Someone in the SEC Network studio posted an erroneous graphic on screen Saturday night: “Kentucky defeats Ole Miss, 24-20.”
It was changed to reflect the correct outcome from Kroger Field in Lexington: “Kentucky defeats Arkansas, 24-20.”
If only the Arkansas Razorbacks could be fixed that easily.
After its 14th consecutive Southeastern Conference defeat, something is badly wrong with the Razorback football program. Immediate action, it says here, is required even if it it’s changing coaches, trying different quarterbacks or seeing if the Big 12 Conference (or even Conference USA) is interested in expansion.
With a 4-14 record midway through his second year at Arkansas, coach Chad Morris has lost games by smaller margins — run a check on that after games against Auburn, Alabama and LSU — but aspects of the latest defeat are especially grim and nauseating to Razorback fans.
Arkansas now has dropped, to Ole Miss and Kentucky, both on the road, the two SEC games it appeared most likely to win this year. In both games, the Hogs had problems defensively against an unproven quarterback. As did Matt Corral for Ole Miss in Week 2, Lynn Bowden Jr. dazzled the Hogs, somewhat with his arm but mostly with his feet.
There is one telling difference between Corral (since injured) and Bowden, an Ohio kid (Youngstown) whom Ohio State did not offer a scholarship.
Bowden, as the SEC Network announcers reminded constantly, is playing out of position. He is a receiver pressed into duty as a quarterback following injuries to Week 1 starter Terry Wilson and his backup, Sawyer Smith.
Yet, Bowden thoroughly outplayed two kids from Texas who played for Texas colleges formerly in the Southwest Conference before migrating to Arkansas.
SEC Network studio analyst Gene Chizik was shaking his head at halftime, when Arkansas, as it had from the game’s second play, led, 13-7: “How do you take a kid who’s not a quarterback and put a passing game around him?”
Bowden passed for 78 yards, a touchdown included as the teams traded fourth-quarter leads, and ran for 196 and two touchdowns. John Chavis’ Razorback defense had no more insight to stopping Kentucky on the game’s final possession, when Bowden broke two long runs that put the Wildcats in position for a superfluous touchdown (one that coach Mark Stoops graciously declined), than in the first quarter.
“They went back to old-school football with run-pass options, zone reads and toss sweeps,” said Chizik, who won a national championship at Auburn with Gus Malzahn calling plays for Cam Newton. Noting that Arkansas lacks continuity on both sides of the ball, Chizik said, “How did Arkansas think Kentucky was going to beat them any other way with a third-string quarterback who’s not a quarterback?”
Did we mention that both teams had an extra week to prepare? Coming off road losses to Mississippi State and South Carolina, recognizing Arkansas as the beatable opponent that it is, Kentucky put in special plays to highlight Bowden’s strengths and boost his confidence. Arkansas may have spent too long celebrating the moral victory many conferred upon Morris’ team after a near-miss against Texas A&M.
You knew it was Kentucky’s night when Bowden beat Arkansas’ top defensive back, Kamren Curl, on an 18-yard strike to the corner of the end zone for its first lead, 17-13. Later, Bowden scrambled around right end for a 24-yard touchdown run, 6:53 left, on which Chavis’ troops forgot the meaning of the word “containment.”
As for Arkansas’ offense … if Morris were a baseball manager, he might let a tiring pitcher take a terrible pounding before summoning help. In other words, whatever else his shortcomings as an SEC coach, Morris is not in danger of being criticized for having a quick trigger finger.
Morris was slow to give Nick Starkel the hook when the starter went 7 for 19 and 41 yards. Ben Hicks (5 of 8 for 81 yards) came on in the third quarter and directed the Hogs to a go-ahead touchdown, 20-17 with 10:35 left.
Hicks, said the TV guys, has the footwork to make a defense “boundary heavy,” while “Starkel allows (the Hogs) to stretch the field from the far hash.” Problems ensue when Starkel becomes wild, which can happen without warning, and overthrows receivers; strong-armed he is, cerebral he is not. Hicks has some scrambling ability but does not pose a deep threat.
Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock seemed determined to turn the Kentucky game into a highlight reel for senior tight end Cheyenne O’Grady. “They spent the week trying to dial up new plays for him,” said the SEC Network crew early. “He’s been the first or second choice just about every time they’ve thrown the football.”
The problem with that is the young receivers — Mike Woods, Treylon Burks and Trey Knox — become underused or overlooked and prone to dropping balls. Arkansas requires an offensive blend of (pick a quarterback) spreading the ball among several receivers, creating holes for Rakeem Boyd.
Boyd, who had a shoulder X-rayed at halftime, is the Hogs’ only running back with breakaway speed — popping for 74 yards and paydirt on the second play from scrimmage, regaining the lead with a two-yard plunge — but Arkansas needs more than his cameo appearances.
On an important October weekend in the SEC, LSU won a top-10 shootout against Florida, Alabama routinely disposed of Texas A&M and, in the day’s shocker, South Carolina nipped Georgia ‘tween the hedges in double overtime. With Kentucky and Tennessee winning, Arkansas and Vanderbilt emerged as the only SEC teams without a conference win.
Though other things in the program are subject to change, don’t look for Arkansas, with Auburn and Alabama ahead, to notch the first SEC win of Morris’ career until November at the earliest. November 2019, however wildly optimistic.