Razorbacks defensive coordinator John Chavis talked about the large amount of yardage Colorado State got last week and looking ahead to San Jose State.
Hogs-Aggies to play at 11 a.m. in Arlington for third straight year
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas and Texas A&M will be playing at 11 a.m. for the third straight year at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN and can be streamed on the ESPN app. You can hear the game on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home and at HitThatLine.com
It marks the sixth consecutive game played in Arlington against the Aggies and 10th all time. Arkansas leads the overall series with Texas A&M, 41-31-3.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John & Tommy discuss the improved offense, Clay Henry joins the show, plus the Best/Worst of the Weekend!
Hogs top Tar Heels for first win over No. 1 team for soccer program
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas shut out top-ranked North Carolina on Sunday afternoon at Razorback Field, 2-0.
The win was the first over a No. 1 squad in program history and first time for an SEC school to beat the Tar Heels by two or more goals. In 963 matches in UNC history, this was just the 25th game they trailed by two goals.
This week’s wins over No. 22 Baylor and the top-ranked Tar Heels marks the first back-to-back wins over ranked opponents since 2000.
The run of play
Early in the first half, Taylor Malham got a look on goal but wasn’t able to redirect a cross on target as her header went wide left in the 8th-minute.
The Arkansas attack continued with Stef Doyle putting a ball over the Tar Heel defense in the 23rd-minute that found Parker Goins, but her shot from just inside the box missed the crossbar.
In the 54th-minute, Tori Cannata made a run down the left flank as she crossed the ball across goal.
The Tar Heels were forced to block a pair of shots from Malham and Doyle. Moments later, Parker Goins got on the end of a deep cross with her head but her shot went wide of goal.
The Hogs would add a pair of goals in the final thirty to secure the upset.
How it happened
• Malham and Marissa Kinsey connected as Kinsey played a ball that split the Tar Heel defense for Anna Podojil to run on to. The freshman used her right foot to slot it to the opposite corner past the Carolina ‘keeper in the 63rd-minute.
• Cannata flicked on a pass to P. Goins who used her left foot to strike the ball near post to beat the Tar Heel goalie for a late insurance goal.
Next up
The Razorbacks (6-1-1) start up conference play next week when they play host to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday, Sept. 22. First kick is slated for 2 p.m.
Morris recruiting players for immediate help on both sides of ball
Chad Morris knew he was recruiting some good players in his 2019 class and it’s probably a good guess he figured on using them.
Starting five in the third game of the year, though, may have been stretching what even he thought. Learning the right way usually involves a couple of tries with the wrong way.
“You first talk about all the hair you’re losing when you put those guys in there,” Morris said, taking his cap off and smiling.
There wasn’t a whole lot of experience coming back, with the leading receiver last year transferring out of the program for whatever reason.
Both Treylon Burks and Trey Knox were going to see the field a lot early, but with injuries to Deon Stewart and Jordan Jones, they moved into starting roles.
Morris knew there was going to be some sort of learning curve.
“That comes with it, though,” he said. “They’re all going to make mistakes. We’ve got to understand that and know we’ve got to respond when those things happened and it happened today.”
It’s not just those two, although they have made the biggest splash because they make the obvious plays on offense.
Ricky Stromberg started and played both guard positions and outside of firing off too early (particularly on a fourth-and-inches play in the second half), he played well in pass blocking, not allowing a single pressure.
They are scattered throughout the defense, too.
Mataio Soli started at defensive end … with a broken hand that is wrapped up and looks like he’s walking around with a club like something out of Game of Thrones.
“Soli is starting and he’s making strides and making plays,” sage veteran McTelvin Agim said Saturday. “He’s getting after the quarterback and you can tell he’s chasing the quarterback out of the pocket.”
He’s also impressed he’s playing through the injury.
“I had my finger come out of my skin during my freshman year, but I wasn’t starting,” he said.
Zach Williams, Collin Clay and Greg Brooks, Jr., are also seeing significant time on the defensive side of things.
“They are getting off the ball, they’re ecstatic, they’re excited, they are trying to make things happen,” Agim said. “You can just tell that in the future, they’re going to be so great.”
Brooks is hanging in at the nickel spot in the secondary because it seems every time an opponent sees him in the game they start heading for him.
“He made some good plays,” Morris said. “He got out-leveraged a few times and they caught the slant up underneath him, but he’s a competitor and he just keeps improving, as they all do.”
Which is part of the process as Morris tries to get this team better every week.
You get the idea if he can hang onto his hair it’ll be a bonus.
Looking at O’Grady’s late touchdown … up close in photos
Arkansas tight end C.J. O’Grady grabbed a pass from quarterback Nick Starkel and probably could have gone down to run the clock, but broke numerous tackles for a 62-yard scoring run to break the game open with 2:10 to play.
PHOTO BY TED McCLENNING | HITTHATLINE.COM
Hopefully fans won’t have paralysis by analysis on 21-point win
Arkansas has matched the season win total from last year and actually had a big-time offensive explosion, but there will be a lot of fans who wear themselves out focusing on the negatives.
Yeah, there will be a lot of paralysis by analysis after a 55-34 win over Colorado State on Saturday.
“We challenged our guys to respond and I started seeing the response last Saturday night in the locker room,” Chad Morris said immediately after the game, one where the Razorbacks found themselves tied 34-34 headed into the final quarter.
The offense in particular seemed to have found itself. The “Starkel Sparkel” proved to be glittering on a day at Razorback Stadium that had an announced attendance just over 51,000 squirming for three quarters.
Nick Starkel started and put up more points than the first two games combined and a whopping 520 yards of total offense.
The reason people were squirming was the defense gave up 425.
“We made some plays in big moments,” Morris said.
Especially in the fourth quarter. Since the day after Thanksgiving in 2016 until, well, last week against Ole Miss, the Hogs’ have collapsed in the fourth quarter on a far too often.
Against the Rams, they allowed just 34 yards in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t know how to communicate,” was how defensive lineman McTelvin Agim described the past problems compared to Saturday. “This year the leaders have been doing a better job of communicating on the sidelines and making sure everybody is tuned into what we’re trying to do.”
It worked in the fourth quarter because they stopped Colorado State, who started with a 75-yard scoring run on the second play of the game right down the sprinkler heads and kept moving the ball … until the final period.
The offense answered immediately.
Starkel found freshman wide receiver Treylon Burks on the Hogs’ first play of the game for 38 yards down the right sideline.
After a pair of runs by Rakeem Boyd (who finished with 122 for the game), Starkel hit Mike Woods for 6, then threw a pass that Trey Knox went up and got for a score from 24 yards out and the game was tied.
That was more what fans have been wanting to see out of Morris’ offense.
And the defense liked it, too.
“It was big,” Agim said later. “You could see the momentum on the sidelines. It was something we could feed off of.”
Safety Kamren Curl has been around for a few of those collapses and part of it are the changes Morris has been trying to instill since he got here.
“We all just bought in,” he said after Saturday’s win. “Last year, we probably would have gotten down. Everyone would have gotten down and they would have kept scoring. Now, we know how to respond as a team, I feel like that will really help us keep going.”
While the offense found itself in the second half against Ole Miss, the defense got some success in the fourth quarter Saturday when the team needed something from them.
“We responded and we finished,” Morris said. “That was the next part. I wanted to see our guys finish and I thought we did that.”
At one point the offense had raced out to a 21-7 lead on a 59-yard run by Boyd with 5:59 left in the first quarter (yes, Arkansas scored 24 in the first quarter, more than in either of the first two games of the year).
It looked like the offense couldn’t be stopped.
Except it could. After the explosion in the first period, the second quarter turned into a contest of kicking field goals … and the Hogs won that with Connor Limpert hitting one from 54 and another from 22.
“That kick probably could have went from 65, when it came off his foot it was a rock,” Morris said about the long one. “It was great to see him respond after missing one last week.”
In the second and third quarters, the Rams clawed their way to a tie, mainly when freshman receiver Dante Wright caught a pass from quarterback Pat O’Brien after Hogs safety Myles Mason gambled on an interception and the ball sailed over his head.
Not that Starkel didn’t have opportunities, but he missed some throws.
“Thanks for pointing that out,” Starkel said later … with a smile. “I missed a lot of throws today. We’re going to go to the film, watch it and correct it. There was a lot of stuff there.”
And that is what Razorback fans should be taking from this game.
“We got a lot of mistakes we got to clean up and we all understand that,” Morris said. “We’ll get back in here and work on that tomorrow, but we’re going to enjoy this one tonight.”
Which is what fans should be doing.
There’s a whole week to paralyze themselves by over-analyzing a three-touchdown win.
Morris on Hogs responding in fourth quarter for win over Rams
Arkansas coach Chad Morris talked all week about his team responding to adversity and they did in the fourth quarter in a 55-34 win over Colorado State
Agim, Curl, Boyd after fourth-quarter push to down Rams
Hogs defensive lineman McTelvin Agim, defensive back Kamren Curl and running back Rakeem Boyd on responding and finishing strong against Colorado State.
O’Grady, Harris, Starkel recapping Hogs’ win over Rams
Razorbacks C.J. O’Grady, Scoota Harris and Nick Starkel talking about the 55-34 win over Colorado State on Saturday afternoon.
