With both the Auburn Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks coming into this week’s game with momentum at their backs, an old fashioned dog fight was scheduled to take place inside the walls of Arkansas’ Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday.

Instead, it was an onslaught as the Tigers played their best game away from Jordan-Hare Stadium and punched their ticket to bowl eligibility in a dominant, 48-10 win over the Razorbacks.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s win in Fayetteville.

Auburn strings together dream start

Having not played considerably well in any true road game this season, there were concerns that Auburn might come out flat on the road against Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

Instead, the Tigers did just the opposite.

After getting the ball first to start the game, Payton Thorne and the Auburn offense quickly put together a 75-yard scoring drive on just six plays. The highlight of the drive was a 45-yard connection between Thorne and Caleb Burton on the Tigers’ second snap from scrimmage.

Auburn went on to polish off its first drive with a pair of runs from Thorne, including a touchdown rush from 12 yards out to put the Tigers out front 7-0.

Less than two minutes later, the Tigers found the end zone again — this time courtesy of a 74-yard punt return touchdown from Keionte Scott, who, as a reminder, had tightrope surgery on his ankle less than two months ago.

The next time Thorne and the Tigers had possession of the football, they marched 56 yards down the field on another six-play scoring drive that ended in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Thorne to tight end Rivaldo Fairweather. That play was the first of two scoring plays between Thorne and Fairweather as the tandem paired for another touchdown in the third quarter.

In a little over half a quarter, Auburn had built a 21-point lead over Arkansas, erasing any fears of a slow start.

In fact, the Tigers’ 21 first-quarter points were the most they’d scored against a SEC opponent since 2017′s game against Mississippi State.

Tigers’ defense stifles KJ Jefferson, Razorbacks’ offense

The Hogs made it hard to believe they managed 39 points and 481 yards of offense against the Florida Gators last week in Gainesville.

In the first half of Saturday afternoon’s game, the Arkansas offense mustered just 24 yards of offense in the first quarter and 86 yards of offense in the second quarter, totaling 110 first-half yards to Auburn’s 277 first-half yards.

Meanwhile, the Auburn defense forced Arkansas to go three-and-out in each of the Razorbacks’ first three possessions.

The Razorbacks’ first bit of momentum came courtesy of Thorne tossing an interception to Dwight McGothern, who returned it 42 yards to the Auburn 22-yard line. From there, Jefferson and the Arkansas offense managed to move the football just two yards in the right direction before having to settle for a 39-yard field goal to give the Razorbacks their first points of the game.

Jefferson and the Arkansas offense didn’t move the chains until the second quarter, when they were forced to go for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 24-yard line. Jefferson ended up churning ahead for an eight-yard gain to give the Razorbacks their first fresh set of downs of the afternoon.

Come the second and third quarters, the Auburn defense’s trend of forcing turnovers continued as Auburn’s Jalen McLeod forced a fumble that was recovered by Marcus Harris in the second quarter, followed by Zion Puckett forcing a fumble that was recovered by Caleb Wooden in the third quarter. Wooden went on to return the fumble 74 yards to the Arkansas 11-yard line, where just one play was required for the Auburn offense to add a touchdown to its lead.

Through three quarters, the Arkansas offense was averaging just 3.9 yards per play and just 2 yards per rush. The Razorbacks were also just 1-for-11 on third-down conversions.

The Hogs finished the game with an average of 5 yards per play, 3.8 yards per rush and 1-for-12 on third-down conversions.

Meanwhile, Jefferson turned in a 10-for-16 passing performance for just 116 yards and added just 50 yards with his legs on 15 attempts, good for an average of just 3.33 yards per game. Against the Gators last week, Jefferson passed for 255 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while adding 92 rushing yards and a 25-yard touchdown with his legs.

Jalen McLeod helps Auburn dominate in the trenches

Coming into Saturday afternoon, Auburn Jack linebacker Jalen McLeod hadn’t tallied more than four tackles and two tackles for a loss in a single game all season.

Against the Razorbacks, McLeod improved those marks two fold as he recorded a total of nine total tackles and four tackles for a loss.

McLeod was also responsible for three sacks on Saturday, a testament in any game, but especially in a game when the opposing quarterback is 6-foot-3 and a hair under 250 pounds, like Jefferson is.

And while McLeod led the charge against the Razorbacks, he wasn’t alone as defensive lineman Marcus Harris added three tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks. The Auburn defense combined for eight tackles behind the line of scrimmage and five sacks.

On the opposite side of the field, Auburn’s offensive line held its own against Arkansas after a week in which Hugh Freeze was critical about the Tigers’ protection against Vanderbilt last Saturday.

The Razorbacks managed to tally just two tackles for a loss against the Tigers and took Thorne to the turf once. Arkansas also wasn’t credited with a single quarterback hurry on Saturday.