STILLWATER, Okla. -- Arkansas suffered a second-half collapse and fell to Oklahoma State 39-31 in two overtimes on Saturday in front of 52,202 fans in Boone Pickens Stadium.
The Razorbacks had four fumbles, losing two, gave up a pick-6 and topped that with seven penalties for 71 yards. Kyle Ramsey missed two field goals and Isaiah Sategna fumbled a punt return. The turnovers and missed opportunities wiped out Arkansas rolling up 648 yards of total offense to 385 for the Cowboys. Sam Pittman was obviously disappointed with the turnovers by his Hogs.
"We started fast," Pittman said. "Our defense did a great job - shut them out the first half. They allowed them two field goals in the third quarter. The disappointing thing is we couldn’t hang on to the football. We had four turnovers hard to overcome against the 16th team in the country. We didn’t handle their Zero blitz as well as I thought we would. The bottom ljne the ballgame was the turnovers. I feel terrible for the kids because they played so hard. We just gotta hang on to the football."
Ramsey and Oklahoma State's Logan Ward each missed a field goal in the first overtime. Ramsey missed from 46 yards and Ward from 41. In the second overtime, Oklahoma State got the ball first. Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon scored on a 12-yard touchdown. Alan Bowman passed to Gordon for the two-point conversion. Oklahoma State stopped Arkansas' Rodney Hill on a fourth-and-one play to end the game.
Gordon is one of the early leaders for the Heisman Trophy. Arkansas limited him to 49-yards rushing and one touchdown on 17 carries. He caught two passes for 20 yards.
"He averaged 2.9 yards a carry," Pittman said. "We held them to 51 and some of those yards were in overtime. I felt when their kicker missed the first field goal in overtime I felt like we had them. We had the penalty of picking the running back up because that was ready to be third and 10. Give them a first down and they go on in and scored. The quarterback makes a good play on the 2-points conversion. And then obviously we couldn’t convert on fourth down. We have to hang on to the football. I’m sure we’ll bounce back just very, very disappointing in the ball game."
Oklahoma State took a 31-28 lead with 55 seconds remaining in regulation on a 38-yard field goal by Ward. The Hogs stormed back going 45 yards on eight plays to force the overtime. The big play was a 33-yard pass from Taylen Green to Andrew Armstrong to the Oklahoma State 27 with two seconds remaining. Ramsey then hit the 45-yard field goal to tie the game and force overtime.
The Razorbacks scored first when running back Ja'Quinden Jackson powered in for a 5-yard touchdown with 5:52 remaining in the first quarter. Jackson then followed that up with a 6-yard run with 1:31 remaining in the opening period. The drive covered 83 yards on eight plays and took 3:12 off the clock. The Hogs took a 14-0 lead at that point and was dominating the game.
The Hogs appeared to be on the verge of taking a 21-0 lead. But Green got hit as he was set to throw and defensive back Lyrik Rawls picked off the pass and raced 73 yards for the touchdown. That cut the Arkansas lead to 14-7 with 8:50 remaning in the first half.
The Hogs answered that with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Jackson rushing 11 yards for a touchdown and 21-7 lead with 5:05 remaining in the first half. That is how the first half ended.
In the third quarter, Oklahoma State started working its way back into the game. The Cowboys got field goals of 45- and 35-yards to pull within 21-13. The 35-yard field goal by Ward came with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Ramsey missed a 41-yard field goal. The Cowboys took over at its own 24. They got one first down, but the Arkansas defense forced a punt. Sategna signaled for a fair catch, but fumbled the ball. Brennan Presley caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bowman with 9:37 remaining in regulation. Bowman then hit De'Zhaun Stribling for the 2-point conversion.
The Hogs drove from their own 35 to the Cowboys 23-yard line. On a fourth-and-five play, Pittman opted to go for the first down instead of trying a field goal. Green ran for four yards thus coming up a yard short.
It only took the Cowboys five plays to cover the 80 yards and take the lead at 28-21. Presley scored on a 3-yard run.
But the Hogs weren't done. They answered with a 75-yard drive that only took three plays. Green found tight end Luke Hasz for a 43-yard touchdown. That tied the game at 28 with 4:01 remaining.
A relieved Mike Gundy was pleased to see his team escape with the win.
"The only thing I can say statistically was we won the turnover margin and won the penalties, and then we were really good in overtime on both sides of the ball," Gundy said.
Green completed 26 of 45 passes for 416 yards and a touchdown with the lone interception. He also rushed 18 times for 61 yards. Jackson rushed 24 times for 149 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a pass for 13 yards. Armstrong caught 10 passes for 164 yards. Linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. had 13 tackles to lead the Hogs while safety TJ Metcalf added a dozen.
Arkansas (1-1) will host UAB at 3:15 Saturday in Razorback Stadium. Oklahoma State (2-0) remains undefeated. They will be at Tulsa on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
