Tre Mason might as well have been walking through an empty hallway.
And the way he made it look, it was almost that easy.
Each time he got close enough to smell the end zone, Auburn’s junior tailback managed to cross the threshold without so much as a scratch from an Arkansas defender on his first three touchdowns Saturday.
“Those guys (along the offensive line) did their job, and I just squeezed right between them and scored six points,” Mason said.
Four times.
Mason rushed for a career-high four touchdowns and 168 yards on a workhorse-like 32 carries, firmly establishing himself as the Tigers’ go-to guy on one of the nation’s premier rushing attacks in carrying No. 11 Auburn past host Arkansas 35-17 in an emotionally charged game Saturday night at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“There was no way to really explain it. It doesn’t happen very often,” Mason said. “We always say we feel like we have the best O-line in college football, and they’re getting better as the year goes on.”
Mason wasn’t too shabby either.
Mason asserted himself early and often as Auburn’s top offensive threat, managing the lion’s share of the offensive output in leading the Tigers (8-1, 4-1 SEC) to a Western Division victory, just as he did against Texas A&M, when he carried the Tigers with 178 yards in a 45-41 upset win.
“He’s starting to establish himself as a guy we need to get the ball to to make things happen,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “He’s very tough, durable, can get a lot of hard yards, and we protected the football.”
It was Malzahn’s first return to his home state of Arkansas as a head coach after making three previous trips as an offensive coordinator, coming up short each time.
This time, though, he had Mason to help shoulder the load.
“We put it on his back, there’s no doubt,” Malzahn said.
Mason accounted for 13 of the Tigers’ first 17 rushing attempts in the first half, racking up 93 yards and both of Auburn’s first-half touchdowns from 9 and 4 yards out to build a 14-3 lead at the break.
“When the ball is in my hand, I’ve got to be the one to make a play, and I try to make plays consistently,” Mason said. “That’s the identity of a playmaker, and I’m going to continue to do that.”
Mason first punched it in two plays after his opportunistic defense ended Arkansas’ second consecutive offensive series with a turnover when linebacker Kris Frost recovered a fumbled snap by backup quarterback A.J. Derby at his own 29.
On the next play Mason ran over the right edge for 20 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the 9 and then glided into the end zone one play later. The score was important given that Arkansas (3-6, 0-5) controlled possession for more than 11 minutes in the first quarter.
Mason scored three more times, though, each one coming at just the right moment, running five consecutive times, including a 5-yard touchdown that capped an 11-play drive on Auburn’s first series of the second half.
“I feel like that’s just our mindset, that’s the key to our offense, we’re going to pound it down your throat and you’ve got to try to stop it,” Mason said. “If you don’t, you’ve got to like it.”
And with 168 of Auburn’s 233 rushing yards Saturday, Mason also was able to take pressure off injured starting quarterback Nick Marshall, who nursed a sore right shoulder all week and was considered a “game-time decision” even up to pregame warm-ups.
“Nick is one tough customer,” Malzahn said of Marshall, who added 118 passing yards on 7 of 8 attempts and 59 rushing yards. “We really didn’t know he was going to start until we got out there and saw him throw. … I think his toughness carries over to this team.”
It needed it, especially as Arkansas proceeded with a third-quarter comeback. The Razorbacks scored on back-to-back offensive possessions, the first on a 13-yard pass from quarterback Brandon Allen to Keon Hatcher two plays after Korliss Marshall returned a kickoff 87 yards. Arkansas found the end zone again when fullback Kiero Small capped a 10-play, 73-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard score six seconds into the fourth quarter.
“There’s no doubt, it kind of got interesting there when they scored that touchdown right at the first of the fourth quarter there; momentum swung to their side, and the crowd got into it,” Malzahn said. “But our guys got excited, too, and I thought that was a really good sign.”
Mason was one of those guys, rushing seven times during a nine-play drive on the ensuing series, including a 12-yard sprint to the left pylon for the game’s final score.
“I had to make something happen. … When the game’s on the line you have to be the one to make that play,” Mason said.
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