Razorback sophomore quarterback Malik Hornsby (#4) from Missouri City, TX throws an out sideline pass at practice in Fayetteville back in August.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas got a big performance from Malik Hornsby filling in for the injured KJ Jefferson, but still came up short, 40-17 to No. 23 Mississippi State on Saturday in Starkville.
For the third time in four games, the Hogs fell behind by a large margin early in the game. Mississippi State built a 21-0 lead before Cam Little booted a 51-yard field goal with 5:56 remaining in the first half. The start was similar to that of the Missouri State and Alabama games.
Sam Pittman talked about the loss afterward. "I want to give Mississippi State a lot of credit," Pittman said. "Obviously they out-played us. They were the more physical team today. Will Rogers is a really good quarterback, managed the game for them well."
A bright spot for Arkansas was the play of redshirt sophomore quarterback Malik Hornsby. He didn't start the game, but entered the game on Arkansas' second possession. He completed 8 of 17 passes for 234 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed eight times for 114 yards to lead the Hogs in that department.
Pittman was asked if Hornsby injected some life into the offense. "Yeah, he did," Pittman said. "I thought he had some big plays both with his feet and throwing the ball. I thought he did bring us some life. Brought us some confidence. Certainly with him in there we felt we could move the ball and score. We had a couple of turnovers there. One of them I get. He’s trying to score points there at the end, and we probably shouldn’t have thrown that ball. But I thought he played well and gave us a spark that we certainly needed."
What went into the decision to go with Fortin instead of Hornsby as the backup quarterback earlier this season?
"Well, Fortin basically in practice had won that job," Pittman said. "That was the decision there. He had a really good week. Certainly, there's a difference in playing somebody's first team and a scout team. Our scout team is a little depleted as well right now with all the injuries that we have. But when Malik came in there, obviously he took off on the long run, and we went down and scored. It gave us a spark. So, for the most part he played the rest of the game. For the most part, we did bring Cade back in there. We weren't disappointed in Cade. It's just Malik had brought us a spark throwing and running. So, that was the decision going into that for the game."
Was Hornsby entering on the second series of the game planned going in?
"Well, we were down obviously, but we had talked about playing both of them and getting them in the game early," Pittman said. "I'm not sure he didn't come in the second series, did he? I think it was the second series. We thought because we had a hard time early in the game protecting, we thought maybe we could put Malik in there and get on the edge a little more because they were firing at us up the middle with some of their blitzes and we thought maybe we could get away from some of that with and also use his running ability, which we knew that we were going to do. Yeah, we had that planned that we were going to play him, and then basically just try to go with the hot hand at that point. Certainly, he made some big plays and we stayed with him more than what we did with Cade."
While Hornsby did have two interceptions, the one throw he would probably want back more was missing a wide open Matt Landers. With Arkansas down 27-10 in the third quarter, Arkansas had a third-and-goal play at the Bulldogs' one. Mississippi State was expecting a run and Hornsby pulled the ball out and threw to Landers with no one around the receiver. However Hornsby's pass was badly overthrown. On fourth down, the Bulldogs stuffed Rashod Dubinion for no gain. Hornsby and Fortin were filling in for the injured KJ Jefferson who made the trip, but didn't play.
Pittman was asked when he knew this week that Jefferson wouldn't play?
"Thursday," Pittman said. "Thursday I was pretty sure, wasn't positive, but I was pretty sure. What happens is they have to do some type of physical activity. Let's say this, I think he could have done the physical activity on Friday and got cleared and played today, but he hadn't practiced. I mean, he had but it was iffy. He hadn't practiced a whole lot and to be perfectly honest with you it just wasn't worth it to me and I didn't want to put him out there. So, that's what happened."
Arkansas was 0 of 3 on fourth-down tries while the Bulldogs converted three of the five they tried.
"We couldn’t convert situations, and they did," Pittman said. "On fourth down they converted theirs and we didn’t. Certainly some of the same things that we’re doing that we’ve got to correct, as in the tackling, the situations with offensively converting third downs and the coverage and all those types of things. We thought we had a good game plan going in and really we couldn’t stop the run. They run it basically when they wanted to. Part of that was they did a really good job and part of it is we did a poor job of tackling. So give them credit. Coach (Mike) Leach has done a great job with them."
Arkansas did much better on third down both offensively and defensively than against Alabama. The Razorbacks were 8 of 16 on third-down conversions while limiting Mississippi State to 5 of 13. Arkansas lost three in a row last season as well before bouncing back to finish 9-4 and defeat Penn State in the Outback Bowl.
"We’ve got to get healthy," Pittman said. "We didn’t bring (safety Myles) Slusher. He was out. And of course Khari (Johnson) and JJ (Jayden Johnson) both go out of the game early in the second quarter. We’re depleted in the back end and we’re continuing to fight and those type of things but we’ve got to get healthy. Obviously, we play a big game with BYU at BYU next week. We’ve got to find a way to win that game and then have an off week and hopefully get some of our players back a little bit."
In addition to the play of Hornsby, another positive was linebacker Bumper Pool becoming the all-time tackles leader at Arkansas. He had 14 tackles on Saturday to move to 409 career tackles, one ahead of Tony Bua.
"Well, I’m so sad I didn’t know that when I addressed the team," Pittman said. "Nothing against anything, I just, nobody wanted to talk to me coming off the field. I get it. I wish we would’ve won. If we would’ve, I think what a great celebration it would have been for him. I’m so proud of him. Guys, he’s hurt all the time. You never hear it, but he is. People go, ‘Well, he missed that tackle.’ Well, hell, you would be too if you felt like Bumper Pool. I mean … But he’s tough and he’s the best we got. He’s doing great or he wouldn’t be out there. He’s been that way for three years, basically. He’s been hurt. But he’s tough.
"Wonderful family, wonderful kid. Something his kids will be able to say forever, well until somebody else breaks it, but for a long time they’ll be able to say, ‘My daddy tackled more guys ever than anybody else at Arkansas.’ And I think that’s a huge, huge deal. I know it is for him. Let’s say this. You know how we’ve always said, ‘I want to do this, this is my goal,’ then you fall short? His whole reasoning to come back to the team this year was to help the football team and set the tackle record. And he did it. I think that’s pretty cool. I just wish we would’ve won the game for him, to be honest with you."
Pool acknowledged that he has been playing hurt all season.
"Yeah, honestly, that's kind of been one of the biggest challenges this year," Pool said. "I've been battling with an injury in my hip, and just having to fight every single day to make sure that you put your best foot forward for your teammates, it's never easy, especially when you lose. But I've just tried my best to make sure that I can give them everything I have no matter how I'm feeling."
As far as looking ahead, can Jefferson get back early this week for practice?
"In all honesty, I think we can bring him in and get him -- he's had some running and things they have to test," Pittman said. "He just hasn't been hit. So I think we can bump him around a little bit even tomorrow, and have him cleared, cleared for Monday. That was the plan. After Thursday, when we're going, he had a little bit of a headache on Thursday. A mild headache, and I'm going 'Okay, that's, I'm not doing it.' And Dave (Polanski) and them were with me as well, I'm not saying that, but I say 'Look, you practiced on Wednesday. We're going to take you, but that's it. We're not going to do it.'"
It sounds as if Pittman may get more than just Jefferson back for BYU. He thinks Slusher can be back as well.
"Yeah, I think Slush is going to be okay," Pittman said. "But certainly no way he could have played today. We had to make a medical decision there, and no way he could’ve played today. But I believe he’ll be ready by Monday."
With Arkansas trailing 21-3, Hornsby hooked up with wide receiver Jadon Haselwood for a 68-yard pass to the Bulldogs three. On the next play, Rocket Sanders ran it in from the three to pull Arkansas within 21-10 with 1:11 remaining in the first half. Haselwood had a big game catching three passes for 113 yards. Haselwood also talked about how Hornsby was in the huddle.
"He knew his role," Haselwood said. "He kind of lived up to that. Of course, we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. But he did his thing. He came in and led us and he made plays on fourth down, third down with his legs. So he did his thing. He did what he was supposed to do."
After Mississippi State took a 27-10 lead with 11:16 remaining in the third quarter, Hornsby struck again. He tossed a 54-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Bryce Stephens for a 54-yard touchdown with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter.
Arkansas trailed 27-17 at that point, but then the Bulldogs scored the game's final two touchdowns to set the final margin of victory.
Drew Sanders led Arkansas with 15 tackles on defense in addition to Pool's 14. Hudson Clark started at middle safety and finished with eight tackles, two solo and had three pass breakups. He narrowly missed an interception on one of the breakups.
On offense, Sanders rushed 20 times for 86 yards and a touchdown. He also hauled in four passes for 49 yards. Stephens had two receptions for 59 yards including the touchdown. Arkansas finished the game with 483 yards of total offense including 242 passing and 241 rushing.
Will Rogers was 31 of 48 passing for the Bulldogs for 395 yards and three touchdowns. The Bulldogs finished with 568 yards of total offense.
No. 23 Mississippi State (5-1, 2-1) is on a roll now. Arkansas (3-3, 1-3) hits the road against BYU before getting a much needed bye week.