AUBURN, Ala. -- Running back Michael Smith’s 63-yard touchdown run will long be remembered as the defining moment of Arkansas’ 25-20 win at No. 20 Auburn.

But the junior’s 2-yard carry into the teeth of Auburn’s defense on the Razorbacks’ first possession carried plenty of importance of its own Saturday.

It came on third-and-one. It was Arkansas’ first third-down conversion. And it was one of many.

A good chunk of Arkansas’ offensive success against the Tigers can be contributed to its performance on third down. The Razorbacks were 8-for-17 and found a way to stay on the field against a defense that had done a remarkable job of pushing offenses off of it all year.

“Third down is really what wins the ballgame for you,” Arkansas center Jonathan Luigs said. “You keep drives alive. You keep the defense on the field.

“We really emphasized it on Thursdays going over our third down and situational things. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to coaches and (Arkansas) coach (Bobby) Petrino for giving us that game plan.”

The Tigers entered Saturday’s game as the nation’s leader in third-down defense. Auburn’s opponents had only converted on third down 17 times in 93 attempts (18.7 percent). No team had converted more than five times against the Tigers through six games.

But Arkansas was 7-for-11 in the first half and managed to get big play after big play against Auburn.

• Quarterback Casey Dick scrambled for 23 yards on a third-and-6 play on Arkansas’ first drive to move the Razorbacks into Auburn territory. It led to a field goal -- their first points in the first quarter this season.

• Arkansas executed a draw play on third-and-10 from its four-yard line. Smith gained 10 yards to give the Razorbacks some much-needed breathing room.

• A few plays later, Dick hit Smith on a swing pass on third-and-6 from the Arkansas 18 at the end of the first quarter. Smith raced down the sideline, using a block from wide receiver London Crawford to gain 41 yards.

• Dick also hit tight end D.J. Williams for an 11-yard completion on third-and-3 from Auburn’s 17 in the second quarter. Arkansas scored on a fourth-down touchdown run a few plays later to tie the game 10-10.

“We let them make too many big plays,” Auburn defensive lineman Sen’Derrick Marks said.

The third-down plays may not have always resulted in scores, but the significance wasn’t lost on Arkansas.

It helped the Razorbacks stay on the field, grind out yards and dominate time of possession. Three of Arkansas’ first four drives lasted 11 plays or longer.

“We really worked hard on our third-down plan,” offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “We started it early in the week and worked hard on it and thought we had a pretty good plan. The kids did a good job.”

The Razorbacks only converted once on third down in the second half, but it was arguably their biggest play.

Petrino called for a trick play with Arkansas trailing 20-10 and staring at a third-and-goal from Auburn’s 6.

Receiver Jarius Wright took a hand-off on an end around and flipped the ball to receiver Joe Adams, who then tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to Dick.

“That’s just going in, watching film, figuring out their tendencies and what they like to do on third down,” Dick said about Arkansas’ success. “A lot of it is just Coach Petrino and the way that he studies. Our coaches are on the same page and making great calls on third down.”

Arkansas was just 12-for-42 (28.6 percent) on third down in losses to Alabama, Texas and Florida. But the Razorbacks improved against Auburn -- 47.1 percent -- and they gained 136 of their 416 yards on third down.

“We understood where the sticks were,” Bobby Petrino said. “That was as big as anything. We knew where the sticks were which shows that we’re growing up a little bit.”