The Auburn Tigers went into their contest against the Arkansas Razorbacks with one of their usual goals in mind: limiting their opponents' ability to move the ball on the ground as much as possible.

In the contest that brought their four-game losing streak to an end, they were able to accomplish that goal.

Auburn held Arkansas to 63 yards rushing, and the Razorbacks leading ball carrier, Mike Washington Jr., finished the game with 41.

Auburn held Arkansas well under what it averages on the ground, giving its defense even more to hang its hat on.

“Defensively, our goal was to, as always, stop the run," said Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze. "Against a team that was averaging a lot, I think 218 on the ground, we held them to 63 yards and their tailback to 41. And their quarterback, who was averaging a lot of yards per carry, we held him to 14 total yards." 

Despite the defense not having its best start, Freeze was pleased with the way the unit managed to rally and get the job done in the second half.

"Truthfully, the first half we didn’t play very well defensively compared to what our standard is," Freeze said. "It was really just bad eyes, which they do a lot of things that can make you do that. Give a credit to the staff, to our kids, for making the adjustments at halftime and coming out and really dominating the second half. Really proud of our team, and again, the resiliency they showed." 

Another factor that benefited Auburn's defense and helped them get the job done was the offense stepping up to control time of possession and give the defense a break.

This allowed the Tigers to carry the same intensity on the defensive side of the ball throughout the contest.

"Loved the resolve, the resiliency they showed in doing so," Freeze said. "There were a lot of great positives to share with them. I think, first, the game plan was to try to keep our defense off the field as much as possible against an offense that was averaging 37 points per game. We accomplished that, won the time of possession. Our defense only played 43 snaps, which is unheard of. So our offense really dominated the time of possession, which was really good."