Much to the chagrin of Razorback football fans everywhere, coach Sam Pittman’s team has played rather poorly this year, so far, and the natives are getting more restless by the day with SEC play right around the corner.
Sure, they completely dismantled UAPB to open the season, but the Golden Lions are an HBC school that competes at the FCS level and are fine as a rent-a-win game but are hardly a worthy foe or stiff test for a big, bad SEC institution like Arkansas. The next week the Hogs lost on the road to a respectfully ranked Okie St. team in double OT, despite rolling up almost 650 yards of offense and dominating every statistic kept that day, sans turnovers.
On Saturday afternoon the Hogs hosted lowly UAB at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. In the beginning, it was all Blazers, as they scored early and often and led by 14 points midway through the second quarter. Despite being 26-point underdogs, the visitors, who were spanked the week before by even lowlier University of Louisiana at Monroe by 24 points, played with guts and determination and refused to back down from the lofty challenge at hand.
Taylen Green, who has struggled with accuracy since game one, started sluggishly, tossing an interception on the first possession and continually missing wide open receivers all over the field. More than half his passes fell to the ground, as he only completed 11 of 26 (or 12 if you count the pick) for a measly 161 yards and zero TDs. Fortunately, the kid can run like the wind and did just that, scampering for 96 yards and two TDs on 17 totes. He woulda eclipsed 100 yards if not for three sacks, totaling -13 yards.
Ja’Quinden Jackson, a transfer running back who landed in Fayettenam via the portal after three less-than-healthy seasons at Utah, ripped off a quick 23 yards on his initial carry and steadily sliced and diced up UAB’s defense the rest of the game. The senior totaled 147 yards on only 15 carries and averaged a robust 9.8 yards per touch.
With the backfield fulla new faces, I hadn’t a clue who would emerge as “the guy” this year. Jackson has been a most pleasant surprise, and just like cream, he rose to the top early. Through three games #22 has galloped for 397 yards and averaged a whopping 8.4 yards/carry while piling up 132.2 yards/game. His effort on Saturday was the third-straight game he exceeded 100 yards rushing.
The former Ute continually slashed and barreled through the Blazers’ defense, seemingly at will, and was the brightest star on the field wearing red other than Kyle Ramsey, the Razorbacks’ placekicker. Ramsey redeemed himself after an awful showing last week and booted three FGs, highlighted by a 51-yarder just before halftime to knot the score at 20-20, and one from 40 yards out in the final period to push Arkansas’ lead to a comfortable 10 points, 30-20.
You see, I tried to warn y’all about this year’s batch of cardinal red cherry Kool Aid – it’s sweeter than ever and so dang challenging to put down once you start in on it. But you know, I didn’t heed my own advice, either. After Mr. Football was rehired to run the offense, I pretty much went all in and pounded the sweet and sugary nectar all summer long. It’s the Arkansas sports media that gets everyone’s hopes up by predicting grandeur every single year. During August, all’s always well in Nam, no matter how good the team really is, cuz the scribes constantly covering the Razorbacks’ beat tell us so.
GoHogsGo!