Bo Nix passed for two touchdowns and put the game away with a 23-yard scoring run to lift visiting Auburn to a 38-23 win over No. 17 Arkansas on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
Nix, who completed 21 of 26 passes for 292 yards, went the distance on a draw to seal Auburn’s sixth straight win in the series.
It is the Tigers’ longest active streak against any Southeastern Conference foe and their first win in seven tries against a ranked opponent.
Auburn (5-2, 2-1) received a game-best 68 rushing yards and a touchdown on 18 carries by Tank Bigsby. Ja’Varrius Johnson and Demetris Robertson caught touchdown passes.
KJ Jefferson completed 21 of 35 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns to Treylon Burks, who had nine catches for a game-high 109 yards.
Jefferson added a team-best 66 yards on 18 carries for Arkansas (4-3, 1-3), which has dropped three in a row.
Nix hit all five passes for 72 yards on the first series before finally finding Johnson, who slipped behind the secondary for a 39-yard touchdown.
Arkansas’ Cam Little nailed a 44-yard field goal to make it 7-3, but he failed wide right from 53 in the second quarter.
Nix led his squad 65 yards in nine plays after the miss. Bigsby finished off the drive with a short 1-yard touchdown run for a 14-3 advantage.
On fourth-and-1 from the Auburn 18, the Tigers bottled up Raheim Sanders for no gain and a turnover on downs at the 6:21 mark.
After an interception by Montaric Brown, Jefferson ended an 84-yard drive in 2:35 by faking a jump pass and tossing an 11-yard score to Burks for a 14-10 halftime deficit.
The home side grabbed its first lead, 17-14, on Burks’ second touchdown. He had a leaping snag of a 30-yard pass from Jefferson on the second half’s opening possession.
On the second of consecutive sacks of Jefferson, Derick Hall forced the ball out of the quarterback’s hands in the end zone. Fellow defensive lineman Marcus Harris recovered it as the Tigers regained a 21-17 advantage.
In a pivotal two-play sequence, Auburn stuffed Jefferson on a fourth-down try at the Tigers’ 29. Nix then went deep and found Robertson for a 71-yard score.
Dominique Johnson found the end zone from 10 yards, but Jefferson’s two-point pass fell incomplete to keep Auburn’s lead at 28-23.
Anders Carlson’s 29-yard field goal put Auburn up by eight with 10:35 remaining.
–Field Level Media
