FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas needed a near-perfect showing Saturday afternoon to have a chance at upsetting Texas.
That didn’t happen.
Despite a vastly improved defensive performance, the Razorbacks made too many mistakes and came up short in a 20-10 loss to the No. 3 Longhorns at Razorback Stadium.
There’s always a small margin for error against a top-5 team, especially as a double-digit underdog with less talent, so Arkansas needed its players — and coaches — to rise to the occasion like they did earlier this season against No. 4 Tennessee.
Everyone who watched the game, either in person or on ABC, saw the Razorbacks give a valiant effort. They also noticed obvious shortcomings by players, such as two turnovers, but this wasn’t simply a case of them failing to execute their coaches’ game plan.
The staff also made a few head-scratching decisions that proved costly on Saturday…
Another Freshman Mistake
It may not have been enough to flip the final result, but CJ Brown’s fumble on Arkansas’ last possession certainly sealed the deal for Texas.
At first glance, it seems like a player mistake — and it definitely could be classified as one because he’s a scholarship player who’s likely bringing in NIL money and should be expected not to cough up the ball so easily.
Upon closer inspection, though, it becomes obvious that Brown shouldn’t have been put in that spot.
The Bentonville native was impressive during spring ball and fall camp, to the point where many expected him to crack the wide receiver rotation as a true freshman, but that never really materialized.
Over the first four weeks of the season, Brown did get 32 offensive snaps and was targeted three times, but one of them was a critical drop against UAB. Saturday marked just his third appearance in the following seven games and the Razorbacks hadn’t thrown him the ball on any of his nine combined snaps against Texas A&M and Mississippi State.
When Arkansas dialed up the tunnel screen for him against Texas, he was still looking for his first career reception. Brown caught the pass, but didn’t properly secure the ball and the Longhorns popped it out.
As you’d expect, Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman defended the decision after the game.
“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.”
The Razorbacks probably do believe in Brown, but there’s a time and place to get him his first career touch. A do-or-die drive in the fourth quarter against the third-ranked team and top pass defense in the country – and on his lone snap of the game, per Pro Football Focus – probably isn’t it.
To be fair, the play likely would have gone to Isaiah Sategna, but he came out to catch his breath after going deep on the previous play. Brown checked in for him and Arkansas was apparently fully aware, based on Pittman’s comment, that the play was going to him – despite Andrew Armstrong, Jordan Anthony and Isaac TeSlaa being on the field at the same time.
It was eerily similar to the Razorbacks keeping freshman Krosse Johnson on the punt return unit against Oklahoma State despite him making two earlier mistakes, only for him to run into the returner again and cause the muffed punt that swung the game in the Cowboys’ favor.
A few weeks after that, Arkansas made another baffling personnel decision by putting in reserve defensive tackle Danny Saili on a critical fourth-quarter series against Texas A&M. That one backfired when he missed a tackle near or behind the line of scrimmage, resulting in a long run on what proved to be the Aggies’ game-winning touchdown drive.
Lack of Carries for Jackson in Arkansas vs Texas
After missing the last two games with an ankle injury, Ja’Quinden Jackson returned to action this week. He was limited at practice during the bye week, but was full-go in the days leading up to the Texas game.
In fact, Sam Pittman told reporters on Wednesday’s weekly SEC coaches teleconference that his star running back was 100%.
“He’s healthy, he’s ready to go,” Pittman said. “He’s looked really good in practice, and I expect him to go out there and play at full strength and full speed.”
Going up against his former school, Jackson had plenty of motivation to be at his best Saturday. The only problem: Arkansas didn’t give him very many opportunities.
He carried the ball just four times for 15 yards in the first half before racking up 41 yards on seven carries after halftime. His final stat line was 11 carries for 56 yards – a solid 5.1-yard average.
Included in his performance were three really tough red zone runs, capped by a 1-yard touchdown plunge, so his ankle definitely didn’t seem like it was a problem. Pittman confirmed as much afterward, admitting he wasn’t on a pitch count, either.
“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.”
If that was the case, why didn’t he get more work? Rashod Dubinion was also solid, averaging 4.3 yards per carry, but he ran the ball only seven times. Braylen Russell, meanwhile, didn’t play because he’s been banged up.
Pittman’s comment was reminiscent of the 2021 season, when Dominique Johnson was the Razorbacks’ most effective runner, but consistently got limited opportunities. The second-year coach routinely told reporters that they needed to give him the ball more, but Johnson finished the season with only two games of 15-plus carries.
There have also been a couple of times when the wrong running back seemingly got more carries. In 2020, Arkansas stuck with Rakeem Boyd longer than it probably should considering how well Trelon Smith ran the ball. Just last year, A.J. Green never really got many chances despite being the most effective runner early on, while Isaiah Augustave didn’t play much until the final couple games of the season and all he did was rack up 181 yards against FIU and Missouri.
Special Teams Blunders by Arkansas Football
On two separate occasions against Texas, Arkansas’ offense was given poor field position because of kickoff returns that failed to get back to the 25.
The Razorbacks actually used some trickery on the first one, trying a reverse that involved Isaiah Sategna fielding the kick before handing it off to Jordan Anthony. However, the Longhorns didn’t bite and were able to trip him up at the 17.
That play was at least understandable, though, as it was relatively low-risk, high-reward. Arkansas lost only eight yards of field position compared to fair catching the kickoff and it had the potential of Anthony springing a long return.
It was a different story the second time, though. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Anthony caught the ball at the goal line and chose to return it. Instead of getting it at the 25 on a fair catch, he was tackled at the 14 – a loss of 11 yards worth of field position.
“The second time, we probably should’ve fair caught that when the ball was in the air for a long long time,” Pittman said. “That would’ve been fair caught and we didn’t.”
It went somewhat unnoticed because of how rare kickoff returns are these days, but Anthony replaced Sategna as the kickoff returner a couple of games ago. The Razorbacks love what he brings to the table with his speed and it’s something the Texas A&M transfer told BoAS he wanted to do in Fayetteville.
However, it’s fair to wonder 1- if Sategna would have made the same decision if he was still the returner and 2- if special teams coordinator Scott Fountain should have made sure Anthony knew when and when not to try a return.
What makes it particularly frustrating is just two weeks earlier against Ole Miss, the Rebels were backed up on a kickoff because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Dylan Hasz fair caught the kick at the 20. It was a baffling decision because it resulted in just 5 extra yards and he likely could have gotten much more than that by actually returning it.
That play almost certainly came up in the ensuing special teams meetings and you’d like to think it led to a conversation about when to fair catch or not.
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