Simulating Auburn's 2020 season: Arkansas
Day 100 without Auburn sports: I rummaged up a copy of NCAA Football 14 for the Xbox 360, downloaded 2020 rosters for every team, set up the schedule, and simulated Auburn's entire 2020 football season — because, at this point, why not?
Video-game depictions of sporting events have become common during the pandemic, and fans seem to eat it up. Look at Barstool Sports' NCAA 14 series, for example, which netted more than 125,000 viewers during a national championship earlier this month.
But our usage of the game will differ slightly. Here are the ground rules, for those who missed the first installment. In short, I don't touch the controller; I let the CPU simulate the game how it will.
Onto the games.
Week 10: No. 11 Auburn (7-1, 4-1 SEC) vs. Arkansas (2-6, 0-5 SEC)
1Q
• Arkansas moves straight into Auburn territory with a solid punt return after the Tigers go three-and-out.
• Florida transfer Feleipe Franks scores on a 3-yard run. 7-0 Arkansas.
• Anders Carlson gets Auburn on the board with a 58-yard field goal, his career long. 7-3 Arkansas.
• Smoke Monday snags his first pick of the season at Auburn's 32-yard line after a few Razorback first downs.
• Bo Nix gets off to a 9-for-12 start for 89 yards, targeting Anthony Schwartz often. Auburn's third drive is capped by a Nix touchdown pass to Eli Stove in the back corner of the end zone. 10-7 Auburn.
• After forcing a three-and-out, Auburn strikes again quickly, with Nix finding Schwartz for 51 yards and a score. 17-7 Auburn.
• Nix is having one of his best quarters of the season, hitting 12 of his first 15 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
• For some reason, Gus Malzahn and Chad Morris are dialing up a bunch of passes on first down. The first quarter ends and Nix has 173 yards as Auburn is driving again.
2Q
• Auburn is riding Nix’s hot hand. He goes over 200 yards passing and the Tigers score 24 unanswered thanks to a 2-yard, D.J. Williams touchdown run. 24-7 Auburn.
• Derick Hall gets his first sack in a few games to polish off another three-and-out for Kevin Steele's defense.
• The game feels a lot like last season's Ole Miss matchup, when Auburn couldn't get much done on the ground, so Nix is going to throw a high volume of passes.
• Franks leads a nice drive and tacks on another rushing touchdown for himself from 15 yards out. 24-14 Auburn.
• Tank Bigsby rattles off a 53-yard run, and Nix throws a short touchdown pass to Schwartz a few plays later. 31-14 Auburn.
• Franks makes a bad read and Christian Tutt makes him pay with a 47-yard pick-six. 38-14 Auburn.
• Arkansas orchestrates its best drive of the game. Rakeem Boyd and Arkansas' running backs are starting to pick up steam, and Franks is making really good throws. He finds Trey Knox in the back of the end zone for a touchdown, and the Razorbacks convert the 2-point try. 38-22 Auburn.
• Nix is still red hot. He laces some sharp throws to Schwartz and Shedrick Jackson to move Auburn down the field with under a minute until halftime. Bigsby punches it in with a few seconds until the break. 45-22 Auburn.
HALFTIME: Auburn 45, Arkansas 22
3Q
• Auburn starts pounding the rock to nurse its lead. The Tigers work into the red zone on the back of Bigsby, and come up with a field goal. 48-22 Auburn.
• Arkansas' offense is good under Franks. The Razorbacks are producing lots of yards, and it probably would be a tight game if they hadn't gotten themselves in such a hole early.
• Another long touchdown drive ends with Franks' third touchdown on the ground from 12 yards out. 48-29 Auburn.
• Nix is still cooking. Mark-Antony Richards caps another scoring drive with his first touchdown of the season. 55-29 Auburn.
4Q
• Nix throws touchdown pass No. 4 to John Samuel Shenker in the corner of the end zone. He hits 400-plus passing yards in a game for the first time in his career. 62-29 Auburn.
• Auburn still has difficulty stopping Franks. The visitors go 68 yards and Franks gets his fourth rushing score of the evening. 62-36 Auburn.
• The backups come in as Auburn drives down the field again. Cord Sandberg hits Kobe Hudson for a touchdown on third down. 69-36 Auburn.
• Jordyn Peters gets an interception with the backup defense, and Richards carries a few times to run down the clock.
FINAL: Auburn 69, Arkansas 36
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TOTAL YARDS
Auburn: 585
Arkansas: 431
PASSING YARDS
Auburn: 440
Arkansas: 296
RUSHING YARDS
Auburn: 145
Arkansas: 135
THIRD DOWNS
Auburn: 7-of-12
Arkansas: 7-of-14
TURNOVERS
Arkansas: 3
Auburn: 0
PASSING
B. Nix (AU): 32-for-40, 414 yards, 4 TDs
C. Sandberg (AU): 1-for-1, 26 yards, TD
F. Franks (ARK): 37-for-51, 296 yards, TD, 3 INTs
RUSHING
T. Bigsby (AU): 5 carries, 70 yards, TD
M. Richards (AU): 10 carries, 23 yards, TD
B. Nix (AU): 8 yards, 23 yards
E. Stove (AU): 1 carry, 13 yards
D. Williams (AU): 5 carries, 8 yards
S. Shivers (AU): 2 carries, 8 yards
F. Franks (ARK): 16 carries, 76 yards, 4 TDs
R. Boyd (ARK): 6 carries, 21 yards
A. Spivey (ARK): 2 carries, 17 yards
T. Hammonds (ARK): 1 carry, 10 yards
D. Johnson (ARK): 1 carry, 8 yards
G. Morgan (ARK): 1 carry, 3 yards
RECEIVING
A. Schwartz (AU): 9 catches, 180 yards, 2 TDs
E. Stove (AU): 5 catches, 69 yards, TD
J. Shenker (AU): 8 catches, 67 yards, TD
S. Williams (AU): 3 catches, 40 yards
S. Jackson (AU): 2 catches, 26 yards
K. Hudson (AU): 1 catch, 26 yards, TD
T. Fromm (AU): 1 catch, 13 yards
H. Joiner (AU): 1 catch, 12 yards
D. Williams (AU): 2 catches, 4 yards
S. Shivers (AU): 1 catch, 3 yards
T. Knox (ARK): 12 catches, 133 yards, TD
D. Warren (ARK): 5 catches, 40 yards
T. Morris (ARK): 3 catches, 37 yards
M. Woods (ARK): 3 catches, 24 yards
T. Burks (ARK): 4 catches, 20 yards
D. Turner (ARK): 1 catch, 19 yards
K. Jackson (ARK): 2 catches, 13 yards
D. Johnson (ARK): 1 catch, 8 yards
H. Henry (ARK): 2 catches, 3 yards
A. Spivey (ARK): 3 catches, -4 yards
AUBURN DEFENSIVE LEADERS
S. Monday (AU): 10 tackles, INT
C. Tutt (AU): 5 tackles, INT TD, PBU
J. Peters (AU): Tackle, INT
D. Hall (AU): 4 tackles, 2 TFLs, sack
J. Sherwood (AU): 9 tackles, TFL
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SEC STANDINGS
EAST
1. Florida (8-1, 6-1 SEC) def. Vanderbilt
2. Georgia (7-2, 4-2 SEC) def. South Carolina
3. Tennessee (6-3, 4-2 SEC) def. Kentucky
4. Missouri (5-4, 2-3 SEC) loses to Miss State
5. Kentucky (4-5, 1-5 SEC) loses to Tennessee
6. Vanderbilt (2-7, 1-5 SEC) loses to Florida
7. South Carolina (3-6, 1-6 SEC) loses to Georgia
WEST
1. Alabama (9-0, 6-0 SEC) def. LSU
2. Auburn (8-1, 5-1 SEC) def. Arkansas
3. Mississippi State (7-2, 4-2 SEC) def. Missouri
4. Texas A&M (7-2, 3-2 SEC) def. Ole Miss
5. LSU (6-3, 3-2 SEC) loses to Alabama
6. Ole Miss (3-6, 1-5 SEC) loses to Texas A&M
7. Arkansas (2-7, 0-6 SEC) loses to Auburn
SIMULATED SEASON RESULTS
Week 1: Auburn 63, Alcorn State 7
Week 2: Auburn 24, North Carolina 22
Week 3: Auburn 21, Ole Miss 18
Week 4: Auburn 43, Southern Miss 20
Week 5: Auburn 34, Kentucky 13
Week 6: Auburn 27, Georgia 20
Week 7: Auburn 44, Texas A&M 17
Week 9: Miss State 34, Auburn 29
Week 10: Auburn 69, Arkansas 36