HawgBeat - After watching the film: BYU game
HawgBeat provides a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of what we saw on film from Arkansas' loss to BYU.
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The Arkansas Razorbacks are undefeated no more after they suffered a demoralizing 38-31 loss to BYU in front of over 74,000 fans at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
After starting 2-0 against Western Carolina and Kent State, the Razorbacks were once again exposed in a few different categories and this time it resulted in a loss.
I've gone back and studied the tape — not every individual play, sorry — and I went quarter-by-quarter to talk about the things that stood out to me.
Some of the little details go unnoticed during the live action, so it's always good to go back and study the tape and see what led to the outcome on big plays, touchdowns, turnovers and more. With that said, here's what I saw after watching the tape from Arkansas-BYU...
Note: It's unrealistic for me to write about every individual player and play, so I apologize if I missed anyone doing something impressive. To give your thoughts, visit The Trough premium message board today!
First Quarter
In his pregame interview, head coach Sam Pittman said he told his team "Let's not have no average people out there. We're not average. Let's don't play average."
Let's see how that goes.
Obviously the goal right away was to establish the run game. AJ Green's 55-yard touchdown was made possible by Josh Braun opening up a big hole at the right guard spot. Man was it good to see that speed we always hear about from Green.
I'm not sure what the reasoning was for starting Jaylon Braxton and Lorando Johnson at corner, but that's what happened and Johnson was called for pass interference on the first play.
The Arkansas defense bounced back from the penalty and forced a punt. Punter Ryan Rehkow has a huge leg and he out-kicked his coverage to allow Isaiah Sategna to run 88 yards for a touchdown. I think it's safe to say Sategna is the most electric return man the Hogs have had since Joe Adams.
After a solid kickoff return, BYU once again had its drive result in a punt and it looked like the Hogs could really break things open. A holding penalty on Francis Sherman and an awful drop by Tyrone Broden led to a quick three-and-out for the Hogs.
Snaxx Johnson had great coverage on BYU's first down after the punt, but he overran the tight end Isaac Rex, who gained 16 yards. The next play was a wide receiver pass from Parker Kingston to Deion Smith, who was wide open for a touchdown.
Things really went wrong a couple of drives later with Arkansas facing a 3rd-and-9 in BYU territory. Freshman tight end Luke Hasz picked up eight yards and looked to be targeted at the end of the play. Instead, he was called for a questionable offensive pass interference that started a rough four-play stretch.
The next play resulted in a sack to KJ Jefferson, then Max Fletcher shanked a 10-yard punt and then true freshman running back LJ Martin ran 45 yards to tie the game at 14-14 with more than two minutes still to go in the first quarter.
Arkansas decided to go three-and-out once again before the end of the first quarter and the Cougars took over and were driving as the quarter ended.
Second Quarter
A few plays into the second quarter, Kedon Slovis found Rex once again up the middle after Al Walcott initially ran up into the flats before trying to recover in coverage. The 26-yard connection set BYU up within the Arkansas 5-yard line and Martin scored for a second time to extend the Cougars' run to 21 points.
After watching BYU turn a 14-0 deficit into a 21-14 advantage, the Razorbacks came out and ran the ball three plays in a row to go three-and-out again. In real time, I was surprised at the play calling and after rewatching it, it's still head-scratching.
The defense held tight and allowed Jefferson and company to take over for what I think has been the best offensive drive of the season. Dominique Johnson and Rashod Dubinion both had rushes of 10-plus yards, Jefferson found Andrew Armstrong for a pair of completions and then it was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown catch for Luke Hasz.
BYU's first play of the next drive resulted in a fumble forced by Dwight McGlothern, and the defense was then flagged for excessive celebration after the play to take away what would've been great field position.
Pittman said the explanation he was given for the penalty was the fact that the players were trying to go in the stands, but that just didn't happen.
The first play of Arkansas' ensuing drive was a 30-yard completion to Luke Hasz on a wheel route and it felt like we were seeing a breakout. Even the next play, Jefferson was looking for Hasz on an underneath route, but he elected to keep it. The play after that, Jefferson rolled right and was looking at Hasz the whole time, but he kept once again.
That last drive of the half resulted in a field goal for the Razorbacks, but it could've been a touchdown if they weren't given a questionable penalty for celebrating. Still, the Hogs held a 24-21 lead at the break.
Third Quarter
I thought Arkansas was going to pull away after forcing a three-and-out and then driving down and scoring in five plays to take a 31-21 lead courtesy of AJ Green's second touchdown. The offense was humming and the defense had played fairly well outside of the 45-yard touchdown run.
I mean, the Hogs even forced another three-and-out to potentially go up three scores. And then the fourth down happened.
The Razorbacks had the ball for a 4th-and-inches from midfield and they elected to stack the left side of the line and run a play from the shotgun formation.
Jefferson handed it off to Rashod Dubinion, who was blown up at the line of scrimmage. I just don't get this call. Everyone on the line pushed right, but there were still four player unblocked to plug the hole Dubinion tried to run through. Just sneak it with Jefferson!
Antonio Grier made an unnecessary hit on Slovis to draw a roughing the passer penalty that was added on top of the fact that Slovis' pass was complete and Jaheim Thomas was unable to make an open field tackled on Martin.
Still, the Razorbacks made a big 3rd down stop on a sack from Thomas to force a BYU field goal that made it 31-24. The Cougars actually didn't convert on a fake attempt initially, but a delay of game penalty allowed them to replay it and actually kick the field goal.
The next Arkansas drive is when I really started to notice the offensive line was getting whipped. On all but one of Jefferson's drop backs, he was pressured heavily. One play after taking an 8-yard sack, Jefferson threw his first interception of the season after he was hit while in his throwing motion. Who else but Max Tooley to intercept Jefferson after Pittman raved about Tooley all week.
Nightmare became reality on the very next play as Slovis connected with Kingston for a 20-yard score that tied the game. It was a basic wide receiver screen, but BYU drew most of the Arkansas defenders to the right while slipping three guys left to block for Kingston.
Even after all of that momentum shift, the Razorbacks opened the next drive with three plays for first downs — and a false start on Josh Braun.
