Close calls are a hallmark of Auburn football — same as eagle flights and glass-half-empty fans.
The gauzy memories of victories past tend to blunt the nail-biting stress just before all those last-second, humiliation-sparing escapes. Everybody remembers the ball bouncing into Ricardo Louis’s hands; fewer choose to recall blowing a three-touchdown lead that night.
But the next time it happens, all that dread comes rushing back with redoubled fury. Then there are times when it sticks around, even after the danger has passed and the game is won.
Amid the COVID-truncated crowd for Auburn’s most recent near-death experience, played out between a hurricane's outer bands, you could feel the old familiar turns of fortune playing out as the game progressed.
First there was the welcome sigh of relief as the Tigers jumped out to a 17-0 lead over what looked like yet another outmanned Arkansas team. A fifth-straight blowout of the Razorbacks wouldn’t have soothed every nerve set on edge by last week’s debacle, but it wouldn’t have hurt any either.
As Auburn’s offense went into a familiar second- and third-quarter slump while Arkansas began amassing yardage and points, a current of nervousness started to grow. We’re not really going to lose to these guys, are we?
Even when the offense got back on track in the fourth quarter, the defense all but collapsed, conceding long scores to a battered-but-game Felipe Franks and opening the door on what would have been a dreadful upset loss.
Speaking for myself, I could already imagine “Trelon Smith just ran past my window” black humor popping up on Monday, if not sooner.
For as much as the early-kickoff opener against Kentucky evoked déjà vu, this near-death experience as a two-touchdown favorite felt like the entire Auburn fan base had been jacked into the Matrix for an evening of frazzled nerves set on repeat.
In tried and true Auburn fashion, the Tigers managed to pull off a last-second comeback — by the very barest of margins. It wasn’t quite to the level of the infamous “win that feels like a loss,” but it was pretty darn close.
Implosion was much closer than it should have been.
(It’s worth noting, before forgetting about Arkansas for another 51 weeks, just how crazy this will drive the delusional Razorback fanbase. Arkansas, ever in search of an SEC rival, obsesses over Auburn and will add this game to their endless volume of conspiracy theories and grievances. They’re probably not interested in my advice — reasonably enough — but I do suggest trying to get over it before playing a team that just rolled up 647 yards on Alabama.)
The sudden reappearance of the defense to force a fast three-and-out on Arkansas’ last true possession was lost in the uproar over the spiked-football buffoonery. That's understandable, sure, but still a bit of a shame given how vital that stand was to eking out the win.
One would hope that burst of excellence will restore some confidence to Kevin Steele’s troops after what they experienced in Athens, but they can’t afford to be as bad as they were for most of the second half again and hope to add more numbers to the wins column.
Even amid all the offensive sputtering, Auburn found its bell-cow running back over these past two games. Tank Bigsby put on the best performance we’ve seen at the position since Kerryon Johnson was healthy in 2017. If he can continue to hammer defenses in the middle of the field, that ought to help pull some of the pressure off Bo Nix and the passing game.
But as last week demonstrated, Bigsby can’t be expected to carry the team on his own. Crowd-pleasing gimmicks like running the doughty J.J. Pegues at quarterback are fun in the moment, but what Auburn really needs is a regular, old, dependable offense. Once again, the Tigers don’t have that.
Besides Bigsby, I’m sorry to say that I don’t see any notable improvement in this offense to date. It looks like a mishmash again; an inconsistent jumble that doesn’t know either what it is or what it wants to be.
Auburn doesn’t have the offensive line to be a true passing team, and even if it did Chad Morris appears to be just as hesitant to throw the ball down the field as Gus Malzahn. The horizontal passing game worked just well enough this week, but only by the barest of margins.
It’s worth noting that Auburn has a ton of good players injured right now. It’s going to be a struggle to beat any SEC team not named Vanderbilt (who’s not on this year’s expanded schedule, more’s the pity) with Big Kat Bryant, K.J. Britt, Jaylin Simpson and Jordyn Peters all missing from the defense. That's to say nothing of Shawn Shivers, Eli Stove and Austin Troxell out on the other side of the ball.
Unfortunately, that’s just how it goes. Everybody is going to be beat up in this strange season. Who deals with it best will tell the tale.
Auburn, once again, needs to get better, very quickly. Arkansas was as close to a break as they’re likely to get this season.
