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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas suffered one of its most embarrassing losses in school history Saturday night.
The Razorbacks managed to dig themselves out of a 17-point halftime deficit, but couldn’t quite complete the comeback, falling to lowly San Jose State 31-24 inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Nick Starkel hit Trey Knox for an 8-yard touchdown with less than three minutes left to tie the game, erasing the large hole, but the Spartans marched the ball down the field to score the game-winning touchdown with 1:13 remaining.
The drive covered 75 yards in just five plays, capped by DeJon Packer’s 19-yard touchdown run after three straight completions by Josh Love totaling 54 yards.
Coming into the day, San Jose State had won just four of their previous 27 games and is perennially considered one of the worst FBS programs in the country. The spread closed at 20.5 points in favor of Arkansas, but instead, the Spartans won their first game against a Power Five opponent since 2006.
San Jose State threw the first punch, with Love connecting with Bailey Gaither for a 50-yard gain on the opening play of the game. It would have been a touchdown had Gaither not fallen down.
Instead, JaQuan Blackwell caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Love to cap the drive and give the Spartans an early 7-0 lead.
It got even worse when Arkansas’ offense followed that by going three-and-out, failing to answer the score like it did last week against Colorado State.
The Razorbacks’ second offensive possession was better, but they didn’t get points out of it. Facing a fourth-and-three from inside the 5-yard line, Devwah Whaley was thrown back for a loss of two yards and a turnover on downs.
Things started to turn late in the first quarter. After Matt Mercurio’s 46-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, Arkansas needed just four plays to tie it up. Starkel found Mike Woods open down the middle of the field for a 62-yard touchdown
It seemed like the Razorbacks might start asserting itself when Kamren Curl made a nice over-the shoulder interception along the sideline on San Jose State’s second play after they tied it up.
However, all of Arkansas’ momentum vanished when play resumed in the second quarter, as Starkel threw an interception to give it right back to the Spartans.
Ethan Aguayo returned the pick into Arkansas territory and Nick Nash - the true freshman dual-threat quarterback - took it 15-yard into the end zone to give San Jose State the lead.
On the ensuing possession, the Razorbacks put together a 14-play drive, but it ended with Starkel getting stuffed on a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-one at the 23. He was inches shy of the line to gain.
San Jose State once again converted the turnover on downs into points. This time, it was aided by a Myles Mason passer interference penalty on a flea-flicker attempt. That set up a 47-yard field goal by Mercurio to make it 17-7.
After another three-and-out by Arkansas, the Spartans drove 79 yards on nine plays - capped by a 26-yard touchdown catch by Isaiah Holiness.
The Razorbacks got past midfield, but Starkel’s second interception of the half ensured they would trail 24-7 at halftime.
Their first two drives of the third quarter ended the same way, as the Texas A&M transfer was picked off at the San Jose State 13-yard line and then near the goal line, sandwiched around a fourth-down stop by the defense.
It wasn’t until Connor Limpert hit a 48-yard field goal on Arkansas’ third possession of the half that it scored again. That seemed to get the Razorbacks going, as they finally found the end zone again early in the fourth quarter.
Cheyenne O’Grady broke a couple of tackles on a first-down catch to set up a 30-yard touchdown reception by Tyson Morris, who spun out of a tackle himself before diving into the corner of the end zone.
The defense, which bent but didn’t break in the fourth quarter, gave the offense a couple of chances to tie the game.
After going three-and-out on its first chance, the Razorbacks used a 40-yard completion to Woods to give them a first-and-goal from the 10. Starkel missed O’Grady for what would have been an easy touchdown, but then fired a strike to Knox, who held on to the ball for an 8-yard touchdown to tie it at 24-24 with just under three minutes remaining.
However, the Spartans needed just five plays to answer with the aforementioned touchdown run by Packer.
Arkansas had one final opportunity, but Starkel under threw Woods on a deep pass and it was intercepted. He completed 28 of 50 passes for 356 yards and three touchdowns, but threw five interceptions.
The Razorbacks return to SEC action next week with a matchup against No. 17 Texas A&M, which lost to No. 8 Auburn 28-20 on Saturday afternoon. The game is at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will kickoff at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
