HawgBeat - After watching the film: Kent State game
HawgBeat provides a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of what we saw on film from Arkansas' win over Kent State.
arkansas.rivals.com
A week after taking care of business the right way in a 56-13 win over Western Carolina, the Arkansas Razorbacks were out-physicaled for the first half of a 28-6 win over Kent State on Saturday in Fayetteville.
The reality of the situation is that the Hogs won and they are now 2-0 on the season. A win is a win and the Razorbacks did plenty of things right, but there are still some significant concerns that need to be addressed before the level of competition takes a step up.
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-Kent State...
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
Cincinnati transfer linebacker Jaheim Thomas had a great first drive. After the Golden Flashes gained a first down on their second play of the game, Thomas was the first to meet Kent State running back Gavin Garcia behind the line of scrimmage and he probably should've been given half a tackle for loss on the play.Thomas has legit speed at the linebacker spot and he put it on display by helping chase quarterback Michael Alaimo out of bounds two plays later for a 5-yard loss to force a punt.
Offensively, the first play for Arkansas was great. The offensive line got a great push and Andrew Chamblee popped out as a lead blocker to help AJ Green gain a healthy six yards. After Green picked up just one yard on the next play, KJ Jefferson overthrew Jaedon Wilson on a quick slant and the Hogs were forced to punt.
Kent State's second drive of the game should've resulted in a punt after five plays, but the Golden Flashes were finding success fighting for extra yardage. After a solid first drive, Thomas played very soft coverage over the middle and it resulted in back-to-back receptions for first downs to put the ball in Arkansas territory.
A 48-yard field goal from Andrew Glass gave the Golden Flashes an early lead that they really shouldn't have had, but it was good to see the defense tighten up and force a field goal.
On Arkansas' next offensive possession, the big play was a pop pass to Andrew Armstrong, who was trying to get outside. Wilson was right in front of him as a blocker and Kent State's CJ Harris flew in and just pushed Wilson right into Armstrong. It was a pretty bad looking play just due to the fact that Wilson was so overpowered.
The Hogs converted on third down, but then Jefferson overthrew Armstrong, Isaac TeSlaa and Jaedon Wilson on three straight plays. Something we've never been worried about with Jefferson is his deep ball, but it was not working at all on this drive. Jefferson has had some miscues throwing the ball in the first two weeks, but I expect him to clean those up.
Following another Arkansas punt, Kent State's first play of the next drive resulted in a pick-six for Antonio Grier on his first play as a Hog. Grier read the run-pass option perfectly after originally stepping up to stop the run and he just jumped up and picked off the pass and walked into the end zone.
Second Quarter
After Grier's pick-six I had already written into my story that the Hogs turned things on after that. Well, that didn't happen.Following a Kent State 3-and-out, the Razorbacks took over and immediately lost two yards on a sweep right for Rashod Dubinion. Patrick Kutas' man on the right edge just got right by him to stop Dubinion.
Dubinion made up the two yards on the next play, but then Jefferson was sacked for seven yards on 3rd-and-10. Ty'Kieast Crawford let his man get by him as he was rotating in at right guard for Braun.
Garcia helped power the Golden Flashes down the field by really just wanting it more than the Razorbacks. Plenty of Arkansas players were hitting him, but none of them were taking him down.
After a holding penalty by Grier put Kent State in the red zone, the Razorbacks held strong and benefitted from a 6-yard sack from John Morgan III, who I've been impressed with to this point. Another field goal made it 7-6 in favor of Arkansas.
With the first team offensive line back in, AJ Green picked up 32 rushing yards on the first two plays of Arkansas' next drive. Veterans Brady Latham and Beaux Limmer made key blocks on Green's 23-yard carry.
When the Hogs desperately needed a big play, Jefferson made a risky throw in traffic and TeSlaa made an incredible catch while falling down over the middle. I don't know if anyone else on the team could make that catch.
After it looked like Green scored on 2nd-and-goal, Arkansas had to settle for 3rd down from the Kent State 1-yard line. I guess Jefferson didn't know the clock was ticking because he didn't get the ball off and the Hogs took a delay of game penalty to set up a much-less manageable situation.
That sequence was very confusing to me. Why did Sam Pittman not call a timeout? It was obvious that Jefferson wasn't going to get the snap off and the Hogs had three timeouts with 2:46 to play. Sure enough, the camera panned to Pittman, who was mouthing "That's on me."
A few days after Pittman told me he wasn't concern about Beaux Limmer's snapping, Limmer snapped the ball low and Jefferson had to step into danger to grab the ball and he then made a magical play.
Another potential head scratcher was Pittman not calling a timeout as Kent State was just running the ball to start its next drive right before halftime. The Golden Flashes ended up taking a pair of timeouts of their own after picking up a first down, but they had to punt and Arkansas couldn't do much with 18 seconds left in the half and Pittman took two timeouts into the break.
I'm actually okay with the way he handled that situation. After Kent State picked up a first down and called its own timeout, you don't want to help the opponent by stopping the clock for them. By the time the punt team came out, there were just 30 seconds left in the half and Arkansas wasn't going to drive 86 yards in 18 seconds.
Third Quarter
Arkansas opened the second half with the ball and ran into a 4th-and-1 from its own 34-yard line right away. Instead of going under center or putting the ball in the hands of the 247-pound Jefferson, the Hogs ran out of the shotgun and tried an inside zone for Dominique Johnson, who was pulled down behind the line to gain by two unblocked defenders.
An intentional grounding on 3rd-and-12 from Alaimo pushed Kent State out of field goal range, which ended up being a huge play. Landon Jackson made an incredible rush off the edge to push Alaimo to the sideline and he pulled him down from behind to force the throw away.
On the Razorbacks' second drive of the second half, we finally reached the point for Jefferson to take over with the offense. The Hogs' quarterback ran the ball four times and he was 4-4 through the air for 55 passing yards.
Rashod Dubinion capped things off with a 1-yard score on a play that started in a jumbo formation with six offensive linemen, three running backs and Francis Sherman — top blocking tight end. For the second straight week, it was Dominique Johnson with another block on the goal line that led to a score.
The RPO worked well for Kent State on its next drive as it picked up 29 yards on back-to-back first down passes. Arkansas run defense then showed up tow plays in a row and Jaheim Thomas absolutely bulldozed the Golden Flashes' running back to send Alaimo running and Keivie Rose combined with Pooh Paul to clean it up and force 4th down.
Jefferson once again made things happen with his legs to begin the next drive. He did take an 8-yard sack on the final play of the third quarter. To me, it looked like the offensive line was confused on the protection. Brady Latham rolled right, but Beaux Limmer backed right into him and Devon Manuel was left to try and block two guys on the left side.
