There were a lot of glaring issues for the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-1, 0-0 SEC) in their win over the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers (1-2, 0-0 AAC) on Saturday afternoon, but the play of running back Ja'Quinden Jackson and wide receiver Andrew Armstrong was not one of them.
Arkansas' passing attack, led by quarterback Taylen Green, left much to be desired, and when it was clear it wasn't effective, offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino turned to Jackson to force the issue in the run game.
Jackson, a transfer from Utah, finished the game with 147 yards on 15 carries and found the end zone once. It's the third-straight game he's rushed for over 100 yards.
"JJ’s been that way for three games in a row now," Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said after the game. "Man the run that, I think it was right before the fourth quarter started maybe, man he jump cut and made a great run there. He’s a really good player."
While at Utah, Jackson battled injuries that kept him from really becoming the workhorse running back for the Utes. Now that he's relatively healthy and at Arkansas, he's showing what he's capable of.
"Well, I think he’s the guy," Pittman said. "I don’t know if he ever was at Utah, you know what I mean? I think he feels different here. But every time we ask him, he does some pretty spectacular things. The line does a good job, but he is our guy."
One of Jackson's best attributes on the field is his ability to break tackles and make defenders miss, which allows him to eat up extra yards after contact.
"He makes extra yards when he carries the ball," Pittman said. "We'll block it up some, but he always seems to be making somebody miss or running over somebody. Got really good vision back there. Like I said, the jump cut when he was going to the right, the jump cut that he ran for, I don't know, 20-25 yards, something like that. That was, that's a little bit of line and a whole lot of running back."
Armstrong has been a reliable target of Green's ever since the two stepped on the field together a week ago at Oklahoma State. Green's accuracy was off Saturday — something Pittman called "unusual but correctable" — but the second-year receiver transfer from Texas A&M-Commerce accounted for 73% of Green's completions and finished with 137 yards on eight receptions.
"The guy who bailed us out about a thousand times was Armstrong," Pittman said. "He bailed us out. He’s really playing well. But I’m more happy with the growth he’s had as a man. I was really proud of him tonight. He kind of kept the team together when we were struggling a little bit."
That reliability is something the entire offense needs to stay confident in its ability to move the ball down the field.
"It’s great just having him out there," Arkansas offensive lineman Josh Braun said after the game. "I know when it gets into third-and-long, which we try to avoid as much as possible, but whenever we’re there I know Andrew’s going to make a play, or one of the other wide receivers is going to make a play. It’s all about confidence. I can’t remember a time where I was this confident in an offense that I’ve been a part of."
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Armstrong missed the season opener against UAPB with a hamstring injury, but has picked up right where he left off as the team's leader in receiving yards in 2023.
"Just the camraderie with Taylen and the team, it’s just been great," Armstrong said on the radio after the game. "It’s going better than I expected it would be. We came in and didn’t start fast like we wanted to but that’s part of the adversity you have on certain games. We fought through that adversity and came out on top."
The Razorbacks' next test will come on the road at Auburn, which beat New Mexico 45-19 on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for either 2:30 or 3:15 p.m. CT and will air on either ABC, SEC Network or ESPN channels.
