Offensive mistakes combined with defense getting worn out cause double overtime loss at Oklahoma State, setting record at 1-1.
Razorbacks’ Taylen Green, Cam Ball on double OT loss to Oklahoma State
Green on problems offensively due to mental mistakes and Ball on defense’s plan to stop Cowboys’ Ollie Gordon II.
LIVE BLOG: Hogs miss too many chances in 39-31 loss in double OT
STILLWATER, Okla. — Arkansas needs a big game Saturday. No, that’s not a prediction, but after opening with a 70-0 win over UAPB last week at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark., the Razorbacks need to show they are for real this year.
Getting a road win over No. 16 Oklahoma State with the best running back in the country would provide that credibility. Right now nobody knows whether to believe in this team or start looking at basketball. The Golden Lions didn’t put up much fight last week in what amounted to a scrimmage where they shaved a complete third of the game off the clock.
Travis Williams’ defense is going to see a group of untested linebackers tested trying to stop an experienced offensive line opening holes for Ollie Gordon II, who won the Doak Walker Award last year as the top running back in the country. He also has his complete offensive line returning in front of him.
It’s a bright sunny day at Boone Pickens Stadium. Oklahoma State is wearing black helmets, orange jerseys and white pants. The Razorbacks will be wearing their road uniforms.
On ESPN GameDay, Pat McAfee, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit all picked the Razorbacks to win. Desmond Howard, Rece Davis and Nick Saban went with OSU, so they know nothing more than anybody else.
Q1 12:08: On a fourth-and-2 on the Arkansas 35, Oklahoma State doesn’t hand the ball to Gordon and the secondary covered the receiver with a bad throw giving the Hogs the ball. The Razorbacks’ offense immediately hits a couple of big plays behind Ja’Quinden Jackson and Taylen Green.
Q1 5:51: Ja’Quinden Jackson caps off a 45-yard drive with a 5-yard run run as the Hogs take an early lead. Oklahoma State defense doesn’t appear to have a whole lot of interest in the game early, giving up 89 yards on the Razorbacks’ first two drives. Hogs 7, Cowboy 0
Q1 1:31: Jackson putting up a huge first quarter, scoring his second 5-yard touchdown run against an Oklahoma State defense that is playing like they didn’t get the early kickoff wake-up call. Green’s 23-yard run set up the drive. Green has 65 yards rushing and Jackson has added 49 as Arkansas dominating in the first quarter. Hogs 14, Cowboys 0
End First Quarter
Q2 8:50: Lyrik Rawls picks off a Taylen Green pass he threw after being rushed by Collin Oliver and ran untouched 73 yards for a score. There was a penalty for offensive pass interference the coaches on the Razorbacks’ sideline felt should have been on the defense, but the play stands. The play did wake up the Oklahoma State crowd. After the play, Olliver hobbled to the OSU locker room with an apparent injury. Hogs 14, Cowboys 7
Q2 5:05: This is turning into the Ja’Quinden Jackson game. He’ll need to give a nod to Green, though, who checked into the play. That’s the Bobby Petrino Effect. Razorbacks cap a 7-play, 75-yard drive with Jackson’s third touchdown, an 11-yarder in the middle. Hogs 21, Cowboys 7
End First Half
Q3 6:45: Oklahoma State squanders chance, driving inside the Hogs’ 10 and throwing a fade for a touchdown in the end zone that was called back for a penalty that was followed by another one. The Cowboys had to settle for a 45-yard field goal from Logan Ward. Hogs 21, Cowboys 10
Q3 :39: Don’t look now, but Oklahoma State has managed to get back within one score, despite the Razorbacks’ defense holding up. The offense gives up a fumble by Green and the Cowboys move down the field before penalties kill the drive and force a 35-yard field goal by Ward. Hogs 21, Cowboys 13.
End Third Quarter
Q4 9:37: Cowboys start making this interesting after a fumble recovery. Brennan Presley catches a 7-yard scoring pass from Alan Bowman. A 2-point pass tied the game. Hogs 21, Cowboys 21
Q4 5:13: After Arkansas fails to convert on a fourth-down play when Sam Pittman chose to go for it instead of kick a field goal, Presley scored his second time of the quarter, this time for just 3 yards out. Cowboys 28, Hogs 21
Q4 4:01: Razorbacks tight end Luke Hasz found himself all alone down the middle on a well-designed play and walked in for a 43-yard reception from Green to tie things up again, setting up a sprint to finish. Hogs 28, Cowboys 28
Q4 :55: After a wild series of events with penalties and the Hogs getting a break on a call that forced a field goal, Ward drills a 38-yarder for the lead. Cowboys 31, Hogs 28
Q4 :00: Razorbacks’ kicker Kyle Ramsey kicks his first field goal, a 45-yarder to send it to overtime.
End Regulation
First Overtime
Arkansas gets the ball first in overtime. A sack of Green backs the Razorbacks up to force a 46-yard field goal attempt that hooked to the left.
Just needing a field goal, Oklahoma State stays on the ground, handing off to Gordon, who was held to just 37 yards. Ward came on and after Pittman called a timeout and he pushed it wide right.
In the second overtime, Xavian Sorey throws down Presley after a catch for little gain, moving it to the 12 where Gordon took it in for a score, then caught a pass for the 2-point conversion. Cowboys 39, Hogs 31
The Razorbacks missed a scoring chance when Green missed on a classic Petrino wheel route to a wide open Rodney Hill, who was stood up at the 6-yard line on a fourth-and-1.
Final: Oklahoma State 39, Arkansas 31
ANDY’S PICKS: Williams’ defense needs to show something today
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — While most people are buzzing about Bobby Petrino’s offense lighting up UAPB last week, Arkansas will have a different experience this week. Oklahoma State has been hyping this game all off-season and it’s likely to be a wild scenario in a difficult environment.
Plus the Cowboys have better players than the Razorbacks have seen. Plus, they have experience playing together in the unit where it matters the most — offensive line. Add maybe the best running back in college football behind them and there is a problem.
The Hogs’ defense has to find a way to stop Ollie Gordon and a passing game that’s good, particularly with the linebackers. Co-defensive coordinator Travis Williams coaches that position group and they are new and really untested. They haven’t seen anything like they are going to see from OSU in practices this year. Can they get off the field enough to give the offense a chance?
Taylen Green and the Razorbacks’ offense should put up a few points. They have to get the ball, though, which means Arkansas can’t let the Cowboys’ running attack just run at them unmercifully for the entire game. That could make it a shorter game and that probably wouldn’t work out well at all. Oklahoma State 34, Arkansas 23
Pete Morgan got all excited by winning by a single game last week. Florida really played terrible against Miami so that gives Morgan a brief little lead in the contest … I think. He’s keeping up with it. I had to check what drug he was suggesting I would be taking since I’ve never heard of that. Don’t worry because I’m not.
(3) Texas at (10) Michigan: This is the type game teams should be playing every week. No more of playing these FCS schools. Just send a check. Trust me, everybody will benefit more from that. Barring a collapse, though, the SEC should win this game going away. With Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL, that was the driving force behind the Wolverines’ title run last year. The Longhorns got close, but they may be better this year and may have a deeper roster than anybody in college football. Quarterback isn’t the only place they’re stacked three deep. Texas 38, Michigan 24
McNeese State at Texas A&M: Here we go again. The Aggies get their rent-a-win after taking Notre Dame to the wire next week. This one should never really be close as the Aggies are favored by more than 48 points, They will likely cover. Texas A&M 52, McNeese State 0
Tennessee Tech at (1) Georgia: Not much to talk about in this game. The Bulldogs get a scrimmage this week after manhandling Clemson last week. Georgia 62, Tennessee Tech 6
South Carolina at Kentucky: Now we finally get to see conference games. For some reason, there is a rivalry between these two schools. The Wildcats’ faithful are worked up over it and the Gamecocks really don’t appear to be a program that’s going to jump very high. For whatever reason, the Gamecocks appear to be trying to get to the middle of the pack and that doesn’t appear to be a championship plan. Kentucky 27, South Carolina 21
California at Auburn: Pete Morgan said he watched this game last year, which may give us some clues how exciting his game watching is or what he’s drinking while watching. Unless you’re a Tigers’ fan, this game will be about as exciting as watching two mules fighting over a turnip. Auburn 29, California 17
Middle Tennessee at (6) Ole Miss: Razorback fans got excited over a 70-0 win last week over UAPB and the Rebels opened against Furman two days later and produced a 76-0 win. Ole Miss are making statements to justify their ranking and I really have never been particularly worked up over running up scores with the exception of some SMU games in 1989 coming off a two-year death penalty and Houston trying to score 100 points. Lane Kiffin won’t do that. Ole Miss 63, Middle Tennessee 6
Buffalo at (9) Missouri: The only way this game is newsworthy is if it’s remotely close at halftime. Tigers trying to make a run at the expanded playoffs this year and out-recruiting the Hogs for players in Arkansas. It’s a simple game for Eli Drinkwitz’s team that should handle this one with no problem. Missouri 44, Buffalo 10
Samford at Florida: Most people have already concluded Gators coach Billy Napier is gone after stinking up the field against Miami in the opener. They shouldn’t have any problem in this one, but a shocking loss could create the first major opening of the season. That shouldn’t be discussed this weekend at all. Florida 62, Samford 7
South Florida at (4) Alabama: Seriously, we have to write something about this. I’m halfway tempted to just invoke a win rule and include all these games in one paragraph because this won’t be interesting after the first quarter. Or it shouldn’t be. Alabama 63, South Florida 17
Alcorn State at Vanderbilt: Good grief. The Commodores keep ringing the bell this week. Vanderbilt 48, Alcorn State 21
Nicholls State at (18) LSU: This one would certainly be in that paragraph mentioned above. Bobby Petrino was right a couple of weeks ago when he said schools should just make a dontation because nobody gets anything out of these. LSU 56, Nicholls State 7
(24) NC State at (14) Tennessee: Maybe we find out a little bit about what the Hogs will be facing in Fayetteville in a few weeks. The Vols are under-rated in my view and will. I just hope they play in real uniforms and not those gosh-awful gray things that probably should have been burned a few years ago. Whoever thought that is a good look for an iconic brand should never be allowed to choose uniforms again. Tennessee 35, NC State 16
Houston at (15) Oklahoma: There was a time this might be an interesting game, but it’s not this year. The Cougars are in a mess with a new coach and trying to rebuild an entire program after Dan Holgorsen left it in chaos. Hopefully nobody in Norman, Okla, turns the wagon over on the field because it will probably be out there quite a bit. Oklahoma 49, Houston 10
Mississippi State at Arizona State: In the interest of transparency, my oldest covers the Bulldogs for the On SI site. I have some insights on this one and it’s not particularly positive. The Sun Devils have renewed interest from fans and the Phoenix area and they have been a really good program at times. They aren’t ready to challenge for championships right now, but they are at home and the Bulldogs are still sorting things out. Arizona State 34, Mississippi State 21.
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OSU Max’s Jason Carroll with preview of Razorbacks-Cowboys on Saturday
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Some wild swings in the better line of Saturday’s game with Oklahoma State are based on different factors.
Democrat-Gazette’s Bob Holt previewing his first trip to Oklahoma State
With the Razorbacks facing bigger challenge this week against No. 16 Cowboys, it will be a better gauge.
Morning Rush Sit Down: Taylor McGregor – ESPN
Tye Richardson from The Morning Rush sits down with a rising star in sports media Taylor McGregor. Taylor is a sideline reporter for ESPN and also works with Marquee Sports Network, and The MLB Network as the lead reporter for the Chicago Cubs. She will be in action reporting updates from the sidelines this Saturday in Stillwater for the Hogs matchup against heavily favored Oklahoma State.
Brett Dolan on Steve Sarkisian’s chances with Michigan in first test for Texas
Longhorns have one of marquee games as schedule starts to improve this weekend all across college football landscape.
