Razorbacks Have Experienced Highs, Lows Against Auburn

Matchup's history is all over place in results, but usually provides direction of season

Arkansas Razorbacks wide receiver Monte Harrison (82) runs after picking up an onside kick in the first half against the UAB Blazers at Razorback Stadium. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Here we go with another Arkansas game on the road at Auburn. Nobody really knows what's going to happen, regardless of predictions.

It's a game that has driven handicappers crazy for decades. Surprising results have come out of this game. An awful lot of the time, though, the game has also proven to be a defining moment for an entire season.

The Tigers lead the series, 20-12-1. Before the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992, the two teams had only played in the Liberty Bowl following the 1984 season, Ken Hatfield's first as the coach of the Hogs.

This year's game has two teams that really have played one opponent that was in a similar conference and they both lost. Arkansas lost to Oklahoma State in double overtime and the Tigers had an unexplainable loss to Cal in Jordan-Hare Stadium where they don't often lose.

Yes, the Razorbacks have Taylen Green at quarterback with a couple of years under his belt at Boise State while Auburn is going with Hank Brown, starting just the second game of his college career. Hog fans tend to think that guarantees anything (it doesn't, as we've pointed out).

History is full of surprises on both sides. The Razorbacks clinched their first spot in the SEC Championship game in 1995 hanging on for a 30-28 win in Little Rock.

In 2006, the Hogs were slowly coming back from an opening loss to USC and went into Auburn, Ala., as a big underdog. They shocked the nation with a 27-10 win on The Plains just a couple of seasons after the Tigers' perfect year and ran behind Darren McFadden and Felix Jones to a 10-2 regular season.

The next year showed how crazy this series has been. Auburn came away from Fayetteville with a 9-7 win that was every bit as ugly as the score sounds. Razorback fans weren't expecting that at all as they still had hopes for a season with expectations running through the roof.

It resulted in Houston Nutt leaving at the end of the year going to Ole Miss for four seasons. The writing may have been on the wall after that ugly loss to the Tigers.

During Bobby Petrino's four seasons at Arkansas, he won three times over the Tigers. The loss came in Auburn's national championship run of 2010. It was a 65-43 loss that was the second disappointment for Razorback fans after blowing a game against Alabama earlier in the year.

In Sam Pittman's first season coaching the Hogs during the COVID season, everything bizarre about that season came to pass at Auburn. The Razorbacks had a 28-27 lead and when the Tigers were trying to kill the clock for a game-winning field goal, Bo Nix actually threw the ball backwards somehow.

What should have been a fumble resulted in an incomplete pass, Auburn kicked a field goal to win the game. It also set the tone for what became a pattern under Pittman of Arkansas finding ways to lose these close games, whether it was a mistake on their part or somebody else (officials).

Even in 2021, the Tigers were struggling looking for some excuse to fire coach Bryan Harsin, but it didn't come in Fayetteville even though the Hogs was everybody's pick. Auburn suddenly found a passing game and humiliated the Hogs in a 38-23 win.

It didn't exactly set up the rest of the season. It was a high point for the Tigers, who fired Harsin anyway a year later. The Razorbacks went on to win eight games, then beat Penn State in the Outback Bowl

Now we come to what could be an early turning point for both teams. The schedule for them both gets really rough the remainder of the season.

The Razorbacks will go play Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium in Arlington next week. Auburn gets Oklahoma and their annual rivalry game against Georgia.

We'll find out how this one goes at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. You can listen to the game on ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.

HOGS FEED:

• Three weeks in, Razorbacks feel both different — and same

• Film Room: Path for Hogs' upset against Auburn starts up front

• Fans should never question whether Freeze was better man for Arkansas

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