The final word: Bryan Harsin 'proud' of Auburn's ability to finish

Bryan Harsin harped on it all week. Auburn’s inability to finish drives has been plaguing the Tigers. But on Saturday, against No. 17 Arkansas, everything about Auburn’s win came down to finishing.

At one point late in the third quarter, Arkansas had nearly 200 more total yards than Auburn, and had run over 40 more plays. Arkansas ran 34 plays to Auburn’s seven in the third quarter. Arkansas out-gained Auburn 195 to 83 in that third quarter. Fortunately for Auburn, the defensive touchdown gave them a 14-13 scoring edge. Still, momentum was completely on Arkansas’ side. If Auburn didn’t fix something soon, they were going to lose control of the football game.

But then came the fourth quarter, and like the LSU game, Auburn rose to the occasion. Remember how lopsided the third quarter was in favor of Arkansas? Auburn completely flipped that quarter on its head, out-gaining Arkansas 145 yards to 35 yards, outscoring the Razorbacks 10-0, outrushing Arkansas 78-13, and holding the ball for over 12 minutes.

“It’s definitely the way we want to finish a game,” Bryan Harsin said postgame. “You want to convert, stay on the field, be able to run it. Most teams would like to be able to do that. Those were drives that I was very proud of. Our guys executed. The offensive staff had a good plan going into this game and have those opportunities.

“Overall, yes, that’s the way we want to play. We’ll take that and learn from it, and apply it to the bye week and the things we have to do to get better. Now, we have a chance to focus on ourselves instead of an opponent. We need it.

“I’m excited for our team. That was a fun game. Arkansas is a good team. That was a good football game that we got a chance to be a part of. That gives us a chance to create momentum into the bye week. I enjoyed listening to the staff. There were things that we’ve been working on that fell into place today. I feel like this week of preparation, that carried over into this game.”

The Tigers trailed at halftime in the previous four games, and were down double digits in their first two conference games against LSU and Georgia. That changed on Saturday, as Auburn led 14-3 and 14-10 at halftime. Harsin wanted a “fast start,” and that’s what he got.

[Real-time analysis: Live insight into Auburn’s game against Arkansas]

Practice makes (almost) perfect for the Tigers

It’s been well documented at this point that Auburn had 23 drops on the season entering the game against Arkansas. But on Saturday, Auburn had only two, catching nearly everything that was thrown their direction. Whether it was Shedrick Jackson, or Landen King, or Demetris Robertson, Auburn’s pass catchers held up their end of the bargain against the Razorbacks.

“Nobody is trying to put the ball on the ground,” Bryan Harsin said. “We’ve played good teams. It was good to see our receivers, our passing game have explosive plays. Guys have worked hard on being balanced on the offensive side. We focused on the run game protection, being able to his big plays. We did that today.”

Ten different Auburn receivers caught passes on the day, leading to 292 yards through the air for Bo Nix on 21-for-26 passing. Jackson led Auburn in receptions with five, totaling 61 yards, while Robertson led the team in yards with 81 on two catches. Luke Deal had four grabs, followed by Kobe Hudson’s three, King’s two, and one each by Ja’Varrius Johnson, John Samuel Shenker, Malcolm Johnson, Tank Bigsby and Tyler Fromm.

“We’ve done some things with our entire team with throwing it around and catching,” Harsin said of things they’ve worked in practice. “Sometimes when you have something becomes such a focus, you have to step back and get some perspective. Our guys can catch and make plays. We have to believe we can make those plays. It’s not more complicated than that. The big thing is the standards of how guys are going to get themselves better. Be intention about it. More guys stayed after practices worked with the QBs, that becomes the difference. It comes down to the extra work more than the drills.”

Auburn’s big plays changed the game

Auburn finished the game with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Johnson, a 71-yard touchdown pass to Robertson, a 23-yard touchdown run by Nix, and a forced fumble by Derick Hall and recovered for a touchdown by Marcus Harris.

The pass to Johnson on the first drive and the pass to Robertson in the third quarter were both pre-planned calls to take advantage of the situation. They were practiced plays with the hopes that Auburn would be in position to execute them on Saturday. And they did just that.

“We had a big play, we had some momentum, but we felt like we had it set up. I thought it was a great call by Coach (Mike) Bobo,” Bryan Harsin said of the Nix-to-Robertson bomb. “What I didn’t see, I’m going to assume Demetris did a good job of attacking the cornerback. The hard part about that was it was right into the sun. He threw it up and Demetris came down with it. That helped us with the momentum. It was back-to-back momentum changes for us,” as that play was almost immediately after Harris’ touchdown recovery.

“You feel like everything you put in is going to have some type of success. That’s why you put it in,” Harsin said. “When you hit it, all this work we’ve put in, you feel like it’s going to pay off. Our guys believe in it, but when you see the results — it creates that belief and momentum that are important in a four-hour game. We’re all human. The emotion of the game has a factor. When you make big plays, you’re excited. I think our guys are happy for their teammates. They see their teammates making plays and they’re excited for them. To me, that’s the fun part. That’s the enjoyable part as a coach.”

Other important factors

Arkansas converted 10-of-19 third downs. Six of those conversions, Arkansas had to go between 5-9 yards for the first down. Having said that, Auburn’s defense seemingly did their job, forcing Arkansas into an average of 7.1 yards to go on third downs. It was the second part of the equation that caused the Tigers trouble.

Arkansas averaged 8.5 yards per rush on third down. Auburn averaged .8 yards per rush on third down. Auburn had very little success there, getting stuffed on multiple occasions in short-yardage situations.

The Auburn defense finished with seven tackles for loss and three sacks. And yet again, the Auburn offensive line didn’t allow a sack. Auburn also didn’t allow a sack against LSU or Penn State.

Team notes

This was the first time Auburn scored a touchdown on its opening drive in an SEC game since the 2019 Arkansas game.

The win marked Auburn’s sixth straight over Arkansas, and the ninth straight game Auburn has scored 30-plus points against Arkansas.

It’s also the first win for Auburn over a ranked opponent since the 2019 Iron Bowl.

And, with the win, Auburn notched its first back-to-back road wins since 2017.