AUBURN, Ala. – There was never a doubt inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night. No. 9 Auburn jumped in front 7-0 early in the first quarter, and the Tigers never looked back as they bounced back with a convincing 34-3 win over Arkansas.
"I felt like it was a very good win for us tonight against an SEC opponent," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said after the game. "What stood out to me was our defense played outstanding. I think we held them to 3 of 17 on third downs and had two turnovers. Really, our goal was to put pressure on the quarterback, and I feel like we disrupted the quarterback.
"Overall, it's a good win. It's good to get back in the win column."
Running back JaTarvious Whitlow put Auburn on the board on its opening drive with a five-yard touchdown run in which he ran up the middle untouched. The freshman added a second touchdown run later in the game and finished with 49 yards on 13 carries.
The first touchdown run from Whitlow was set up by a 48-yard punt return from Ryan Davis, which was the first of many significant plays from the Auburn special teams Saturday.
Later in the first half, Jordyn Peters deflected a punt – he nearly blocked one earlier in the game – that was returned by linebacker K.J. Britt down inside the Arkansas 10-yard line. That led to an Auburn field goal. Then sophomore Noah Igbinoghene broke the game wide open with a 96-yard kick return for a touchdown early in the third quarter that put the Tigers ahead, 24-3, at the time.
It was Auburn's first kickoff return for a touchdown since Corey Grant ran one back against Tennessee in 2013, and the longest kickoff return since Tre Mason ran one back 100 yards against Washington State that same season.
"This was one of the better special teams performances we've had in a while," Malzahn said. "We just did a super job. I think we blocked one punt and got a hand on that other one. We returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and that was really big. And then Ryan Davis, he was very impressive on his punt returns and had some good blocks and everything that went with it.
"Any time that you've got the two returners that we have, that puts a lot of pressure on (the opponent)."
Like Malzahn alluded to above, it was another impressive performance from the Auburn defense, who held Arkansas to 290 total yards and kept the Razorbacks out of the end zone. The Tigers wreaked havoc in the backfield throughout the game with seven tackles for loss, two sacks and nine quarterback hurries. Both sacks came from true freshmen – Richard Jibunor and Smoke Monday.
Auburn also forced a pair of turnovers with an interception from Javaris Davis and a fumble forced by Igbinoghene that was nearly picked up and returned for a touchdown by fellow defensive back Daniel Thomas.
Quarterback Jarrett Stidham completed 15 of his 22 passes for 134 yards in the win. His favorite target, Ryan Davis, caught six passes for 40 yards. The senior wide receiver, who returned a punt 36 yards later in the fourth quarter, finished with a game-high 124 all-purpose yards.
Auburn (3-1, 1-1) will return home next week to host Southern Miss at 3 p.m. CT. It will be the fourth home game in as many weeks for the Tigers.
Game Notes
- Captains: Deshaun Davis, Ryan Davis, Jarrett Stidham
- Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and defers. Arkansas will receive
- Eagle Flight: Spirit from section 12 ramp
- Attendance: 84,188
TEAM NOTES
- First-time starters for Auburn: Jordyn Peters, Anthony Schwartz, Shedrick Jackson
- Auburn scored first for the 19th time in its last 22 games
- The Auburn defense held the opponent to a scoreless half for the first time this season and for the first time since last year's Mississippi State game (second half)
- Tonight was the first time since 2016 Auburn held an SEC opponent to 3 points or fewer (last time was also vs. Arkansas in a 56-3 win)
- It was also the first time Auburn held an opponent without a touchdown since 2016 vs. Alabama A&M
- Auburn's 95 punt return yards is the most in an SEC game since Tennessee in 2013 (127) and the most in any game since Louisiana Tech in 2014 (129)
- Auburn's defense held its second opponent of the season under 300 total yards with Arkansas amassing 290 (Alabama State: 205)
- The Tigers were 5-of-6 in the red zone tonight; they are now 17-of-22 on the season
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- JaTarvious Whitlow scored his third and fourth rushing touchdowns of the season, his first multiple score game
- Ryan Davis is now tied for fifth place among Auburn career receiving leaders with 128 career receptions, along with Emory Blake (128 receptions from 2009-12). Davis ranks 22nd in Auburn career receiving yardage (1,163), passing Tim Christian (1,126 yards from 1966-68).
- Jarrett Stidham to Ryan Davis is now the second most productive pass tandem in Auburn history, with 104 completions, passing Dameyune Craig to Karsten Bailey (97 completions between 1995-97). The Auburn record is 140 completions by Pat Sullivan to Terry Beasley (1969-71)
- The 42-yard completion from Stidham to Anthony Schwartz was Auburn's second-longest pass play of the season
- Stidham's 4-yard touchdown run was his second TD run of the season and the sixth of his Auburn career
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Daniel Thomas recorded his first fumble recovery of the season and the second of his career (also Missouri, 2017). The forced fumble by Noah Igbinoghene was the first of his career
- Javaris Davis recorded his first interception of the season and fifth of his career
- Richard Jibunor's forced fumble was the first of his career and also the second sack of his career
- Jeremiah Dinson, Daniel Thomas and Darrell Williams each had a team-leading 6 tackles
- Daquan Newkirk had his first career tackle
- Smoke Monday recorded his second sack of the season and his career
- Roger McCreary had his first two career tackles
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Auburn now holds the SEC record for consecutive PAT with 241, the longest current streak in the nation. Anders Carlson is now 13-13 on PAT for his career.
- Ryan Davis' 48-yard punt return was a career long and Auburn's second-longest play of the season
- Jordyn Peters' blocked punt was his second of the season (also Alabama State)
- Noah Igbinoghene's 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown was the first of his career and the first for Auburn since Corey Grant in 2013 vs. Tennessee. It's the longest Auburn kickoff return since Tre Mason vs. Washington State in 2013 (100 yards)
- Arryn Siposs' 60-yard punt was a career long