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Losing turnover battle again costly for Arkansas

Each one of the five losses for Arkansas (5-5, 3-4 SEC) this season featured critical turnovers that the team could not overcome.

The Razorbacks, who lost 20-10 to Texas on Saturday, are now 0-5 on the season in games in which they lose the turnover battle to their opponent.

Saturday's home loss to the third-ranked Longhorns, which was the third-straight loss at home for Arkansas, featured two costly turnovers for the Hogs' offense and none for the Texas offense. A strong performance from the defense, which held the Longhorns to 315 yards of total offense and 4.3 yards per play, makes the close loss even tougher to swallow.

ALSO READ: Arkansas defense does its job in loss to No. 3 Texas

"Obviously we lost the turnover battle 2-0 and ended up losing by 10, so that had something to do with it," head coach Sam Pittman said postgame. "But I was proud of the improvement that we made defensively, and we've got work to do offensively, but it certainly wasn't an effort problem.

"I thought we went out there and played extremely hard. To beat the third-ranked team in the country, you certainly can't turn the ball over or you've got to get them. It was 2-0 and that's what happened, but congratulations to Texas. Sark does a great job over there and they've got a really good football team."

The first turnover came in the first quarter when quarterback Taylen Green tried to thread the needle and hit receiver Tyrone Broden in tight coverage, but the ball hit off Broden's hands and Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron picked the pass off.

VIDEO: Postgame press conferences - Texas 20, Arkansas 10

"Obviously we had the one pick, but that wasn’t his fault," Pittman said. "That was a dart on the line. I mean, that was a great throw."

After that play, the Longhorns drove 61 yards on six plays to punch in a touchdown on a busted coverage by the Arkansas secondary to take a 7-0 lead early on.

"That just speaks to the season and when we win the turnover battle or even, we win," Green said of turnovers. "It’s really a big emphasis on that but even if we turn the ball over, we have to do a better job responding. Whether that’s on the sideline or next play mentality, that’s something that we can do better for next week."

Arkansas again turned the ball over on its final offensive possession of the game. With the ball in Texas territory, Green hit freshman receiver CJ Brown for a completion and Brown then had the ball punched out and recovered by Texas. It was rather surprising to see Brown in the game with the team driving down 20-10 in the fourth quarter, as he had logged just 41 offensive snaps all year prior to Saturday.

"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. And unfortunately the ball went to the hash and stayed inbounds, where their ball went out of bounds. But no, we believe in him. If he's out there, we certainly believe in him. Just unfortunate he fumbled."

RELATED: Social media reacts to Arkansas' 20-10 loss to Texas

The Razorbacks never got the ball back after that, as Texas was able to milk the clock and run the rest of the time down.

"So if, and’s and buts, we got to hang on to the football, and if we do we’ve got a pretty good team," Pittman said. "I think we showed it out here today. But that’s kind of been the story of all our losses and all our wins, you know depending on what we do with turnovers. Even today it was ugly but then it looked good and it was ugly then it looked good, if we hang on to the ball I don’t think it’s a 20 to 10 game, I don’t know if we but we sure as hell would’ve had a much better opportunity."

Winning the turnover battle is clearly key for Arkansas, as the Hogs have proven they can't overcome mistakes.

"I was proud of how hard our team played," Pittman said. "Just the two turnovers really kind of made the difference. Our defense didn't allow them to do a whole lot today either. The disappointing thing was the last drive when we were down three and then the very last drive, that we couldn't get the ball back. Other than that, I thought the kids played extremely hard. Especially the defense showed a lot of improvement."

Up next, Arkansas will host Louisiana Tech next weekend at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will kickoff at 3 p.m. CT and it will be streamed on SEC Network+.

Arkansas defense does its job in loss to No. 3 Texas

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Two weeks removed from a grotesque performance against Ole Miss, the Arkansas Razorback (5-5, 3-4 SEC) defense stepped up in a big way in the 20-10 loss to the No. 3 Texas Longhorns (9-1, 5-1 SEC) on Saturday in Fayetteville.

The Arkansas defense gave its counterpart plenty of opportunities to take control of the game, as the Longhorns only accounted for 315 total yards in the game, which was roughly 150 less than their season average. The Razorbacks sacked Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers twice and caused nine tackles for loss in the game.

"I was proud of our defensive effort, I was proud of how hard our team played," Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said postgame. "Just the two turnovers really kind of made the difference. Our defense didn't allow them to do a whole lot today either...I thought the kids played extremely hard, especially the defense showed a lot of improvement."

Where the Arkansas defense was really good was on third down. The Hogs forced the Longhorns to punt the ball six times, with five of those coming in the first half. Pittman said he thought the team had a good game plan heading into the game.

"We put some pressure on them, got a couple of sacks, gave them some different looks," Pittman said. "We actually played more man coverage than what I thought we were going to, which anytime you can play man, you can get a little bit more pressure. And then they missed a few crossing routes on third down, you know, helped us out a little bit as well. But I thought that game plan was good. The players ran the plan well and we did a nice job of mixing up man zone, rush three a lot, a lot. Mixed it up well, I thought Travis did."

After giving up 694 yards of offense and 63 points to Ole Miss two weeks ago, the Razorbacks switched things up in the secondary, which included Kee'yon Stewart getting the start at cornerback.

"I just went in and said, 'We're starting him and let's figure out if he's the best we have,'" Pittman said. "But throwing him in the game some and not, it wasn't working. Let's give him the confidence that we have in him to go be the starter and see what happens. And so that's how that happened."

Pittman said the change to put Stewart at starting cornerback, as well as some other changes made during the bye week, helped the defense play at a better level on Saturday.

"I thought the changes we made with (Stewart) — I'll have to watch the tape, but I think he played really good," Pittman said. "I think that happened with Larry (Worth) and Miguel Mitchell, those changes. And then of course we brought the guys who had played before, but I think those changes helped us have a better week and then put the intensity over there. Both of them seemed to play a little bit better, and that's what I thought happened today."

Where the Hogs needed to take advantage was in the turnover department. Texas played a clean game devoid of any turnovers while Arkansas committed two, which Pittman said is frustrating.

"I mean, we’re not getting them and we’ve got to get them," Pittman said of the lack of forced turnovers. "We’ve got to knock the ball out. (Hudson Clark) did a nice job of stripping the ball carrier on the long run down their sideline. But it’s frustrating. We work on it every day besides Thursday. We’ve got to start getting some of those."

Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson — who finished with one sack, one tackle for loss and three total tackles in the game — echoed his coach's comments about the lack of turnovers forced by the Razorback defense.

"We’ve definitely got to make a bigger emphasis on that," Jackson said postgame. "We haven’t gotten one in a minute so we’ve got to find ways to get the ball out. Get the ball back to our offense, that’s the biggest part."

The Razorbacks' next chance to get bowl eligible will be next Saturday, as Arkansas is set to host Louisiana Tech. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. and the game will stream on the SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
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