Let us begin this article by stepping back in time.
The year is 2015, the setting is Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson boots a 41-yard field goal with 0:04 remaining in regulation to tie Arkansas at 24-24, sending the game to overtime.
Auburn and Arkansas would trade touchdowns through three overtimes, but the Razorbacks ultimately prevailed thanks to a 25-yard pass from [autotag]Brandon Allen[/autotag] to [autotag]Cole Kelly[/autotag] on the first play of the 4th overtime, beating Auburn, 54-46.
That would mark the last time that Arkansas has beaten Auburn in the sport of football.
Arkansas head coach [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag], as well as Razorback quarterback [autotag]K.J. Jefferson[/autotag] hope to change the course of the annual series on Saturday, by winning their first game over the Tigers in six years and grabbing their first win at Jordan-Hare Stadium since 2012.
Pittman has done great things at Arkansas in his three-year tenure. He led them to nine wins and a bowl win over Penn State in his second season. Before that, Arkansas had not won a bowl game since the 2015 season and had not won more than eight games since 2011.
One thing he has not done, however, is beat Auburn. He says that he has gotten a sense at practice this week that playing Auburn is “personal” to his players.
“We’ve got to win,” Pittman said during his Wednesday press conference. “It’s going to be very difficult but, to answer your question, I do feel at practice that we understand that Auburn has embarrassed us six years in a row and we would like not to make it the seventh. But we’ve got to go play well.”
Pittman says that he feels the need to win from players such as offensive lineman [autotag]Dalton Wagner[/autotag], who has been on the Razorbacks roster for six years, and for KJ Jefferson, who is looking to avenge last season’s loss after completing just 21-of-35 passes in last season’s loss to Auburn.
Not only does Jefferson want to lead his program to their first win over Auburn since 2015, but the 2020 game is still fresh on his mind.
“I mean, we know what happened when we went down there,” Jefferson said. “So, I mean, everybody has the memory still in the back of their heads. So, this week, it’s more personal than anything. We’re taking it as a challenge. More personally, try not to leave the game to the ref’s hands. So, we just want to come out and dominate and play our brand of football.”
The Razorbacks and Tigers are set to meet for the 31st time in history on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT.
[mm-video type=video id=01ggatf7trg4byxhdp73 playlist_id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01ggatf7trg4byxhdp73/01ggatf7trg4byxhdp73-f0674f9f40ccc0bf4f8080ac67bab3f7.jpg]
[listicle id=14056]