Road Hogs take 24-14 win over Auburn to open SEC play

Arkansas was a slight underdog, but on Saturday they went into Jordan-Hare Stadium and beat Auburn 24-14 to open SEC play.

Arkansas and Auburn combined to turn the ball over seven times, but fortunately it was the home team that did it five times. Safety TJ Metcalf intercepted two passes, forced a fumble, broke up a pair of passes and had four tackles on the day. Sam Pittman was happy to see his team get a win to open SEC play.

“Really proud of our team,” Pittman said. “I thought it was a complete team win. We struggled more offensively at times, then at times we looked really good. Defensively, you take away the one big play on fourth and 3, I don’t know that we could’ve played a whole lot better than what we did. Lot of turnovers. TJ Metcalf had two picks, hustled down the sideline to force the fumble there. What a wonderful game he had.

“We told 74 guys we’re going to go win. We’ve got a better team. I don’t mean that cocky or anything, just felt like we could come in here and win. Those things are easier said than done. Defense, Coach (Travis) Williams and those guys had them playing lights out.”

It was a day when quarterback Taylen Green struggled through the air, but gained 80 yards on 18 carries rushing. He completed 12 of 27 passes for 151 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. But it was Green who helped lead the Hogs to a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with running back Ja’Quinden Jackson powering in from the 1-yard line for the final score of the game with 3:38 remaining in the game. It came after Auburn scored to cut the lead to 17-14 with 9:50 remaining in the game.

“Offensively, when they did score, I thought we did a great job of driving 75 yards to go up,” Pittman said. “We didn’t put the game away, but it was close. I thought, special teams I thought played really well. We made the field goal to put us up 10. We hadn’t been doing that. We hadn’t been going up two scores when we’ve had opportunities. Certainly tonight, answering a touchdown with a touchdown to go back up 10 where there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on them.

“I’m proud of the coaches, proud of the kids. It was a big win. I’m very thankful that we got out of here with more points than they did.”

Offensive tackle Fernando Carmona was pleased to be a part of that 75-yard drive that pretty much iced the game.

“Man, that was huge,” Carmona said. “We were struggling through a lot of the game. We couldn’t really find our groove, and I feel like in the practices, some of the scrimmages in the spring, we struggled on finishing games and finishing drives. And to see us go out there … I think it was all runs. It felt like all runs. For us to do that, man, that’s an extreme confidence boost for us going into other games now. 

“It shows, you know what, regardless of first, second, third or fourth quarter, wherever we’re at and however it’s going, we’re going to stick together and we’re going to fight through this together.”

Metcalf now has three interceptions in the past two games and has his sophomore season off to a great start.

“Well, he practices hard, him and his brother,” Pittman said. “They come from very strong parent athletic backgrounds, as you well know. He’s just a great kid and he wants to be good. I’m just so happy that things are going his way. I guess that’s three picks in two games now. He works hard, he’s a very good tackler. Physical guy, and he’s earned the respect more and more from his teammates. I know we damn sure believe in him.”

A huge play for Arkansas came when they faced a third-and-19 from their own 42. Green hit a streaking wide receiver Isaiah Sategna who outjumped a defender to catch the pass and score a touchdown to put the Hogs up 14-7 with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter. Sategna finished with three receptions for 85 yards.

“That was a hell of a catch,” Pittman said. “I felt like it might’ve been pass interference. Sategna went up there and we needed a play. Things were going bad at that point, tied up, think we were tied up at that point. May have been up 3, can’t remember. He threw that long one and Sategna just made a great play on it. I think it put us up seven.”

After a lackluster start to last week’s game, Williams’ defense turned it around on Saturday for a great showing at his alma mater where he both played and coached. Auburn had 431 yards of total offense to 334 for the Hogs, but they also had five turnovers forced by an aggressive defense.

“Well, I don’t know if I said it in here, I did on radio, but I gave Travis the game ball,” Pittman said. “I think it meant a lot to him, playing here. I know he’s got a love for Auburn but I know that win was big for him. It had to be. The game plan, I went back and forth in there several times this week and went ‘Hey now, we’re going to make that quarterback beat us, we’re going to make that quarterback beat us, we’re going to make that quarterback beat us.’ It wasn’t exactly how I thought he was going to make the quarterback beat us. I thought they did a wonderful job. (Jarquez) Hunter, he’s a good running back, you know. He had 60-70 yards (67 on 12 carries), but for him it’s probably not — for us, we did a nice job.”

Tennessee transfer defensive back Doneiko Slaughter had his best game as a Razorback. He topped the team with seven tackles, all solo, one sack, an interception and two tackles for loss. Metcalf talked about his game the defense had and broke down the pair of interceptions.

“Yeah, so the first one, you know, I tipped it,” Metcalf said. “Nico (Slaughter) caught the pick. The second one, I dove for it, and I was in Coach Pittman’s ear, and I really appreciate Coach Pittman for that, challenging the play.

“I was really in the refs’ ear, like, ‘I caught it’. He was like, ‘yeah, I told him you caught it’. So I got the ball, I was like, ‘alright, bet’. The third pick, JJ (Jayden Johnson) got a pick. Then the fourth one, I caught it. I think he overthrew it or something like that. I was there to make the play, but the forced fumble, that was really a big play for me because just the stuff we work on at practice. Coach (Marcus) Woodson’s always getting on us about tracking the near hip, so I couldn’t let him cut back and go score, so I had to do what I had to do. Get the ball out.”

Jackson rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. His 1-yard run to conclude the 75-yard drive was a determined one.

“We have a lot of hard-running backs,” Carmona said. “I think if Braylen had that ball, even if Rodney (Hill) had it, I think they’re doing the same thing. With Ja’Quinden, he’s just a massive human being. And the way he puts his mind to something and just kind of his poise through that whole game and the way he united the O-line in the fourth quarter, it helped us get to that point where he got the ball at the end and he won us the game.”

An elated Metcalf summed up the win and how he feels about this team.

“It’s an amazing confidence booster,” Metcalf said. “All year we knew we had a great defense if we just stuck to our plan and play hard. We play hard and physical every single play I don’t think anybody in the country can stop us.”

Arkansas scored first on a 1-yard run by Jackson with 14:49 remaining before halftime. Jackson’s run came on the first play of the second quarter. The Hogs also got a 43-yard field goal from Kyle Ramsey with 12:04 remaining in the game. Ramsey’s kick put the Hogs up 17-7.

Payton Thorne started the second half for Auburn after Hank Brown, who had stated he was going to dominate Arkansas, was scoreless in the first half and tossed three picks. Thorne found wide receiver Ke’Andre Lambert-Smith for a 10-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7 with 5:44 remaining in the third quarter.

Thorne and the Auburn offense faced a fourth-and-2 play at its own 33 when he found Lambert-Smith for a 67-yard touchdown to pull within 17-14 with 9:50 remaining in the game. Smith-Lambert caught five passes for 156 yards and the two touchdowns. Thorne came off the bench to complete 13 of 22 passes for 213 yards, the two touchdowns and an interception.

Arkansas (3-1, 1-0) will face Texas A&M in Arlington on Saturday afternoon at a time and network to be announced. The kickoff will be 2:30 or 3:15.