased with how our team bounced back from a very tough loss last week,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “I am very proud of our players, proud of our coaches.
“…We went into halftime (leading 17-6) and our message was to come out strong in the second half and we did that and we had one of our best quarters I think of the year."
Malzahn was not surprised Auburn played well against Arkansas.
“We had probably our best Tuesday practice of the season, one of our best Wednesday practices and they didn’t flinch so I am real proud of our team,” Malzahn said.
Auburn, whose next three SEC games are against Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama, rushed for 345 yards and passed for 284 more.
“We had some explosive plays and we got some tempo,” Malzahn said. “…Our quarterback kept the ball a couple of times too and that really opens up things up.”
Auburn signal caller Jarrett Stidham, who transferred after playing his freshman season at Baylor, was 19-of-28 passing for 218 yards and also rushed four times for 49 yards.
Stidham said his rushing yards did not come from a conscious effort to keep the ball more.
“I kind of shocked myself to be honest,” Stidham said. “I wasn’t really expecting to do that, but I saw an open lane and made a play to keep the chains moving.”
One of his runs was a 15-yard touchdown dash that came when Arkansas had just nine players on the field.
“I didn’t know that,” Stidham said. “I knew we were going really fast and they were not set up, but I was just kind of locked in on my read and it just kind of came at the right time.”
This came a week after rushing the ball on 17 straight first downs and a few days after stressing a more balanced offense.
“We were balanced I felt like,” Malzahn said. “We really talked about being balanced, we threw for 284 and rushed for 345 and I think the big thing was that we were able to get the tempo going so that was a big thing.”
Auburn’s defense did not allow Arkansas a third down conversion in the first half (0-of-7) and just 5 of 16 during the night while sacking Razorback quarterback Cole Kelley (6-7, 268) six times for 34 yards.
“That was impressive,” Mahlzahn said. “Our defense did a good job. That quarterback is a big man. He is really big and he falls forward a couple of yards. He is hard to get to, too, and I thought our defense did a good job.”
Kelley was 15-of-26 for 163 yards and had three fumbles, two of which were recovered by the Auburn defense.
Two of those sacks and strips were from junior defensive end Jeff Holland, who recovered one of the two fumbles he caused.
“That’s a big guy,” Holland said. “To be honest with you, the first time I hit him it knocked the breath out of me."