It’s funny what this crazy game can do to people.

Auburn shellacked Arkansas on Saturday, winning by 41 points on the road in a game that was literally never in question.

The Tigers led by two touchdowns with less than five minutes elapsed on the clock. Down the stretch they pummeled The Other White Meat into so many last-place sausage patties with a 34-7 run that could have been worse.

The AU defense absolutely smothered the Razorbacks. Marlon Davidson forced a fumble on the third play from scrimmage and the squad as a whole held the SEC’s current leading rusher under 50 yards for the second time in three games. The Tigers allowed only two meaningless scoring drives and claimed four turnovers, including two interceptions.

But if you look around a not-inconsiderable chunk of Auburn fandom today, you’d have thought it was a loss.

On the other side of the field, the blowout looked so comprehensive that for once, Arkansas’ veteran homer columnist Wally Hall didn’t even bother to concoct a conspiracy theory, admitting that Auburn could have named its score.

Hall’s boss, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sports Director Matt Jones, went so far as to declare AU possesses “arguably the best offensive line in the SEC.”

I can’t say I agree with that particular assessment. The line play that I saw Saturday, particularly in the first half, was nothing to write home about. But in fairness Auburn was able to do whatever it wanted to for most of the second half.

I’m sure some of that was due to having worn down Arkansas’ defensive front.

And what the hell, when Auburn’s offense was going, it was going gangbusters. Gus Malzahn figured out after his debacle in Gainesville that it’s a good idea to get the ball into Anthony Schwartz’s hands more than once.

So that's what he did — early and often.

Forced by Boobee Whitlow’s injury to finally commit to “running back by committee,” Auburn did just that and romped to over 300 rushing yards (officially 298, thanks to three victory-formation kneels at the end of the game). All five guys who shared time running the ball were successful.

Bo Nix was good and occasionally better than good. When the Tigers were scoring, the points came so quickly that Nix rarely had to throw the ball, only making 17 attempts before getting an early fourth quarter curtain call.

I like seeing Joey Gatewood in games, especially when he’s paired with Shaun Shivers. That’s a special combination. I do not like to see mass substitutions to put him in that break up the rhythm of the offense.

I saw that too many times against Arkansas.

So yeah, Auburn actually did score 51 points and have what most normal humans would consider a fine day on offense.

So why are so many people with closets full of orange and blue acting like they got shut out or something?

Of course, the thing that drives everybody crazy is that long stretch of offensive futility from the late first quarter until well into the third.

After jumping out to a fast 14-0 lead, the AU defense went into a familiar hibernation mode for a good 20 minutes of the game clock, managing only a field goal and going three-and-out twice — plus turning the ball over on downs after a play call that Malzahn himself called “stupid” in the aftermath.

While Malzahn likely figured that two touchdowns were more than enough points to beat the hapless Hogs, and determined in their wake to show LSU’s Dave Aranda nothing more than set-ups for next week’s game plan, that long stretch of futility rankles.

We’ve seen it before. All too often Malzahn’s teams have jumped out to quick opening scores and then sputtered on offense for long stretches of games. And naturally, the worst examples came in AU’s last two games against the Tigers’ next opponent, second-ranked LSU.

When they did it again in Fayetteville, gaining a mere 13 offensive yards in the entire second quarter and then going three and out after the second half kickoff, you could hear Tiger fans reaching for either the bourbon or the antacids all across the Southeast.

As it happened, playing against the worst team in the SEC, the long pause didn’t much matter. Against the rest of the conference schedule (sans Ole Miss), there’s a more-than-sneaking suspicion it’ll be as good as conceding.

Is that fear reasonable? Maybe. It certainly was the last time the Tigers hit Baton Rouge, in a game that everybody would like to forget but nobody has.

A week from now they’ll go back, this time to play an LSU team that’s hitting on all offensive cylinders for the first season in what seems like forever.

And even after what any reasonably observer would call an all-out rout, a repeat of The Gus Slump in the bayou is what scares Auburndom.

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