THE STAR
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett picked apart the Auburn secondary, going 24-for-37 for 274 yards with pair of first-half touchdowns. He has a strong arm but showed a deft touch on a few passes, particularly a 16-yard lob to wideout Greg Childs that went for a touchdown despite tight coverage by cornerback Neiko Thorpe.
KEY MOMENT
Auburn seized momentum with 20 unanswered points in the second half before Arkansas’ Dennis Johnson returned a kickoff 70 yards to close the third quarter, juking his way through a host of would-be tacklers at the Razorbacks’ 20-yard line before racing up the sideline. Arkansas capitalized with a touchdown run from Broderick Green that made it 41-23.
KEY DECISION
Bobby Petrino is a pass-happy coach, but he committed to the run Saturday, calling a season-high 45 running plays. His Razorbacks rewarded him with a season-best 221 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, wearing down the Auburn defense by holding nearly a 2-to-1 advantage in time of possession.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“We didn’t play well today. We’re going to figure out exactly how we respond to these types of situations because I don’t know yet. We’re not going to flinch. We got beat by a good football team, and we deserved to get beat. We didn’t play well.” — Auburn head coach Gene Chizik
BY THE NUMBERS
0: Points scored by Auburn in both the first and fourth quarters. The Tigers had scored in every quarter this season prior to Saturday.
44: Points scored by the Razorbacks, the most they’ve put up against Auburn in 19 all-time meetings.
184: Rushing yards by Tigers running back Ben Tate. He has 2,683 career rushing yards, the eighth player in Auburn history to top the 2,500-yard mark.
20: Consecutive games Chizik had won as a member of Auburn’s coaching staff before Saturday’s loss.
1-12: Chizik’s career road record as a head coach.
Andy Bitter
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