run out of town

[aubiefifty 17,487]

AUBURN, Ala. -- No. 21 Auburn scored on its first offensive play and blasted Arkansas with 543 rushing yards en route to a 56-3 rout of the No. 17 Razorbacks on Saturday.

The 53-point margin of defeat was the worst for Arkansas (5-3, 1-3 SEC) in an SEC game and the team's most lopsided loss since a 70-17 setback at Southern California in 2005.

The Tigers (5-2, 3-1 SEC) came out energized on both sides of the ball after their open date in front of a crowd of 87,451 at Jordan-Hare Stadium and took control in a dominating first quarter.

Auburn's rushing total was its highest against an SEC opponent and the most ever given up by a Razorbacks defense.

Arkansas struggled to keep Auburn's defensive line off quarterback Austin Allen, who was pulled early in the fourth quarter after taking multiple shots, including a low takeout by defensive end Carl Lawson that sidelined him for two plays in the second quarter.

The Razorbacks will try to regroup on their open date next week before a four-game stretch beginning Nov. 5 against Florida.

"Obviously, we didn't play very well today, and we have to take a critical look at ourselves in all phases," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said on the Arkansas Radio Network. "Obviously, we can't allow certain things that happened today to continue forward and be a good football team. So the bye week probably comes at a really good time to take a step back and be very, very hard on ourselves starting with me as a head coach to get done what we need to get done better."

Auburn won the turnover battle 2-0. The Tigers averaged 9.5 yards per carry and held the Razorbacks to 0.8 yards per run.

"When we're able to tempo and downhill run, we're at our best," Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said.

Malzahn, eager to avenge last year's four-overtime loss to the Razorbacks, improved to 3-1 against Arkansas.

"We played a complete game," Malzahn said. "One of our goals was trying to make them one-dimensional and get after the quarterback."

The Tigers rode the emotion of a pumped-up crowd early in the game and seized control in the opening moments on both sides of the ball. Freshman receiver Eli Stove raced 78 yards around left end on a jet sweep on Auburn's first offensive snap.

The Tigers' defensive front continually breached the Arkansas blocking and sacked Allen three times in the first quarter and knocked him down on many other plays.

The Razorbacks survived a big scare in the second quarter when Lawson dove from his hands and knees into the back of Allen's right leg. Allen stayed down on the field for a minute, then limped to the sideline and into a medical tent. He missed two plays at the end of a drive but returned on the next offensive series.

Auburn outgained the Razorbacks 632-215 in yardage. The Hogs managed just 25 rushing yards, their lowest of the season.

Arkansas won the time of possession by more than five minutes, but it could not pull off big plays, while Auburn employed its hurry-up offense to great effect.

Kamryn Pettway rushed for a career-high 192 yards and two touchdowns, including a 9-yard touchdown up the middle in the first half as the Tigers racked up 328 total yards.

Five Auburn rushers scored touchdowns, including backup tailback Stanton Truitt, who ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

Auburn quarterback Sean White, the SEC leader in completion percentage, was 6-of-11 passing for 77 yards.

Allen completed 17 of 30 passes for 187 yards with no touchdowns and 1 interception. His streak of games with two or more touchdown passes came to an end at seven. Wearing a brace on his right leg, Allen limped into the locker room early in the fourth quarter as redshirt freshman Ty Storey took over.

Auburn cracked down on the Arkansas run game, holding SEC rushing leader Rawleigh Williams to 22 yards on 13 carries, with a long run of 8 yards.

Auburn led 14-0 late in the first quarter when its defense turned up the heat. On the play after Andrew Williams sacked Allen for a 7-yard loss to set up third and 19 from the Arkansas 16, Allen dropped back to pass but had to tuck the ball and run. Allen had clear sailing for a few yards, but when he tried to fake the Tigers by drawing back to pass, the ball came free and Marlon Davidson recovered for Auburn at the Arkansas 27.

Two plays later, Truitt burst through the underbelly of the Arkansas defense for a 20-yard touchdown and a 21-0 Auburn lead.

Arkansas crossed midfield three times in the first half but could not get past the Auburn 32.

The Razorbacks got their two-minute drill in gear late in the half. After a 9-yard run by Devwah Whaley, Allen found Keon Hatcher on pass plays for 22 and 11 yards to the Auburn 36. Adam McFain came on to make a 54-yard field goal on the final play of the half to make it 28-3.

Auburn kept its run game greased up in the second half, piling up 275 more yards. Six of the Tigers' touchdowns came from 20 yards or longer.

Sports on 10/23/2016

Print Headline: Run out of town

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Not sure who wrote that, but I don't appreciate that not once but twice he makes it sound like Carl hurt Allen by playing dirty. That's total BS.

[aubiefifty 17,487]

hmmm. replying to my own thread. why do they keep saying or implying lawson made a dirty play? if i am not mistaken or completely blind was lawson not on the ground and rolled into allen? it looked more like an unfortunate play for allen to me. have i missed anything my brothers?

[auburntiger1987 759]

Just butt hurt being but hurt. Need something for arky to hang their hat on and act like it was dirty amd the game woukd have been different some how if that didnt happen 

[alexava 6,974]

It was borderline late, which means they are convinced it was dirty and most of us see it as completely legit. We know Carl too well to think it was done with ill intentions. In their defense they don't.  They are probably having flashbacks of Fairley suplexing their qb whose name escapes me in 2010. 

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

If you go back to the replay you will see clearly that Allen is hit from the front and actually backs up into a rolling Lawson. Ref was right there watching and saw it was not even close to a foul. Just naysayers talking crap as usual. WDE