AUBURN, Ala. – Thirteen seconds. That's all it took from when Noah Igbinoghene fielded the kick at his own 4-yard line to when he crossed the goal line 96 yards later.
Thirteen seconds.
At the time of the return, Saturday's game was still in doubt. Arkansas had just kicked a field goal on its opening drive of the second half to make it a 17-3 game, and the energy level inside Jordan-Hare Stadium was down a little bit. The crowd needed a boost, and Igbinoghene provided that boost when he took the ensuing kickoff to the house. It jumpstarted the fans, and it served as the knockout blow to all but put the game away.
"After that, you could breathe a little easier and play football," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said.
The crazy part is that Igbinoghene had a feeling right before the kick that something was about to happen. The sophomore cornerback believes he can return every kick he fields for a touchdown. That's just who he is. But for some reason, this was different.
Auburn had been working on that specific return all week, and he and teammate Daniel Thomas had talked about him taking one back in Saturday's game.
"He's one of my close friends, and I told him he's going to get one this week," Thomas said. "Saturday comes, and he gets one. It's crazy. I'm proud of him."
"I've been thinking about that return," Igbinoghene said. "I don't know why but it came to my head that it was going to be a big play this weekend. I actually dreamed about it [Friday] night. I didn't really say anything about it. I just waited for him to call it, and he did. It wasn't exactly how I planned it, but it happened. So I'm happy."
The return itself was set up for Igbinoghene to go towards the right side of the field. And at first, that was the way he started out. He got blocks from Chandler Cox and Spencer Nigh that created a lane up the middle – just as it was planned – but when he got to the 25-yard line, he saw an opening to the left and cut it back to that side of the field.
It was about 10 yards further down the field that Igbinoghene saw the Arkansas kicker, and at that point, he knew there was nobody catching him.
"Once I saw the kicker, I knew I was good," he said.
Igbinoghene flew past two other Arkansas players who were in pursuit around midfield, and from there, it was a foot race to the end zone. As a guy who ran competitively in high school and also competes on the Auburn track and field team, there aren't many foot races that he's going to lose – especially on the football field.
Fellow track star Anthony Schwartz, who was watching from the sideline, knew as soon as Igbinoghene cut back to the left that it was going for six.
"I saw the cut and I saw the hole open, and I was like, 'Oh, he's taking that to the crib,'" Schwartz said. "When I saw him do it, I thought, 'That's that track [speed] right there.'"
It was Igbinoghene's first touchdown since high school, and one that earned him SEC special teams player of the week honors Monday. The sophomore, who moved from wide receiver to cornerback in the spring, also forced a fumble earlier in the first half that Thomas nearly returned for a touchdown and recorded two tackles.
"There aren't too many people special like that," added Thomas. "He can run. He can do a lot of stuff. He came from receiver to DB and takes kicks back – that's pretty special."
"Noah's a dynamic guy," Malzahn said. "I think you all saw that last year. The more opportunities he gets, he has a chance to bring it back. And there were some really good blocks on that play, too."
Thirteen seconds. That's all it took to seal Saturday's victory.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
