No player on this year's Arkansas Razorback football team has won a game at Auburn. A good bit of players remember what happened at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2020, though.
The Hogs have not won a game at Auburn since Oct. 6, 2012, and they haven't beat the Tigers at all since doing so in four overtimes in Fayetteville on Oct. 24, 2015.
Last time Arkansas played at Auburn, the infamous Bo Nix backwards spike — which the Razorback faithful will say was a fumble — happened and led to a game-winning field goal for the Tigers in a 30-28 win.
Plenty of Arkansas players remember how things went down that night, including quarterback KJ Jefferson.
"We know what happened when we went down there," Jefferson said Tuesday. "Everybody has that memory still in the back of their head, so this week it's more personal than anything. We're taking it as a challenge more personal to try and not leave the game in the ref's hands. We just want to come out and dominate and play our brand of football."
The vibes for both teams going into this game are a lot different.
The Razorbacks are coming off a big win at BYU, and they still have high expectations for the final five games of the season.
Auburn has a losing record, lost to Ole Miss before the bye week and its coach could be out of a job after this game if things go really bad for the Tigers.
Things over in Auburn, Alabama, are more geared towards the head coach situation. Things in Fayetteville are geared towards revenge.
"We haven’t been playing our best ball against them I feel like, since I’ve been here," tight end Trey Knox said. "Every time that I’ve played them we just come out flat and we don’t play well. I think we’re going to change that this weekend. We’re going to start fast and we’re going to push the tempo and score a lot of points."
Even last year's game featured a slew of questionable calls that led to the Hogs losing 38-23 to an Auburn team that they probably should have beat.
Head coach Sam Pittman said things just didn't go their way last season in Fayetteville.
"We started slow, made a comeback and then of course we had a sack fumble that really turned the game around," Pittman said last Wednesday. "And then of course the year before, it was kind of the opposite. We came back on them, and then had the unfortunate situation there at the end."
Pittman followed that statement up by making it seem like this game might mean a little bit more.
"Obviously, Auburn is a proud program and things of that nature," Pittman said. "They’re a good football team. But we haven’t beaten them since we’ve been here. Certainly that’s a driving force, as well, for us. We’ll see what happens."
Things haven't gone well for the Hogs against Auburn since that win in 2015. The Tigers have outscored the Razorbacks 261-87 over the past six matchups.
But, there is a different feel going into Saturday's game. The Razorbacks are favored by -3.5 points (BetSaracen), which is the first time they have been favored in a game at Auburn since 1998.
"This weekend is a tremendous opportunity for us to go change that, to get a win before we get out of here, playing for the seniors and all the guys that might not be coming back, guys that are down," offensive tackle Dalton Wagner said. "To get one win under our vest before we get out of here against Auburn. That’s obviously something that weighs on us a little bit more this week is knowing is’t been six years since we beat them last."
The Hogs and Tigers will kickoff at 11 a.m. CT Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
