Darius Slayton shook his head for a few seconds, clearly frustrated as he started to jog back to the huddle.
That play, which happened late in the third quarter on Saturday, should have produced a 39-yard touchdown for Auburn.
Slayton was wide open, at least a few yards past the Arkansas cornerback covering him and continuing to separate.
But, even without any pressure, the pass from Jarrett Stidham was overthrown, a frustrating result for more than just Slayton.
It's the type of throw that you expect a quarterback with Stidham's talent to complete pretty much every time.
And Auburn is surely hoping that he'll soon get back to hitting those throws on a more consistent basis -- and soon get back to looking more like the Jarrett Stidham of November 2017.
"I just think we've just got to get Jarrett in a rhythm and get him back going and stuff like that," wide receiver Ryan Davis said. "But I still have the (utmost) confidence in Jarrett and I still want him to go out there and sling it around, and I believe he definitely will (bounce back)."
Some of the issues go beyond just Stidham.
As a quarterback, it's tough when you're under consistent pressure, which was the case for Stidham against Arkansas. He was sacked four times and pressured at numerous other points.
Still, the numbers aren't very good right now.
Since throwing for 273 yards during the Tigers' game one win over Washington, Stidham has thrown for less than 200 yards in each of Auburn's last two games against FBS teams and has more interceptions than touchdown passes.
He was 16 of 28 for 198 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions during the Tigers' loss to LSU. He then only threw for 134 yards against Arkansas -- with 42 of those yards coming on a wide receiver screen play.
Stidham's QB rating through four games (133.21) is ninth-best in the SEC. It's also currently 17.8 points lower than his 2017 quarterback rating.
"We've got to play a lot better," Stidham said after the win over Arkansas. "But we found a way to win. That's all I care about. As long as we're winning... Obviously we're going to have a lot of things to correct and fix and that sort of thing. But, as long as we win, that's all that matters."
It was last week that Stidham drew some laughs with his response to a question about the biggest focus for him coming off of the loss to LSU.
"Not throwing it to the other team obviously," he said.
He didn't do that against Arkansas. But he didn't throw any touchdowns either and, at least right now, isn't yet back to looking like the Jarrett Stidham of last November.
"I think he will (get back to that)," Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said last week. "... We have a lot of confidence in him. He'll rebound. He's going to play extremely well. He's one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. So he's our guy. He'll continue to work hard and practice and improve and get better at the things that we feel like he needs to get better."
from Auburn Sports Impact http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2018/09/auburn_remains_confident_in_ja.html
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