AUBURN, Ala. -- Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring, on his way to celebrating the Razorbacks' 27-10 victory over No. 2 Auburn with the UA fans on Saturday, explained how his defense had held the Tigers to 213 yards.

"Heart, guts, character, fight," Herring said. "And it all starts with Coach (Houston) Nutt!"

Herring thought a minute, grinned and added, "And today we had stats, too."

Mainly, the Hogs had five sacks for 35 yards in losses, plus 20 more yards in losses on rushing plays.

Linebacker Sam Olajubutu, who had six solo tackles and one sack despite suffering a "stinger" to his left shoulder and neck, testified for the defense.

"Man, we just played hard," he said. "Coach Herring had a great package and we've never been so ready for a football game. We studied Auburn all week. At halftime we said, 'Let's play like we're 10 points behind.'"

Hogs secondary coach Louis Campbell credited some of the Arkansas sacks to a good pass rush and others to good coverage by the secondary.

"It was no one thing, but a combination," Campbell said. "Reggie called safety blitzes, linebacker blitzes. We committed a fifth or sixth defensive back early, and Reggie kept dialing that up. We got a lead offensively, and we didn't give up anything deep in the second half."

Arkansas end Jamaal Anderson had four tackles, including 2.5 for losses totaling 18 yards.

"Last year we were still learning a new system, but this year everybody has a year of experience under our belts," Anderson said. "Last year it was more teaching and today it was about fundamentals."

Linebacker Matt Hewitt led Arkansas with nine tackles, but said he can still play better.

"Today I was just gang-tackling," Hewitt said. "We passed our first test against (Alabama running back) Kenneth Darby two weeks ago and today we passed another test by holding Kenneth Irons under 100 yards, too (75 on 15 carries). We played team football -- all 11 guys on defense."

Hewitt said the Hogs knew Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox was not a scrambler and would stay in the pocket.

Hogs tackle Keith Jackson was in on seven tackles, including 1.5 for losses.

"Coach Nutt gives us good motivational speeches all the time," Jackson said. "After we gave up that 90-yard drive (in the second quarter), we knew we were better than that. We said, 'No more.'"

Nutt accepted congratulations from former Razorback Jim Lindsey, who later said, "This could be a breaking-out time for coach Nutt, you know, from the difficulties we've had. He has been blamed for things going back even to before he got here. This is a week-to-week business, but this could be a breakthrough."