Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze had a challenge for Keionte Scott coming into Saturday’s game in Fayetteville.

“I told him this morning in the hotel – I swear I did – I said, ‘You are either going to return a punt for a score, or return one that gets us into field goal range.’,” Freeze said after Auburn’s 48-10 win over Arkansas. “So I’m glad that came true for him.”

The Auburn offense had just orchestrated a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead after its first possession when the Tigers’ defense forced a three-and-out after only allowing KJ Jefferson and the Razorbacks’ offense to tally seven yards of offense.

Backed up at his own 26-yard line, Arkansas’ Max Fletcher flipped the field with a 48-yard punt, which found the hands of the Scott at Auburn’s 26-yard line.

With 74 yards of grass between he and the end zone, Scott took the punt return right up the gut of the field for Auburn’s second touchdown in less than two minutes of game clock.

“My main focus as a punt returner is being able to get my eyes down and scan the field and see where the hole is,” Scott said. “After receiving some great blocks from my teammates, I just visualized, saw the hole, hit the hole and was able to stay vertical and get into the end zone.”

When asked if Freeze truly “called it”, Scott responded in the affirmative.

“He challenged me this morning. He said he needed elite play out of me,” Scott said. “I accepted that challenge and told him, ‘Let’s make it happen.’ And it happened on the first punt return, so it was great to accomplish that.”

But Scott’s scoring return was more than just a big play against Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

Considering Scott is less than two months removed from having tightrope surgery on his ankle to repair a high-ankle sprain, Scott’s return against the Razorbacks on Saturday was pretty remarkable.

After suffering the ankle sprain in Week 3 against Samford, Scott went under the knife on Sept. 18 before returning to action on Oct. 21 against Ole Miss.

“I just was focused on getting back to my team. I let that be the main thing. I wasn’t necessarily worried about what I was missing out on. I was just trying to get healthy,” Scott said of his rehab Saturday night. “I felt like our training staff did a great job putting together a great plan, and just me being disciplined enough to follow that plan.”

Scott’s 74-yard scoring scamper was the fruit of his own labor.

It was also the turning point in Saturday’s dominant win over the Razorbacks.

Between Auburn’s quick score on its first drive, the Tigers’ defense forcing the Hogs to go three-and-out in their first possession and Scott’s house call, those in Razorback Stadium who were repping the home team were left sitting in silence.

“You feel like a menace. You feel like… like a bad man,” Auburn Jack linebacker Jalen McLeod said when asked what it’s like to silence a home crowd that quick. “That’s what it feels like.”

And though Auburn’s defense allowed Jefferson and the Arkansas offense to tally just 24 total yards in the first quarter, McLeod doesn’t credit the defense for taking the crowd out of Saturday’s game.

He credits Scott.

“After Keionte Scott scored the punt return,” McLeod said when asked when he realized the crowd had been taken out of the game. “I think everybody seen that. We took them out the game and the crowd out the game.

By the start of the fourth quarter, many of the seats in Razorback Stadium had emptied.

But Auburn had felt like it was playing in an empty stadium well before then.

“I felt like as soon as I scored, it got quiet,” Scott said.