Arkansas had the ball on third-and-19 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Taylen Green, Arkansas’ quarterback, evaded the defensive linemen and threw a 58-yard bomb to receiver Isaiah Sategna for a touchdown.
The ability to get off the field on third and long plagued Auburn’s defense for most of the night. It was one of many problems for the Tigers to maintain a one possession game and keep the game within reach, as Auburn fell 24-14 in its SEC opener on Saturday afternoon.
“I thought our defense, other than third-and-longs...if we could get off the field on third-and-longs that defensive effort would have been remarkable, truthfully,” said Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze. “But they got two third-and-long conversions on penalties and then converted five of eight third-and-longs. We can’t do that.”
Arkansas was 9-for-19 on third downs with a 47% conversion rate. Not being able to contain the quarterback has been a problem for Auburn’s defense the past two games. Green threw for 151 yards on the day and ran it 18 times on the ground for 80 yards.
“We'll continue to study how others are trying to stop and see if we can find something that helps us in that regard,” Freeze said. “But it's obviously, when you get an athletic guy like him, he presents a different challenge.”
Time of possession also played a factor into the game, as Arkansas held the ball for 13:12 longer than Auburn. Giving the Razorbacks more opportunities to score, Arkansas ran 83 plays compared to the Tigers 61.
Penalties were a challenge for the Tigers' defense as mistakes began to mount and pile on, giving Arkansas more cracks at advancing downfield. Auburn had five penalties that totaled 46 yards.
“We got to look at ourselves first, as coaches,” Freeze said. “I thought we were in some good positions, you know, that they had to make some really tough throws on third and long on the on the penalty. And then one was selfish, hitting a quarterback out of bounds. They gave them second and third and longs and that they were backed up at that point... obviously we're not coaching it well enough, and I’ll have to find young men that will do it the way they're coached.”
The Tigers did take a hit to their secondary early in the game when Champ Anthony went out with an apparent leg injury early in the second quarter. Losing a starting cornerback and more experienced players is a tough blow for any defense.
“Man, that's a guy that goes to work and that's a guy that took over a leadership role this off season, man,” said defensive lineman Elijah Brown. “And you know, you hate to see it, but it's part of the game, man, and we as a defense and defense as a whole team, we just going to play hard for that guy. Man, we're going to play hard for our dog champ. And I know he's going to be working to get back.”
The Tigers will need to improve in containing the quarterback this week at practice. As Auburn will have its third straight test against a mobile quarterback when Oklahoma comes to play next week at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“Life is full of tests, and we're being tested, and we're either going to pass the next test or fail it,” Freeze said. "And there's no running from that.”
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William Halliday is a junior journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @wphalliday3
