The 5th win for the Auburn Tigers was anything but easy Saturday afternoon against the Arkansas Razorbacks. For nearly 2 quarters the Razorback defense kept the Tigers offense bottled up. Auburn found success late in the 2nd quarter putting together a 62 yard drive that resulted in a field goal. Wide receiver Chas Nimrod takes us inside the locker room and what the coaches said before the team came out for the 3rd quarter.
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“That we're good, and we've just got to go out there and do our job. There wasn't anyone (with) spite sitting there with long faces, and everyone just kept faith,” Nimrod said.
The Tigers took that message to heart and used momentum from their field goal drive. After getting a stop defensively, the Auburn offense came out and scored a touchdown on their first possession of the second half. The Tigers found success in the quarterback run game. Center Cole Best talked about how it being tough sledding early opened things up later in the game.
“We talk about it all the time, the two yard gains early in the game, those turn into fours, and the fours turn into sixes and so on. And then they double, and I thought exactly that happened,” Best said.
After going three and out four times in the first half, Auburn only punted once in the second half. The Tigers also gained 254 total yards after just 111 in the 1st half. Best and Nimrod felt there was better execution offensively. Execution that helped the offense get into a flow and led to 23 points being scored in the 2nd half.
“Just going out and executing plays and just doing our job and just settling in and not trying to do too much. So just really just doing our jobs and taking it one play at a time and just staying poised,” Nimrod said.
“I didn't think it was anything crazy different that we did. I thought it was just guys doing their job, guys communicating, guys being locked in,” Best said.
The offense came up with its two biggest drives when the score was tied on two seperate occasions in the 4th quarter. Brown connected with Keshaun Singleton to go up 23-16. Then Alex McPherson was called upon to kick another game winner, which he nailed. Best feels some relief putting one in the win column. He also spoke about the team staying the course despite all the adversity.
“It's been extremely hard losses, but throughout these rough weeks, I mean, nobody's flinched, nobody's wavered. We've continued to stick together, continued to find ways to improve what we need to improve,” Best said.
Auburn goes for back-to-back wins next Saturday. The Tigers will travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State (4-5). The Bulldogs were defeated by Vanderbilt 25-23 Saturday afternoon. Kickoff between the Tigers and Bulldogs is set for 11 a.m. at Davis Wade Stadium.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
