For a coach that started the first day on the job saying, “we’re going to get in the left lane and put the hammer down” Chad Morris didn’t follow his own mantra.
“It starts with me,” was what Morris said in the post-mortem of an embarrassing 34-27 loss to the winless Rams.
In just his second game as coach of the Razorbacks when this team had the chance to put Colorado State down at the start of the fourth quarter, he took his foot off the gas.
He also will learn something about the Hogs’ fan base every coach has discovered since Frank Broyles’ decision to have Martine Bercher “pooch punt” against Baylor in 1966 learned.
That decision went horribly wrong for the Hogs when the snap from center sailed over Bercher’s head, Baylor pulled off an upset and Arkansas missed a chance for a third straight Cotton Bowl during their 29-3 run from 1964-66.
Hog fans would rather you at least try to win as opposed trying not to lose.
Regardless of how things ended, many fans will forever remember Bobby Petrino’s fourth-down call against LSU in 2010 that went for a 39-yard score in a win that secured a BCS Sugar Bowl bid.
“We didn’t come to paint,” Bobby said after that game.
It was so good the UA trademarked the slogan, which has been on the shelf for awhile. Now it’s “Hammer Down” and a couple more decisions like the one Saturday night will put that one beside it on that same shelf.
“Looking back on it you almost wish you’d gone for it on fourth down,” Morris said, explaining the decision to punt it to Colorado State. “I thought our defense was playing well. We were actually back and forth on it on the headsets talking to our defensive staff. The one thing I didn’t want to do was give them a shorter field and allow that momentum to stay with them, so I thought we could pin ’em deep.”
This one didn’t backfire, but it didn’t help. Mainly because the punt pinned the Rams at their own 4 … then the defense let them drive the field and score.
“I thought we had the momentum there,” Morris said. “That was the purpose of that. We tried to flip the field and win it on field position.”
That plan fell apart when the defense, especially the secondary, started breaking down.
Arkansas had the momentum completely and appeared to have the game wrapped up on a throw and mostly run by T.J. Hammonds down the sideline on a 64-yard scoring play that made it 27-9 with 7:28 to go in the third quarter.
The Hogs had just one first down after that, but fans won’t forget a punt that pinned Colorado State at their own 4 because they had fourth-and-1 at midfield. The running game had been working well and you had a quarterback that’s 6-foot-7.
Morris was a math major in college and should have known if Cole Kelley stayed behind center Hjalte Froholdt and managed one step, then simply fell down he would have gotten the first down.
But, apparently, the defense thought they could get a stop.
They didn’t as the Rams went 96 yards in nine plays and the Hogs’ secondary couldn’t stop wide receiver Preston Williams.
When the Hogs got the ball the offense couldn’t get a first down.
And Arkansas couldn’t get a defensive stop or a win over a team that hadn’t really come close to winning either of their first two games.
Morris said later this will be a test to see how the coaches and players bounce back from adversity.
They’ll get the chance in a week at home against North Texas.
Where it won’t be surprising to see the Hogs as an underdog. We won’t know that until later, but the Mean Green, 2-0, coming off a 58-16 win over that noted powerhouse Incarnate Word, could actually be favored.
There will be many Hog fans that won’t be surprised.
