Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

10/16/2010 at 7:29pm

Image by Will Flowers

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton finished with 328 yards of total offense and four touchdowns against Arkansas in a 65-43 victory. Newton ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns.

AUBURN 65, ARKANSAS 43
WHY ARKANSAS LOST
This one was a total collapse in all phases, particularly on defense and special teams. Arkansas gave up 65 points, 470 yards of offense and allowed Auburn to average 44.2 yards per kick return. A pair of questionable calls by the replay official didn’t help the Razorbacks’ cause, but take away the 14 points on those scores and the Razorbacks still didn’t do enough - especially when it came to stopping Tigers quarterback Cam Newton.

GAMEBREAKER
No debate here (unless you throw the officials into the discussion): Cam Newton, Auburn’s quarterback with the grit of a fullback and body of a defensive end, was unstoppable. He totaled 328 yards of total offense with three rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown. Arkansas got its introduction to Newton on his first scoring run, a five-yarder where he flattened Jerico Nelson at the goal line.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Bizarre.

How else do you describe the turn of events on Mario Fannin’s 4-yard touchdown run with 6:28 left in the first half?

Fannin was credited with a score, but appeared to lose the ball before breaking the plane. No officials appeared to signal touchdown and the one nearest the play threw his marker to signify a fumble.

Officials conferred on the play, announced it as a touchdown. The play was reviewed and upheld.

Later, Arkansas’ Broderick Green fumbled on a 2-yard run, leading to a Zac Etheridge recovery and 47-yard return for a touchdown. Green appeared to be down on first glance before the ball came out. The play was reviewed with 9:44 remaining in the game and ruled a touchdown for Auburn.

Shortly thereafter the Auburn fans took part in signing Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.” Seems appropriate in that context, no?

Petrino was asked how the first replay call impacted the game.

“I can't speak on the officials. You guys need to speak to the league office about that."

MALLETT WATCH
Ryan Mallett left the game with what was described by Coach Bobby Petrino as a “concussion.” After conferring with the UA athletic training staff Petrino learned Mallett would not be able to return.

Petrino said he did not know on which play the injury occurred. Mallett was 10 of 15 or 96 yards with a touchdown.

FILLING IN
Tyler Wilson took over for Mallett with 6:28 remaining in the first half. He started shaky and threw a pair of late interceptions, but was solid in between.

After missing his first pass, Wilson completed 14 consecutive. He finished 25 of 34 for 332 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Wilson threw touchdowns to Greg Childs (twice), Joe Adams and Ronnie Wingo Jr.

SHOWING IMPROVEMENT
Arkansas eclipsed 100 yards rushing for the second week in a row. The Razorbacks ran for 138 yards a week after going for 132 against Texas A&M.

Knile Davis led the team with 91 yards. Broderick Green had 1-yard rushing touchdown.

INSULT TO INJURY
Auburn’s final touchdown came courtesy Mike Dyer, a player the Razorbacks recruited. Dyer, the career record holder in rushing yards for the state of Arkansas, went 38 yards for the final score of the game.

It was just the sort of fourth-quarter run Arkansas has been lacking this year.

Dyer had only six carries. He'd been the team's starter, but was held out early because of what TV announcers said was an "injury."

UP NEXT
Arkansas plays host to Ole Miss. Kickoff is set for 11:20 a.m.

SPEAKING OUT
"He did a great job coming in for [Ryan] Mallett. That's a hard quarterback to replace. Towards the end of the game, as a defense, we figured out what was going on and came up with some big turnovers." - Auburn linebacker Josh Bynes on Arkansas backup quarterback Tyler Wilson.

Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, Cam Newton, Bobby Petrino, Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson, Mike Dyer, Michael Dyer