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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football is in the midst of its worst stretch in program history, yet managed to hit a new low Saturday night.
Welcoming perennial FBS bottom-feeder San Jose State, which had won just four of its previous 27 games, to Reynolds Razorback Stadium and playing as a 20.5-point favorite, the Razorbacks laid an all-time egg with a 31-24 loss.
They needed a 17-point rally in the final quarter and a half just to make it a game. Arkansas tied it up with about three minutes remaining, only to have the Spartans slice through its defense and drive in the dagger.
San Jose State covered 80 yards in five plays that took one minute and 43 seconds of game time and then Nick Starkel under threw Mike Woods for his fifth interception of the night to seal arguably the most embarrassing loss in the program’s 125-year history.
Head coach Chad Morris was sharp and direct with his remarks to the media following the game.
“They out-played us, they out-coached us and I was very disappointed in the effort we got tonight,” Morris said. “For three quarters, they were the SEC football team. They took it to us. From the very first play, they had us on our heels. Very disappointed. Extremely disappointing.”
He added that his team didn’t deserve to win the way it played and he would hold everyone - himself, assistant coaches, players and the rest of the staff - accountable for the “totally unacceptable” showing.
“We’re going to get back in here tomorrow and we’ll figure it out,” Morris said.
Sixteen games into his tenure as Arkansas’ 33rd head coach, though, it might be time to start wondering if his words are falling on deaf ears.
A legendary high school coach in the football-crazed state of Texas, Morris has always known what to say. Replacing a fired Bret Bielema who managed only four wins in his final season, he told fans exactly what they wanted to hear at SEC Media Days in 2018.
“All our players understand that 4-8 isn’t acceptable whoever the coach is,” Morris said. “It doesn’t matter. That’s not this program. That’s not our standard.”
Two games in, it became apparent that Arkansas would have a hard time even reaching that mark in Year 1. In true Bielema fashion, the Razorbacks squandered an 18-point lead to give Colorado State - which lost to FCS Illinois State two weeks later - one of its three wins of 2018.
“We’ll take a look in the mirror,” Morris said after the loss. “It starts with me and we’re going to get it fixed. This will be a learning experience for this football team and see how these guys and this coaching staff will respond with our first true adversity.”
The response was even worse than the initial adversity. Returning home to face a talented North Texas team, Arkansas threw six interceptions and became a national laughingstock when it was duped on a fake fair catch.
“We’ve got to go back and look in the mirror,” Morris said again after the loss. “It starts with us. It starts with me. It starts with every coach and every player and we start right off looking back in the mirror.”
Although they found a way to shut out Tulsa the following week, a disappointing 37-33 loss to Ole Miss proved to be deflating. The Razorbacks were respectable in losses to Vanderbilt and LSU before limping to the finish by getting outscored 90-6 in road losses at Mississippi State and Missouri.
“Just completely unacceptable,” Morris said after the 52-6 loss to Mississippi State. “Unacceptable in all areas. Unacceptable coaching. Unacceptable playing. Unacceptable effort. That’s not what we’re about. That’s not what this program’s going to be built on. It’s absolutely not accepted. We’re going to find out. We’re in a big gut-check time right now.”
To his credit, Morris signed a tremendous recruiting class that featured a school-record 14 four-star prospects in spite of the 2-10 record.
Several of those players - Trey Knox, Treylon Burks, Ricky Stromberg, Mataio Soli, Greg Brooks Jr. - are already making an impact as true freshmen, but it hasn’t been enough.
An unimpressive win over FCS Portland State to open the season and a disappointing loss to Ole Miss in which Starkel’s second-half performance made many question the decision to start Ben Hicks in the first place didn’t help.
Fan excitement plummeted, as the paid attendance for the Week 3 matchup with Colorado State was only 55,583 - the lowest mark for a game in Fayetteville since 2003.
Granted the heat index with direct sunlight likely meant fans in the area experienced temperatures in the triple digits, nearly the entire east side of Razorback Stadium was empty. Less than half of the stadium’s seats were filled as the Razorbacks scored 21 fourth-quarter points to knock off the Rams.
Considering the way it happened, winning even after blowing a lead, it seemed like Arkansas might have been ready to turn a corner. Starkel became the first 300-yard passer in the Morris era and tight end Cheyenne O’Grady even provided a SportsCenter highlight by breaking five tackles on his way to a 62-yard touchdown.
Even that did little to excite the fan base. Arkansas distributed only 56,058 tickets for the San Jose State game, ranking just behind the Colorado State game as the fifth-worst attendance in Fayetteville since the stadium expanded before the 2001 season.
Those who did show up were not rewarded with quality football. The Spartans completed a 50-yard pass on the first play of the game and it would have been a 75-yard touchdown had Bailey Gaither not fallen after making the catch.
Arkansas briefly tied the game twice, but both instances lasted a combined 3 minutes and 32 seconds of game time.
The Razorbacks had the ball just once with the score tied and they ran three plays, ending with the first of five Starkel interceptions. It was the most interceptions thrown by a single UA quarterback since Jack Crowe resorted to scout teamer Wade Hill, who threw five against Georgia in the 1991 Independence Bowl.
Morris said he was concerned about his team’s mindset during pregame warmups and even addressed it before kickoff, but it didn’t make a difference.
“I thought we were a little too loose, I thought it was a little too giddy, and I made comment of that,” Morris said. “We’re not good enough to be able come out and just walk out on the field with a Razorback logo on your helmet and expect you’re going to win. You’ve got to show up and play and we didn’t show up and play, in no phase of it.”
It was probably evident earlier than that. Just four days before the game, several Razorbacks made very confident statements to the media.
Linebacker Grant Morgan said the goal was to shut out San Jose State and score 73, 100 or 173 points, while center Ty Clary had no qualms about their intention to dominate the Spartans. “I want to run up the score,” he said.
To be fair, given the opportunity to assume a blowout when asked who his second quarterback would be, Morris said, “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.” The damage was already done, though, as the player comments found their way to San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan.
“Oh, it did,” San Jose State left guard Troy Kowalski said. “Coach Brennan addressed the team about it and told us not to respond to it and just keep it as fire and motivation, just to go out there and play ball and prove them wrong.”
There was plenty of blame to go around after the Spartans did just that - allowing 503 total yards, failing to convert two short fourth downs, the turnovers, etc. - but it ultimately comes back on the leader of the team: Morris.
It doesn’t matter what he says to the media or his team at this point. Results - specifically Ws in the win-loss column - are all that count and, one-third of the way through Year 2, Morris is just 4-12.
The words that do loom large are those of Hunter Yurachek from the day he was hired as Arkansas’ athletics director, replacing Jeff Long and becoming just the third man to hold the title in more than four decades.
“To me, losing football games is being terminated with cause,” Yurachek said at his introductory press conference. “The protection sometimes that coaches are provided within their contracts to me is ludicrous.”
He was specifically referring to the state of college football coaches’ buyouts, such as the $11.9 million one Bielema received, when he made that comment. Morris’ contract includes a buyout equal to 70 percent of his remaining deal - which would be $9.8 million on Jan. 1, 2020 - and there isn’t an obvious “losing clause” that'd eliminate it like what Yurachek mentioned, but the sentiment is still there.
That quote must be floating around in the second-year coach's mind as the losses pile up, even though he hasn't committed a crime or violated NCAA rules that would otherwise lead to a call for his job.
Throw in the waning fan interest as evidenced by declining attendance and Morris’ seat will only continue to heat up and force Yurachek to make some difficult decisions moving forward if he doesn’t get things turned around.
