AUBURN – From their opening possession to the final play, Auburn dominated the Arkansas Razorbacks Saturday afternoon for their third straight SEC win. Coming off their bye week, Auburn looked fresh and ready to go. The Tigers amassed a whopping 632 yards with an unfathomable 543 coming on the ground, while the defense held Arkansas to 215 total yards.
Kamryn Pettway was nearly unstoppable, rushing for 192 yards on 27 carries and scoring twice. Eli Stove only carried the ball three times but he made the most of it, racking up 94 yards and a TD. Kam Martin added 80 yards on seven carries and a touchdown while Stanly Truitt had eight rushes for 78 yards and two touchdowns. He also has a single catch for 45 yards and a score to complete the TD hat trick.
Arkansas won the toss and elected to receive, hoping to set the tone for the game, but Auburn had different plans. As they have done all year, the Auburn defense came up big, holding Arkansas to just 17 yards on the drive and forcing a Toby Baker punt.
Auburn started their first drive from their own 22. Auburn QB Shaun White took the snap, turned around and stuck the ball in the gut of Stove and he did the rest, going over left end and racing up the far sideline for a 78-yard touchdown. Carlson nailed his 119th straight PAT to give Auburn the lead 7-0, and they never looked back.
Following the second Arkansas punt, the Tiger offense went right back to work. Starting with a Pettway rush for 7 yards, Auburn drove 91 yards on nine plays. The drive ended the way it started, with a Pettway rush, as he carried the ball in from 9 yards out to add to the Auburn lead. Carlson was good to put the Tigers up 14-0 but they were not done just yet. On third-and-19, Razorback quarterback Austin Allen rushed for 11 yards but was stripped of the ball. Marlon Davis pounced on the loose ball and Auburn set up shop at the Arkansas 27.
It took the Tigers just two plays to capitalize on the Razorback turnover when Truitt busted through the middle of the Arkansas defense to find the end zone 20 yards later. The Carlson point after the TD put the Tigers on top 21-0 as the final seconds melted off the clock in the first quarter.
Less than a minute into the second quarter, Auburn had the ball once more via punt but could not pick up the first down and Kevin Philips was called upon to punt for the first time in the game.
Both teams played the field position game for the majority of the second quarter until White bucked the trend. With 3:40 left in the half and on their own 20, Pettway carrued the ball four times for 35 yards, putting Auburn in Razorback territory. From the Arkansas 45, White found a streaking Truitt for a 45-yard strike and the fourth Auburn score of the half. Carlson booted through the PAT and Auburn went ahead 28-0.
Arkansas finally got on the board with four seconds left in the half with a 54-yard field goal from Adam McFain that turned out to be the only Arkansas points on the night.
After stalling on their first drive of the half, Auburn made the most of their second opportunity. Starting from their own 14, Pettway carried the ball seven times for 42 yards as he led the charge down the field. White finished he drive with a 1-yard rush on a bootleg around right end. After the Carlson PAT, the Tigers pushed their lead to 35-3.
The Tigers scored a second time in the third on a Pettway 23-yard touchdown that was set up by a Javaris Davis interception of Allen. The PAT was booted through, giving the Tigers a near insurmountable lead, 42-3.
Auburn added two more scores in the final quarter, a 31-yard score from Truitt and a 51-yard blast from Martin, downing the Razorbacks 56-3. This gives Auburn their third SEC win in a row as they head to Oxford next week to take on Chad Kelly and the Ole Miss Rebels.
AP Photo/Butch Dill
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