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Down year continues for Auburn with loss to Arkansas

Oct 12, 2008 - 2:52 AM AUBURN, Alabama (Ticker) -- Michael Smith busted a long touchdown run and 23rd-ranked Auburn's offensive woes continued in a 25-22 loss to Arkansas in a Southeastern Conference shocker Saturday.

Smith broke loose for a 63-yard scamper with 9:13 to play to give Arkansas a 25-20 lead.

According to Smith, the play was an audible made at the line, and it turned out to be one of the plays of the game.

"It was a check at the line of scrimmage," Smith said. "That play was checked for an outside zone. The offensive line did a great job of getting to their man and giving me just enough time to find the hole."

The Razorbacks failed on their two-point conversion, meaning Auburn could have won the game with a TD. But the Tigers came up short when presented with the chance.

The Tigers (4-3, 2-3 SEC West) had a 1st-and-goal from the 5 with 2:26 to play. Quarterback Kodi Burns picked up one yard on first down and then threw three straight incompletions to give the ball back to the Razorbacks.

Arkansas (3-3, 1-2 West) gave up a safety rather than punt from its own end zone, and Auburn got the ball back at its 38 with 55 seconds left. But Burns was intercepted on second down by safety Matt Harris, and the Razorbacks ran out the clock.

Auburn has been struggling on offense all season, and coach Tommy Tuberville tried to do something about it earlier this week when he fired first-year offensive coordinator Tony Franklin on Wednesday.

Tuberville tabbed assistant Steve Ensminger to call the plays for the rest of the season, and his debut was no more impressive than anything Franklin had done.

Auburn scored just one offensive TD, a 3-yard run by Burns in the third quarter that gave the Tigers a 20-10 lead. Arkansas held Auburn to 11 first downs and outgained the Tigers, 416-193.

"It's been a tough week. I put our guys in a tough situation," Tuberville said. "I thought they fought hard, real hard. We didn't have a lot obviously on offense. I am very disappointed obviously in this loss but again you have to give Arkansas credit. They came in and executed very, very well."

Smith rushed for 176 yards on 35 carries and quarterback Casey Dick rushed for a touchdown and caught a TD pass from receiver Joe Adams for the Razorbacks, who had scored just 31 points in losing their last three games to Alabama, Texas and Florida.

"They kept us off balance," Tuberville said. "We were able to force a couple of turnovers early in the first half which gave us some points and took their momentum away. In the second half other than the opening kickoff, they just didn't make any mistakes. They made a lot of third down conversions and of course, the run was huge."

"I'm very happy with the poise Casey Dick showed," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "Defensively, I thought we did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage. We were able to stop their run and put pressure on their quarterback. It's a good win for us."

Tristan Davis gave Auburn a 7-3 lead in the first quarter with a 97-yard kickoff return. He also forced a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half to set up Burns' TD run.