By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' much maligned defense put up a good showing against No. 3 Texas on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to allow them to avoid a 20-10 loss.
Arkansas (5-5, 3-4) as it has in each of the losses once again lost the turnover battle. A fumble by freshman wide receiver CJ Brown was particularly costly with 6:55 remaining in the game. Arkansas had a second-and-10 play at the Texas 39 when Taylen Green hit Brown for a 12-yard gain. Alfred Collins knocked the ball loose from Brown and Tex Taafe fell on it basically securing the win for the Horns. Earlier in the game Green threw a pass that should have been caught by Tyrone Broden but instead was picked off by Jahdee Barron. Texas scored six plays later. Sam Pittman credited Texas for the win but pointed to the turnovers.
"Obviously congratulations to Texas, they were as big as physical as we thought they’d be," Pittman said. "Defensively, their stats show -- I'm not talking about today, I'm talking about the ones before today -- that they're really, really a good defense and they proved that today. Obviously we lost the turnover battle 2-0 and ended up losing by ten, so that had something to do with it. But I was proud of the improvement that we made defensively, and we've got work to do offensively, but it certainly wasn't an effort problem. I thought we went out there and played extremely hard. To beat the third-ranked team in the country, you certainly can't turn the ball over or you've got to get them. It was 2-0 and that's what happened, but congratulations to Texas. Sark (Steve Sarkisian) does a great job over there and they've got a really good football team."
Pittman was asked about having a true freshman wide receiver in the game at that time?
"We believe in CJ," Pittman said. "If they're out there, we believe in him. We knew the ball was specifically going to go to him. We've ran it in practice and we believe in him. Just unfortunately it happened. And unfortunately the ball went to the hash and stayed inbounds, where their ball went out of bounds. But no, we believe in him. If he's out there, we certainly believe in him. Just unfortunate he fumbled."
Green completed 17 of 25 passes for 149 yards with one interception on the day. He also rushed 16 times but for negative yardage. Green talked about the turnovers once again hampering the Hogs chances of winning.
"That just speaks to the season and when we win the turnover battle or even, we win," Green said. "It’s really a big emphasis on that but even if we turn the ball over, we have to do a better job responding. Whether that’s on the sideline or next play mentality, that’s something that we can do better for next week."
After getting blitzed in recent games the Hogs secondary responded well against Quinn Ewers and Texas. The Longhorns had 315 yards of total offense with 176 coming through the air. Ewers was 20 of 32 passing for 176 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Razorbacks started three new players in the secondary. Kee'yon Stewart, Miguel Mitchell and Larry Worth III joined Hudson Clark and Doneiko Slaughter as starters on Saturday.
"I thought it worked, you know," Pittman said. "We got beat on a double-move early down here in this (north) end zone. Other than that, I just didn't feel like we cut people loose. There were a couple of seam routes by the tight ends that hurt us on third down, but I thought the changes we made with Stew -- I'll have to watch the tape, but I think he played really good. I think that happened with Larry and Miguel Mitchell, those changes. And then of course we brought the guys who had played before, but I think those changes helped us have a better week and then put the intensity over there. It's always when you have those guys competing they seem to... both of them seem to play a little bit better, and that's what I thought happened today."
Edge Landon Jackson Jackson had 3 tackles to go with a sack, tackle for loss and quarterback hurry. But as he noted the Hogs didn't win the game.
"We fought real hard but we’ve got to finish," Jackson said. "When it’s 13-10, we have the momentum. Defense has to go out there and get a stop and get the ball back to the offense and flip the game around. We can’t let them score in situations like that. Overall, we just have to be better."
Running back Ja'Quinden Jackson returned after missing some games with an injury. He rushed 11 times for 56 yards and scored the Hogs lone touchdown on a 1-yard run with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter. That pulled the Hogs to within 13-7. Pittman was asked if Jackson was limited since he only got 11 carries?
"No. Ja'Quinden was available and we, in all honesty, probably should have got him in there more," Pittman said. "I just didn't want to start him because he had been out for three or four weeks. Other than that, there were no limitations on how much we play him. I do think he got into a nice rhythm. I believe he averaged 5 yards per carry today and ran extremely hard. But we didn't have a lot of rushes at half regardless who was back there. Went into halftime, found a way to run the ball a little more."
On Arkansas' next possession it actually pulled even closer. Matthew Shipley nailed a 44-yard field goal to pull within 13-10 with 12:48 remaining in the game. It appeared the Hogs had all the momentum at that point.
Texas put together an 8-play, 75-yard drive though to answer Shipley's field goal. The drive ended with Ewers finding Matthew Golden for a 1-yard touchdown. Golden and Ewers hooked up for Texas' other touchdown as well. They connected for a 20-yard touchdown on a 6-play, 61-yard drive that followed Green's interception.
Arkansas will be at home Saturday to host Louisiana Tech (4-6) at 3 p.m. A win would make the Hogs bowl eligible.
"I think in the locker room I think our kids are ready to bounce back and play Louisiana Tech," Pittman said. "I think they’ll work hard. We need to get bowl eligible. The kids understand that. They want to go to a bowl. So they’ll work hard at it. They’ll bounce back. I’m not worried about it. We’ve got a good, tight-knit football team and I’m not worried about them with the practice and all getting ready for next week."
The Louisiana Tech game can be streamed on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.
