Morris takes ownership of loss, looks ahead to UNT

Arkansas coach Chad Morris said Monday the problems in Saturday’s 34-27 loss at Colorado State start with him and the coaches and he’s facing a team he’s familiar with in North Texas this week.

Craddock apparently sticking with Storey, Kelley at QB

Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked Monday about the quarterback play against Colorado State last week and staying the course with Ty Storey and Cole Kelley at least for this week.

Chavis puts Colorado State collapse on himself, coaches

Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis took the blame for the defense’s collapse Saturday night in the 34-27 loss at Colorado State and looked ahead to North Texas this Saturday.

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

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John and Tommy talk what happened on Saturday night, take your calls, and interview Tom Murphy!

Has time come for freshmen duo to see field for Hogs?

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After yet another fourth-quarter meltdown by Arkansas there will be questions about the quarterback position which at times lately has resembled a schoolyard volunteer position.

The numbers aren’t that bad and we’ve all heard about how Chad Morris likes his numbers. Being a math major with a statistics minor at Texas A&M tends to indicate someone’s going to lean in that direction.

But sometimes a coach just has to go with the feel.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen it blow up both ways.

When Tom Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys he always referred to his “feel” for which quarterback to use. Folks tend to forget there always seemed to be some sort of quarterback controversy there. It was basically a revolving door most of his 29 years there.

After a particularly inept offensive performance one time in the 1980’s when the Cowboys couldn’t find a quarterback, Landry was asked why he didn’t make a change at the position when they couldn’t get close enough to a first down most of the day to even have a lot of debate over what to do.

“We weren’t moving the ball,” Landry said. He was serious and pretty much ignored the snickering and wide-eyed looks from the media. “If we’d been moving the ball and not scoring I might have made a change.”

That was Landry Code for his game plan blew up in his face (and he did the game plan for the offense, defense and special teams himself), so he wasn’t about to start trying to juggle quarterbacks to see if it would make a difference. He was convinced it didn’t matter.

Two games into this season, Morris hasn’t even looked at freshmen Connor Noland or John Stephen Jones. He’s already said there’s a package for Daulton Hyatt, which is code for there’s only a certain kind of plays he can do.

But could Noland or Jones actually do worse than the struggling Ty Storey and Cole Kelley have done through two games the Hogs should have won handily?

We’re seeing on the field what Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock have talked about since the spring. Both quarterbacks do some good things, but nothing consistently enough for this team to hang it’s hat on.

Which begs the question why not see what the freshmen can do?

With the new redshirt rule, you can put them out there the next four weeks and if they don’t work out, well, they will have a redshirt available.

Could it get worse? Probably, but not much worse.

Both Storey and Kelley have rather unimpressive numbers.

Storey is 17-of-30 passing with two interceptions against Colorado State, three touchdowns for 297 yards. Kelley is 15-of-21 for 194 yards.

Add both of them together and you’ve got a routine single game for Ryan Mallett or Tyler Wilson.

This is a case where Morris’ numbers aren’t telling the whole storey. Neither one of them have looked completely comfortable at times. At other times they both appeared completely lost.

For a position that often sets the tone for the entire offense, well, it seems to be a problem.

Coaches want consistency. If things are consistent, they can figure out what to fix, but when you fix one thing and two other fall apart, well, you’ve got one of those situations that causes migraine headaches.

Is it time to put the two freshmen in the game that each quarterbacked a team to a championship less than 12 months ago?

Winning is a habit.

So is losing.

Both have been on Razorback teams that made falling apart late a habit. Neither one of them likes it, but it appears neither have the ability or leadership to change it.

Neither freshman may be able to change it, either.

But you wonder if Morris and Craddock are ready to find out.

Scores from across Arkansas on Week 2 of the high school season

Here are scores from across Arkansas on the weekend of high school football games.

Class 7A

Bryant 17, Bentonville West 10
Fort Smith Northside 46, Van Buren 21
Greenwood 52, Fort Smith Southside 27
Little Rock Catholic 42, Jacksonville 0
Rogers at Little Rock Central, cancelled
Springdale 37, Alma 7

Battle on the Border At Independence Bowl Stadium, Shreveport
North Little Rock 35, Shreveport Evangel Christian 20

CLASS 6A

Cabot 27, El Dorado 10
Conway 37, Jonesboro 16
Harrison 42, Siloam Springs 7
Lake Hamilton 56, Malvern 10
Marion 20, LR Parkview 19
Nettleton 43, Mountain Home 7
Springdale Har-Ber 27, Russellville 7
Watson Chapel at Pine Bluff, cancelled

CLASS 5A

Ashdown 49, Hope 14
Beebe 17, Lonoke 7
Crossett at White Hall, cancelled
Farmington 49, Gravette 2
Forrest City 46, Pine Bluff Dollarway 8
Little Rock McClellan 34, Sylvan Hills 14
Maumelle 62, Vilonia 22
Morrilton 47, Little Rock Fair 12
Nashville 63, De Queen 7
Newport 60, Greene County Tech 28
Pulaski Academy 56, Memphis Ridgeway 35
Searcy 40, Batesville 15
Texarkana, Texas, 43, Texarkana 35
West Memphis 35, Blytheville 15
Wynne 35, Arkadelphia 28

CLASS 4A

Bald Knob 21, Harding Academy 19
Benton Harmony Grove 33, Gurdon 0
Central Arkansas Christian 38, Baptist 13
Camden Fairview 25, Hamburg 19, OT
Commerce, Okla. 32, Green Forest 0
Danville 43, Dover 19
Dardanelle 35, Prairie Grove 17
Dumas 30, McGehee 6
Elkins 54, West Fork 0
Fountain Lake 40, Hot Springs Lakeside 27
Greenbrier 41, Heber Springs 16
Highland 27, Riverview 20
Huntsville 21, Berryville 14
Jonesboro Westside 44, Hoxie 21
Lamar 34, Subiaco Academy 12
Lincoln 40, Park Hill (Okla.) Keys 7
LR Hall at Mills, cancelled
Magnolia 42, Monticello 7
Mena 19, Hot Springs 0
Osceola 35, Gosnell 30
Ozark 42, Clarksville 13
Piggott 44, Brookland 14
Pocahontas 49, Paragould 21
Rivercrest 24, Valley View 14
Shiloh Christian 35, Trumann 7
Waldron 54, Paris 28
Warren at Stuttgart, cancelled

CLASS 3A

Bauxite 28, Glen Rose 16
Bigelow 25, Cedarville 20
Booneville 28, Pottsville 26
Clinton 55, Conway Christian 21
Harrisburg 35, Cedar Ridge 0
Hector 39, Perryville 7
Mayflower 53, Marshall 8
Mineral Springs 7, Fouke 0
Mount Ida 21, Jessieville 6
Murfreesboro 24, Horatio 14
Palestine-Wheatley 30, Marvell 12
Poyen 58, Bismarck 27
Rison 41, Brinkley 6
Salem 52, Yellville-Summit 6
OPEN Drew Central

CLASS 2A

Atkins 20, Magnet Cove 0
Bearden at Hazen, cancelled
Camden Harmony Grove 30, Fordyce 28
Cutter Morning Star 46, Rose Bud 12
DeWitt 26, Carlisle 12
Earle 36, Barton 16
Clarendon at England, cancelled
Foreman 21, Parkers Chapel 0
Genoa Central 17, Lafayette County 0
Greenland 53, Mountainburg 39
Helena-West Helena 50, Marianna 14
Johnson County Westside 48, Two Rivers 6
Lake Village 20, Strong 6
Manila 27, Marked Tree 24
Mansfield 47, Lavaca 0
McCrory 30, Des Arc 28
Mountain Pine 48, Dierks 13
Quitman 32, Midland 0
Rector 15, Corning 14
Walnut Ridge 41, East Poinsett County 18
OPEN Spring Hill

SATURDAY

Battle on the Border At Independence Bowl Stadium, Shreveport
Aledo, Texas 51, Bentonville 14

KNWA VIDEO: Morris talking about loss to Colorado State

Video courtesy of KNWA

Arkansas coach Chad Morris talked with the media after Saturday night’s loss to Colorado State where the Hogs squandered a 27-9 second-half lead, falling 34-27 on the road.

KNWA VIDEO: Whaley cites lack of execution in loss

Video courtesy of KNWA

Arkansas running back Devwah Whaley said they didn’t executive late Saturday night against Colorado State, leading to the blown lead and a shocking 34-27 loss.

KNWA VIDEO: Kelley struggles with answers

VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA

Arkansas quarterback Cole Kelley was having a hard time coming up with answers for the media after the Razorbacks saw a 27-9 lead evaporate into a Colorado State win Saturday night.

WATCH: Highlights of Hogs’ 34-27 loss to Colorado State

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Up 27-9, Arkansas found a way to blow this game.

KNWA VIDEO: Hammonds recapping loss to Colorado State

Video courtesy of KNWA

Arkansas running back T.J. Hammonds talked about the shocking loss to Colorado State where the Hogs blew a 27-9 lead midway through the third quarter in the 34-27 loss.