This season, the Arkansas offense and quarterback Taylen Green have dominated the early going. Under second-year offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, the Razorbacks have scored 28 points in four games so far this season, which is thought to be a first for the institution. As they prepare to play No. 22 Notre Dame at home on Saturday, they are also on a five-game run of accumulating 500 yards or more for the first time at Arkansas.
Although the overall stats are impressive, including 552 yards per game to rank seventh in the FBS and 43.5 points per game to rank 15th, the unit’s ball security and post-halftime activity have been highlighted in consecutive road losses. In the second halves of their 41-35 defeat to then-No. 17 Ole Miss and their 32-31 loss to Memphis last week, the Razorbacks were slowed both in terms of production and points.
“We’ve just got to play four quarters, play full four quarters,” senior receiver Raylen Sharpe said. “We come out hot, we’ve got to finish hot.”
Arkansas racked up 28 points and 277 yards in the first half, then generated just 3 points on 223 yards in the second half against Memphis, which has one of the best second-half scoring defenses in the nation.
Against Ole Miss, the Razorbacks also generated 28 points before halftime to go along with 333 total yards, but managed 7 points and 189 yards in the second half.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said there were a series of missed assignments by offensive players in the Memphis heat last week that contributed to a lack of success on early downs in the run game and a slow down in the rate of third-down conversions. Converting third downs was a department in which Arkansas ranked first in the nation through the Ole Miss game and is now sixth at 61.9%. “We’re kind of shooting ourselves in the foot with execution,” junior center Caden Kitler said. “It’s a team sport. It takes all 11 of us to be successful. We’ve just got to execute better in the second half.” Arkansas committed 2 turnovers in the red zone in the second half at Memphis. One came on a Green interception at the Tigers’ 14 with the Razorbacks leading 31-26 early in the fourth quarter. The other was a fumble by Mike Washington at the 7 with 1:18 remaining. Another drive reached field goal range at the Memphis 31 before a free-rushing linebacker blitz caused Green to spin and fall for a 9-yard sack. “We obviously had drives there, especially the last three,” Pittman said. “We had drives right down the field, where everybody feels like we’re going to score. We’re moving the ball well. “This past week was because we didn’t run the ball…when we ran the ball well on first down, we kept rolling. But we didn’t run the ball as well as normal on first down and then we had a turnover, we had a sack and we had a fumble in the last three. In between all of that, we’re really moving the ball. So obviously that’s two out of three possessions that we had a turnover and the other one we had a sack that we were well [within] field goal position.” Green accepted responsibility for his mistakes after last Saturday’s game, even as his production rivals the best in the country. “I want to take ownership of the two picks and putting my defense in a tough situation,” Green said. “We’ve got to continue to get better on what we didn’t do well and continue to do the things that we’ve done well. We got to organize as leaders and just take ownership and just keep…the herd going.” Washington and receiver Jalen Brown, who lost the late fumble at Ole Miss on a classic wrench-out move, have been among the Razorbacks’ most productive skill players. Washington has 330 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 46 carries, a strong average of 7.2 yards per carry. His backfield mate, the heavier Braylen Russell, is due a heavier ratio of carries, not due to the Washington fumble as much as the 238-pound Russell’s production. Russell had 4 carries for 47 yards and 1 touchdown at Memphis, including a season-high 23-yard burst on a toss play over the left side on the final play of the first quarter. Five plays later, Russell broke several tackles on his 16-yard touchdown run to give Arkansas a 14-10 lead. The Benton High School product had 3 carries for 45 yards in the first half and only 1 attempt for 2 yards in the second half. Washington had 15 carries for 70 yards and 1 touchdown against the Tigers, including 6 attempts for 56 yards on the final drive. “[Russell] ran the ball well and we’ve talked about it,” Pittman said. “We need to use him a little bit more. But I don’t want that to sound like when Mike’s in there, we’re not any good. I mean, I could ask the question, ‘How did Mike play when he was in there?’ And I thought he played really well, too.” Green has thrown a pair of interceptions in every other game this season, and his reads on the run-pass option had been strong prior to last week when Memphis’ gap-shooting aggressive defense caused 5 tackles for loss and some other minimal gains in the zone read game. Still, Green leads all FBS quarterbacks with 360 rushing yards and his 8.18-yard average ranks 24th among all ball carriers. His passer rating of 168.77 is 17th in the country and his 12 touchdown passes is tied for third. FBS leader Fernando Mendoza of Indiana has 14. “In the run game, his ability to read and pull it, like you’ve got to be definitive in how you want to defend that,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “You can’t be gray. You’ve got to be definitive on how you want to defend that. “But in the pass game, you can’t let him escape vertically. Like that’s where our issues were with the [Texas] A&M quarterback and even last week [against Purdue]. It’s not the lateral escape, it’s the vertical through the B gap, then lateral, then he can extend plays or he can run.”