Arkansas football, Rocket Sanders beat Auburn on the road for first time since 2012
Auburn, Ala. — Arkansas football secured its first win at Jordan-Hare Stadium since 2012 on Saturday, defeating Auburn on the road 41-27. The Razorbacks hadn't beaten the Tigers at all since 2015.
Arkansas (5-3, 2-3 SEC) relied on its running game against a struggling Auburn defense. Raheim "Rocket" Sanders had yet another strong performance. Meanwhile, Arkansas' defense used a strong third quarter to let the offense get ahead, and Auburn (3-5, 1-4) couldn't overcome the deficit.
MORE:What bowl game will Arkansas football make? Here are best projections.
Rocket Sanders reaches rushing milestone
With a 76-yard run in the third quarter, Sanders surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season. He is the first running back under coach Sam Pittman to reach that milestone.
Auburn's run defense has been a problem all season for the Tigers, and it was a bad mismatch against Sanders. He finished with 171 yards on 16 carries.
It was his sixth game with over 100 yards, and he nearly matched the career-high 175 he set against BYU in Week 7.
KJ Jefferson runs the show
Auburn poured its defensive resources into trying to stop the run early. But against a balanced offense like Arkansas, that allowed KJ Jefferson room to throw. He completed 16 of 24 passes for 234 yards. It was his third-best passing performance in terms of yards this season.
Receiver Matt Landers led the way with 115 yards on four catches, his second-best mark of the season. Jadon Haselwood caught the Razorbacks' lone passing touchdown.
Jefferson was effective on the ground, too, scoring twice with his legs. His 11 carries were his third-fewest this season.
Defense gives up chunk plays, not touchdowns
The Razorbacks had several defensive backs, including Myles Slusher, Jayden Johnson and Khari Johnson, back from injury. The hope entering the game was that between replenished depth and Auburn's poor passing game, Arkansas' secondary could catch a break. Auburn has the league's worst passing offense in terms of completion percentage and interceptions, and the Tigers have the SEC's second-fewest passing yards per game.
Arkansas' defense was fine in the first quarter. Auburn put together some drives, but the Razorbacks held the Tigers to 46-yard field goal attempts twice. One missed, the other didn't. The three points were all Auburn managed in the first quarter.
But the Razorbacks started giving up chunk plays in the second quarter. After a special teams snafu by Auburn gave Reid Bauer a 78-yard punt to the Auburn 7-yard line, the Tigers strung together a five-play, 93-yard touchdown drive. Quarterback Robby Ashford scrambled for 34 yards on third down, and running back Tank Bigsby broke off a 41-yard touchdown run shortly thereafter.
The defense gave up passes of 16, 18 and 24 yards with just over a minute left in the first half, and the Tigers made a short field goal to cut Arkansas' lead to 4.
Against a better offense, the allowance of such big plays would've been a much bigger problem. But Auburn struggled to finish drives, and the Razorback defense held the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter while the offense increased its lead.
Up next
Arkansas returns to Fayetteville for a three-game homestand beginning with Liberty on Nov. 5 (3 p.m. CT, SECN).
Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks for the Southwest Times Record and USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@swtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas football runs over Auburn, ends road losing streak to Tigers
