The Arkansas Razorbacks (6-6, 3-5 SEC) have been a turnover-prone team this season and that issue reared its ugly head again in a 28-21 loss to the No. 21 Missouri Tigers (9-3, 5-3 SEC) on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Arkansas turned the ball over three times — all fumbles — at a snowy Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri, and two of those directly led to Missouri touchdowns. The first happened in the first quarter, but the most impactful came near the end of the third.
After the Arkansas defense held Missouri to a field goal to maintain a 14-10 lead, starting quarterback Taylen Green and his offense set up shop at their own 33-yard line. That shop didn't stay open long, however, as running back Ja'Quinden Jackson put the ball on the turf and the Tigers recovered.
"It was very frustrating, because we had just got the ball on the 50, we go right down and score and we take the lead 14-7," Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said postgame. "They have a long lengthy drive, we hold them to a field goal, we get the ball back, two plays or one play later we give it back to them.
"Now (our) offense that had some momentum going, a team that had some momentum, had to fight their way, scratch their way back and I thought we did and we did when we took the 21-20 lead and then we couldn’t stop them."
All told, Arkansas' defense actually held up fairly well. They held Tigers quarterback Brady Cook to just 10 completions and 168 yards passing, and it's worth noting that 70 of those yards came on one busted play in the fourth quarter. But Arkansas' lack of ball security put the defense in tough situations with a short field and the Tigers were able to capitalize.
"I felt like in the first half, the defense was playing so well, if we don’t give them short field, I’m not sure what they’re going to do offensively, and we did," Pittman said. "Those are things you can’t do, but we did and gave them a little bit of life. Certainly, they figured out an unbalanced formation, how to run the football better. They started running the football better on us. We couldn’t stop it, and then, the quarterback draw obviously hurt us two or three times."
Arkansas' turnover problems didn't start on Saturday, though. It's been a constant theme in every Razorbacks' loss this season. The three fumbles against Missouri brought the Hogs' season total to 28, 13 of which were recovered by the opponent.
"It’s been a theme throughout the year," Arkansas offensive lineman Joshua Braun said after the game. "The offense needs to do a better job of putting the defense in a position to be successful. I think in the third quarter, they had a long drive, defense made an incredible stand and held them to a field goal.
"We didn’t execute the game plan as an offense to give our defense a break and we turned the ball over and gave them another short field and I think two of their touchdowns came off of turnovers. Our defense played their tails off and we’ve just got to do a better job of putting them in a position to be successful."
All six of Arkansas' losses this season featured a turnover of some kind, whether it be a fumble or an interception. The ball insecurity brought the Razorbacks problems up yet again, which was exacerbated by the snowy weather conditions Saturday evening.
"It’s very frustrating," Pittman said of the turnovers. "We work ball security every week and put an emphasis on it. It’s part of our ways we can win. Especially, we knew today with the weather how it was, whoever turns the ball over less is going to win, and that’s kind of exactly what happened."
Arkansas will now await its bowl destination, which will be revealed Sunday, Dec. 8.
