Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

AUBURN, Ala. - Long after Jordan-Hare Stadium had emptied, and with the scoreboard lights still showing Auburn having scored 65 points, it would be easy to think the Arkansas defense was a no-show Saturday. However, try the Razorback kicking game as maybe as much if not more of a culprit. Only in extra-point kicks did the Hogs not botch something in the kicking game all day.

The Hogs allowed a punt to be blocked for the first time all season. That set up a 3-play, 25-yard scoring drive for the Tigers.

They allowed an average of 44 yards per kickoff return on five kicks, with one being brought 99 yards by Onterio McCalebb (and he still didn't score, but the Tigers did three plays later).

Arkansas, meanwhile, had 10 kick returns and averaged 17.9 per return, and that included a long of 32 by Cobi Hamilton. Hamilton had replaced the ineffective Joe Adams as the returner early on in the second quarter, but  several of Hamilton's runbacks didn't reach the Hog 15. Hamilton is a track burner; it's not like he was waltzing up field with the ball. Auburn's kickoff team appeared small to the eye, but the Hogs didn't seem to block many of the Tigers.

"We got beat in the kicking game," Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. "No question, they got a huge advantage in, special teams, with the great return, held us to no returns. It was a big difference in the field position and really made a big difference in the outcome of the game."

When Arkansas had jumped ahead 7-0 halfway through the first quarter, Auburn had just 53 yards to answer following Demond Washington's 47-yard run back. After Arkansas climbed back to within two, 30-28, with 5:40 left in the third quarter, the coverage completely broke down on the right side and McCalebb had clear sailing until the Hogs' Ramon Broadway tripped him up at the 1.

Consider that both Arkansas' kickoff man, Alex Tejada, and Auburn's Wes Byrum, who also had three field goals on the day, averaged nearly the same on kicks: 68.1 yards for Tejada on seven, Byrum 67.8 on his 11. Auburn kicked Arkansas all around on returns, both running them back and defending them.

Did returner Dennis Johnson, now out with a season-ending injury to his bowel on a kickoff return in week 2, mean that much to the return game? Did the season-ending absence of blocker Seth Armburst, a walk-on, mean that Arkansas had no one left to give the returner some space? Considering the damage Alabama did on kick returns three weeks ago in Fayetteville, are the Hogs' reserves not up to par?

Does Arkansas' kicking game need a serious look before Ole Miss comes to Fayetteville next week?

Auburn sent eight men through the wide gaps of Arkansas punt line in the second quarter, but it was a man off the edge, Antonio Goodwin, who got his hand on Dylan Breeding's punt, and the ball caromed out of bounds at the 25. Before the kick, Breeding appeared a couple of yards closer to the line than normal. One yard closer, or a slow delivery from the deep snapper, was all Auburn needed with its outside speed.

Still, Arkansas didn't buckle on a gaffe and ensuing score that could have put the Hogs out then and there.

Down 27-21 at halftime, the Hogs rode the temporarily magic arm of little used sophomore Tyler Wilson to take a 43-37 lead early in the fourth quarter. Then, an Auburn scoring drive followed by back-to-back turnovers - one a Broderick Green fumble directly returned 47 yards for a touchdown, the second an interception of Wilson that gave the Tigers possession on the UA 7 -- just as suddenly turn this game completely the Tigers way.