Hogs dig out of hole, drop UAB 37-27

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas rallied from a 17-3 deficit to defeat UAB 37-27 in front of 75,021 fans in Razorback Stadium.

UAB coming off a 32-6 loss to Louisiana-Monroe looked as if they had something to prove as Arkansas stumbled out of the gate. With 14:51 remaining in the second quarter the Blazers led 17-3 in front of a stunned crowd. Sam Pittman was pleased with the win.

“We came out and played extremely slow in the first half,” Pittman said. “We couldn’t throw or catch it, 3 of 14. We got bailed out a little bit because we could run the ball. We got 250, 260 yards again. That bailed us out because we couldn’t throw it. Defensively we got whipped on both sides of the ball in the first half. They were in second and five, second and four, second and three. Just turning around handing the football off. That should not happen to us but it did.”

But Arkansas got it going in the second quarter. The lone Razorback points in the first quarter came on a 28-yard field goal by Kyle Ramsey that cut the UAB lead to 10-3.

Trailing 17-3, true freshman Braylen Russell got his first carry as a Razorback scoring on a 2-yard blast up the middle with 9:11 left before halftime and the Hogs only trailing 17-10.

After Brad Spence and the defense forced a three-and-out the Hogs struck again. Arkansas went on a six-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Taylen Green racing from 14-yards out. That tied the game at 17 with 4:48 remaining before intermission.

Jonah Delange gave UAB its final lead of the game at 20-17 on a 23-yard field goal with 1:53 remaining in the second quarter.

But Arkansas wasn’t finished for the half. Two pass interferences against a UAB defensive back on Isaac TeSlaa set the Hogs up with a first down at the UAB 45. But with time running down, the Hogs had to settle for a 51-yard field goal by Ramsey that tied the game heading into halftime. Sam Pittman wasn’t pleased with how the first half went as far as the offense once again stopping itself.

“It’s Arkansas,” Pittman said. “We did it last week in the second half and today in the first half. But saying that we don’t give the other team credit. That’s shame on me because UAB was really ready to play. They had a good game plan. Coach Dilfer and his crew did a wonderful job. But we have to play harder, smarter.

“Obviously during practice we’re doing something we’ve got  to get better at. I told the kids we’ve got to strain more. More urgency. We’ve got to have 11 players out there not just 3 or 4 that are playing consistent football. We’ll work on it. We did win. That’s the good thing about it and we have the opportunity to play Auburn next week and I’m excited about that.”

On Arkansas’ first possession of the second half they took the ball 84 yards in 16 plays. Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson ran it in from the 16-yard line for a 27-20 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Jackson finished the game with 15 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a pass for eight yards.

The Hogs extended the lead to 30-20 on a 30-yard field goal by Ramsey with 13:31 remaining in the game.

UAB had one last drive in them. They drove 83 yards in 12 plays that concluded with Jacob Zeno passing 21 yards to Dallas Payne with 6:55 remaining in the game and Hogs lead cut to 30-27.

But Arkansas answered the final UAB touchdown with a seven-play, 75-yard drive of its own that ended with Green sprinting around left end for a 9-yard touchdown with 3:36 remaining.

UAB drove deep in Arkansas’ territory on its final possession, but safety TJ Metcalf ended the threat with an interception that send the Razorbacks into a celebrating mood.

Green was 11 of 26 passing for 161 yards and an interception. He also rushed 17 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Andrew Armstrong caught eight passes for 137 yards. UAB Coach Trent Dilfer was impressed with Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino.

“He’s everything I said,” Dilfer said. “Kept telling our defensive coaches, ‘You can’t play him until after 15 seconds on the clock.’ He was the puppet master again, got them in great looks, has a lot of weapons. He was more patient than he usually is, ran the ball more. Which is what I was afraid of, we wanted this to become a throwing game. His patience running the football, they’re virtually impossible to stop. Bobby’s pulling the strings well like he normally does and they were running the ball well.”

It was UAB that saw laundry on the field for them much of the day. They finished with 10 penalties for 109 yards and most proved costly. The Hogs committed six for 65 yards. The Hogs won the total offense 427, 266 on the ground, to 354 for UAB.

Safety Jayden Johnson and linebacker Stephen Dix Jr. each led the Hogs with 10 tackles. Xavian Sorey Jr. added eight while Metcalf and Doneiko Slaughter each had seven. Spence added five tackles, one sack and a tackle for loss. Landon Jackson knows the Hogs have to play better.

“I feel like when you go slow in practice, it’s going to lead to a slow game,” Jackson said. “I feel like we played not a good game at all, to be honest. Any team in the SEC is going to beat the hell out of us if we play like that. So we need to find a way to clean up those mistakes and play a lot more physical. We didn’t play our brand of football today. We came out with a win, so that’s always good, but at the same time we’ve got a lot to clean up.”

Zeno was 23 of 32 passing for 235 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception.

Arkansas (2-1) will hit the road to Auburn next Saturday for a 2:30 game on ESPN. Auburn (2-1) defeated New Mexico 45-19 on Saturday.