Auburn's Defense Continues to Dominate

The Auburn Tigers (4-5) defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-6), 33-24, earning its first SEC win of the season. The Auburn offense made a change at quarterback, but the Auburn defense didn’t change a thing, and dominated the Razorback’s offense for the majority of the game. 

The defensive player of the game without a doubt goes to Auburn linebacker Xavier Atkins. Atkins performed the same way he has all season, flying sideline to sideline and making plays. 

Atkins had 13 total tackles, nine of which were solo, two sacks and four tackles for loss. Not to mention, Atkins also had a forced fumble with 8:44 left in the game which put the Auburn offense in great field position. So far this season, Atkins has six sacks as a middle linebacker.

Xavier Atkins tallied a career-high 13 tackles, marking the most by an Auburn player since Owen Pappoe had 16 tackles vs. Ole Miss on Oct. 15, 2022. Atkins has led the team or tied for the team lead in tackles in all five SEC games, totaling 49 tackles in five league games (9.8 tackles per game). 

He matched a career-high with four tackles for loss and recorded his sixth and seventh sacks of the season, marking his third game this year with two sacks. Atkins has accounted for two of the four four-tackles-for-loss games in the SEC this season and has 13.0 TFL on the year, the most for an underclassman since Nick Coe had 13.5 in 2018; most by an inside LB since DeShaun Davis had 15.0 in 2018