Offense stalls, defense folds in Arkansas' loss to Memphis
Just about nothing went right in the second half on Saturday for the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-2, 0-1 SEC), who dropped their second-straight game because of a late fumble to the Memphis Tigers (4-0, 0-0 AAC) at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Razorbacks had no problem slicing and dicing the Tigers’ defense in the first half, as they put up 28 points for the fourth-straight game. Taylen Green hit Rohan Jones for a touchdown on the second play of the game; Braylen Russell, Mike Washington Jr. and Green all rushed for touchdowns, and it appeared the offense would hum as it’s done for the three games prior.
But that’s not what happened. Memphis made adjustments coming out for the second half and stifled the Arkansas offense, which scored just three points over the final 30 minutes.
Third down, second half struggles for the Razorbacks
Coming into the game, Arkansas was the best third-down team in the country, as it converted 77.8% of third downs. But on Saturday, they were an abysmal 3-of-10 on third down.
“They were pretty aggressive in the secondary,” head coach Sam Pittman said postgame. “Taylen didn’t take off as much this week as he had in prior weeks. But for whatever reason, and we were in third and a little bit longer than probably what we’ve been in the past as well. But we were number one in the country coming in and we just didn’t convert. I think we were three for whatever today.”
Asked why Green didn’t take off and run as much as he did in previous games — he rushed for 53 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown — Pittman said he didn’t know.
“You have to ask him, I don’t know why he elected not to take off like he normally does,” Pittman said. Green said he has to do a better job of making defenses pay when they break contain.
For as touted as Arkansas’ offense has been this season, the second half of the game was extremely poor. The Hogs put up 223 yards but only mustered three points. Two of the three turnovers the Hogs committed came in the second half as well.
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green threw an interception, and Mike Washington Jr. fumbled with 1:18 left that essentially sealed the loss.
“Obviously, the last one played a major factor,” Pittman said. “They all do. Mike feels terrible and I hate it for him because he’s been such a great player for us. He still is. They jarred the ball loose from him. But yeah, we lost turnover battle by one last week and lost by six and lost it by one (this week).
“So, it has some major relevance in the game. Obviously, the last two were about the same time in the game two weeks in a row.”
Defensive struggles continue despite “back-to-basics” mentality
After last week’s loss to Ole Miss, the Arkansas defense got “back to the basics,” according to defensive tackle Cam Ball and defensive back Larry Worth III last Tuesday.
Whatever the basics were, it didn’t seem to matter. Much like Ole Miss did a week ago, Memphis took apart the Hogs’ defense to the tune of 489 yards — 199 through the air and 290 on the ground — over the 32:05 of game clock the Tigers had the ball.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Pittman said. “We tried to fix some things defensively. We were trying to fix some things from a week ago and I don’t know how much we got fixed to be perfectly honest with you, with a 500-yard day on us.
We got to get to work offensively. We were in field goal range on the second-to-last drive and we got sacked. It took us out. We were going to go up eight, assuming he makes the field goal. So we wasted some points there, where instead of them scoring and going for two and not making it’s them not making it and losing.”
As if the defensive problems couldn’t get worse, it was a backup quarterback who ended the game. Memphis quarterback Brendon Lewis’ helmet came off before the third-down play, so redshirt freshman Arrington Maiden had to come in for one snap.
The play was a quarterback run, and he dragged Arkansas defensive tackle Ian Geffrard — who weighs nearly 400 pounds — almost 11 yards to pick up the first down.
Where do the Hogs go from here?
The Razorbacks will welcome the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to Razorback Stadium next weekend, and the head Hog said the team needs to get its confidence back.
“I think we’re going to be fine,” Pittman said. “We’ve got to get our confidence back defensively and we’ve got to help them do that. Offensively, with scoring three points in the second half, we’ve gotta get our confidence back there, too.
“We’ve gotta show them that we’re coaching them well enough to change that. I like the team, I think we’re gonna be fine as far as getting ready for Notre Dame. Obviously, we know they’re a really good team.”
The Razorbacks and Irish will kick off from Fayetteville on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 11 a.m.
