AUBURN | Auburn was in the midst of a competitive game against Arkansas up until 9:20 left in the third quarter.

Trailing 17-13, the Tigers drove to the Razorback 28-yard line on their opening series. On a 3rd and 7, Jordan Domineck slipped past left tackle Kilian Zierer and dropped quarterback Robby Ashford for a 7-yard sack.

On the next play, Anders Carlson had a 52-yard field goal attempt blocked.

Arkansas would score touchdowns on its next two possessions and cruise to a 41-27 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The loss drops AU to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the SEC.

“You’re driving down, you have a chance to put points on the board. Sack kills you,” said AU coach Bryan Harsin. “When you’re trying to get a field goal, too, the one thing you want to eliminate is a sack. You may not get the first down, but you have field position, and every yard matters.

“So, a chance to put points on and really score, come out of the half and score, and when you don’t do that, you get a block—and every time there’s a block: blocked punt, blocked field goal, those are big in games. You start looking at stats and all that, blocked kicks are huge."

The Razorbacks out-scored AU 14-0 in the third quarter and had a 163-73 advantage in total yards. UA averaged 10.6 yards per carry and were 4 of 4 on third downs in the third.

After rushing for just 70 yards in the first half, Arkansas rushed for 216 after the break.

“The two scoring drives after that — we don’t answer,” said Harsin. “You’re playing a good team, they score, you got to answer. You got to put points on the board. You got to answer back. You got to be able to do that. When you get down a couple drives, they get two scores and you don’t, time starts to run out.”

Auburn plays at Mississippi State next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.