Instant replay

Hogs give 5 players first starts

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Ty Storey (4) looks for a receiver during the second quarter of a football game, Saturday, September 8, 2018 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- There were five University of Arkansas players who made their first career starts against Colorado State on Saturday night at Canvas Stadium.

The first-time starters were junior quarterback Ty Storey, true freshman offensive tackle Noah Gatlin, sophomore tight end Grayson Gunter, senior defensive tackle Armon Watts and true freshman linebacker Bumper Pool.

Storey replaced Cole Kelley after passing for 261 yards and three touchdowns in the Razorbacks' 55-20 victory over Eastern Illinois.

After Storey completed 5 of 13 passes for 36 yards and threw 2 interceptions in the first half, Kelley started the second half.

Gatlin started in place of redshirt freshman Shane Clenin, who suffered an ankle injury last week against Eastern Illinois.

Gunter started in a two-tight end set along with junior Austin Cantrell.

Watts started at tackle, with McTelvin Agim moving outside to end in place of Michael Taylor.

Pool started in place of Dre Greenlaw, who didn't dress out after injuring an ankle in last week's game.

Gatlin was the first true freshman offensive lineman to start for the Razorbacks since Ty Clary started the first four games last season at right guard.

Clary was back in the starting lineup Saturday night at left guard in place of Kirby Adcock.

Junior Austin Capps, who moved from defensive tackle to the offensive line during preseason camp, replaced Clary at left guard on the Razorbacks' third series.

Atwater speaks

Steve Atwater, an All-Southwest Conference safety at Arkansas as a senior in 1988, addressed the Razorbacks on Friday night at their hotel. Atwater, an eight-time Pro Bowl player for the Denver Broncos, now works for the Broncos as manager of fan development and on the Blue and Orange Radio Network.

Atwater, who attended Saturday night's game, said it was an honor to address the Razorbacks and that it brought back memories of featured speakers he listened to when he played at Arkansas.

"It was awesome seeing the young guys going down the same path I went down, having sat in that same seat many, many years ago," Atwater said. "It was really fun to get a chance to see the looks in their eyes.

"It seemed like all the guys were engaged, and I was happy to be able to share some of my thoughts. Hopefully, I inspired some of the guys."

Bobo and Broyles

Colorado State Coach Mike Bobo was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2012 when he was Georgia's offensive coordinator.

The Broyles Award -- created by former Razorback David Bazzel and named in honor of Frank Broyles, the legendary Arkansas coach and athletic director -- has been presented to the nation's top assistant coach since 1996.

Bobo is among four Broyles Award finalists who are now head coaches the Razorbacks face this season, along with Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher and Vanderbilt's Derek Mason.

Malzahn won the Broyles Award in 2010 when he was Auburn's offensive coordinator. Fisher was a finalist in 2001 when he was LSU's offensive coordinator. Mason was a finalist in 2012 when he was Stanford's defensive coordinator.

Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis won the Broyles Award in 2011 when he held the same position at LSU.

Good rating

Cole Kelley completed his first two passes for touchdowns -- 25 yards to La'Michael Pettway and 64 yards to T.J. Hammonds -- for a quarterback rating of 803.8.

Ramsey out again

Senior defensive end Randy Ramsey, expected to be the Razorbacks' top pass rusher, hasn't dressed out for either of the first two games because of a hamstring injury.

Junior Gabe Richardson has started the first two games in Ramsey's place.

All in the family

A member of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek's family faced Colorado State for the third time in the Rams' past four games.

Ryan Yurachek, Hunter's oldest son, was a senior tight end at Marshall last season when the Thundering Herd beat the Rams 31-28 in the New Mexico Bowl. Ryan Yurachek, who is now on the Oakland Raiders' practice squad, caught 7 passes for 60 yards and 1 touchdown against Colorado State.

Jake Yurachek, Hunter's second of three sons, is a true freshman linebacker at Colorado. The Buffaloes beat Colorado State 45-13 last week in Denver.

Jake Yurachek is working on Colorado's scout-team defense, and his father said he got a good scouting report on the Rams. Jake Yurachek is redshirting this season and made the trip from Boulder to Fort Collins to watch the Razorbacks play the Rams.

Upon further review

A pass from K.J. Carta-Samuels to Preston Williams was initially ruled a completion for a 27-yard gain for Colorado State to the Arkansas 28 in the second quarter.

Arkansas cornerback Ryan Pulley signaled the pass was incomplete, and after a replay review showed that Pulley knocked the ball loose, the call was overturned.

Arkansas also got a replay review go in its favor in the third quarter when what was first called a 12-yard completion on a pass from Carta-Samuels to Olabisi Johnson was overturned.

Oops

A CBS Sports Network graphic for the Arkansas-Colorado State game shown prior to kickoff had an Arkansas State University Red Wolves logo instead of a Razorback.

Lucas, Woods back

Arkansas senior safety Ryder Lucas and true freshman receiver Mike Woods, who were suspended for last week's opener because of disciplinary reasons, played Saturday night.

Lucas, who had a combined 25 tackles on special teams to lead the Razorbacks the past two seasons, had his first special-teams tackle against Colorado State when he took down punt returner Olabisi Johnson for no gain.

Bauer punts

Reid Bauer, a walk-on true freshman, punted for the Razorbacks. On his first attempt, he hit a 40-yarder to the Colorado State 17 that had no return.

Bauer replaced junior Blake Johnson, who averaged 30.5 yards on four punts against Eastern Illinois. Bauer's only punt against the Panthers went 25 yards.

Stewart fields

After Jared Cornelius struggled with fielding punts in the first half -- including a ball he misjudged and failed to catch that rolled to the Arkansas 22 for a 70-yard punt -- Deon Stewart returned punts in the second half.

After Stewart had a fair catch on the first punt he fielded, he had a 45-yard return to the Colorado State 28 on his second attempt.

New state

Arkansas' game at Colorado State was its first in the state of Colorado, marking the 26th state in which the Razorbacks have played during their 125 seasons of football.

Since the turn of the century, Arkansas has played its first game in four states. The Razorbacks played their first game in Nevada in 2000 against UNLV in the Las Vegas Bowl; first game in New Jersey in 2013 at Rutgers; and first game in North Carolina in 2016 against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl. All were losses for the Razorbacks.

Prior to Saturday, Arkansas last won its first game in a state in 1993 by beating Georgia 20-10 in Athens.

The Razorbacks are scheduled to play their first game in Indiana on Sept. 12, 2020, at Notre Dame. No other first-time visits are scheduled.

Going long

Colorado State senior Wyatt Bryan hit a career-long 55-yard field goal to give the Rams a 3-0 lead. His previous long was 53 yards against North Carolina in 2016.

Bryan also hit field goals from 46 and 44 yards in the second quarter to make him Colorado State's all-time leading scorer with 295 points.

Helmet talk

Arkansas and Colorado State each wore a helmet color for only the second time.

The Razorbacks wore red chrome helmets after first wearing them in the 2015 Liberty Bowl when they beat Kansas State 45-23.

Colorado State wore white helmets after debuting them in last year's New Mexico Bowl.

See ya next season

Colorado State will play at Arkansas on Sept. 14, 2019, to complete the two-game series against the Razorbacks that was scheduled when Michigan bought out its contract with the UA to play Notre Dame.

The agreement between Arkansas and Colorado State also includes two basketball games. The Razorbacks will play at Colorado State on Dec. 5 after beating the Rams 92-66 last season in Fayetteville.

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Sports on 09/09/2018