Hutch's Stat Pack: Numbers that defined 2019, Chad Morris era

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HawgBeat takes a look at the numbers that defined Arkansas’ 2019 season and the Chad Morris era - which technically ended earlier this month but now can be fully put behind the Razorbacks thanks to the conclusion of the season.

With a 24-14 loss to Missouri on Friday, Arkansas finds itself firmly in the cellar of the SEC. This defeat put a bow on a second straight 2-10 season for the Razorbacks, their first double-digit loss seasons in school history.

Coupled with a 4-8 season in 2017, Arkansas has now posted three straight sub-.500 records for the first time since World War II. The Razorbacks had six consecutive losing seasons between 1938-43.

During the current stretch, Arkansas has also lost 19 SEC games in a row, its longest conference losing streak in school history - including its time in the Southwest Conference. That is also the sixth longest losing streak in SEC history. Here are the streaks ahead of Arkansas:

1. Sewanee: 37 (1933-40)

2. Vanderbilt: 33 (1976-81)

3. Vanderbilt: 23 (2000-03)

4. Vanderbilt: 22 (1995-98)

5. Mississippi State: 21 (1965-70)

Making this particular streak worse is just how uncompetitive the Razorbacks have been. Before scoring first against the Tigers, Arkansas hadn’t held a lead since the Kentucky game on Oct. 12. In between, the Razorbacks didn’t lead for 315 minutes and 4 seconds of game time, which included five entire games.

If there was a silver lining, they managed to avoid breaking a 101-year-old school record for futility by keeping Friday’s game relatively close. The 10-point loss lowered Arkansas’ average scoring margin to minus-15.4 points for the season. Here’s where that ranks in the UA’s 126-year history:

1. 1918 — minus-16.0 points

2. 1919 — minus-15.6 points

3. 2019 — minus-15.4 points

4. 1942 — minus-13.9 points

5. 2018 — minus-13.1 points

Arkansas also rewrote the record book in the wrong way on the defensive side of the ball.

With 24 points allowed to Missouri, the Razorbacks finished the season giving up 36.8 per game. That is the most they’ve ever allowed, dating back to their first season in 1894. It broke the record of 36.2 points per game set in 2017.

Worst Scoring Defense

1. 2019 — 36.8 ppg

2. 2017 — 36.2 ppg

3. 2018 — 34.8 ppg

4. 1990 — 32.7 ppg

5. 2008 — 31.2 ppg

With 329 yards given up to the Tigers, Arkansas finished the season allowing 450.7 per game. That is the most they’ve ever allowed, dating back to when the NCAA started tracking statistics in 1947. It broke the record of 438.3 yards per game set in 2017.

Worst Total Defense

1. 2019 — 450.7 ypg

2. 2017 — 438.3 ypg

3. 2016 — 426.6 ypg

4. 2013 — 413.4 ypg

5. 2018 — 413.2 ypg

Missouri’s two quarterbacks - Connor Bazelak and Taylor Powell - combined to complete 15 of 23 passes. At 65.2 percent, that’s actually worse than what opponents had done against Arkansas during the first 11 weeks, but it wasn’t enough to keep it out of the record books. It lowered the season percentage to 66.57, which is slightly worse than the 66.43 percent the Razorbacks allowed in 1990.

Worst Completion Percentage Defense

1. 2019 — 66.57%

2. 1990 — 66.43%

3. 2013 — 64.89%

4. 2015 — 64.22%

5. 2018 — 63.40%

On a somewhat positive note, Missouri’s yardage total included only 144 rushing, ensuring the Razorbacks’ didn’t break a 65-year-old record. They finished the year allowing an average of 221.5 yards on the ground, which is their worst mark since that 1954 season - when their opponents ran the ball 81.7 percent of the time.

Worst Rush Defense

1. 1954 — 226.0 ypg

2. 2019 — 221.5 ypg

3. 1952 — 213.1 ypg

4. 1972 — 213.09 ypg

5. 1953 — 210.2 ypg

Here are a few other nuggets on Arkansas’ defense…

~For the first time in school history, the Razorbacks allowed at least 25 touchdowns both on the ground and through the air. Opponents had 29 rushing scores and 25 passing scores.

~Arkansas’ defense allowed 22.6 first downs per game, 5.47 yards per carry and 6.54 yards per play - all of which are the second worst marks in recorded history.

~The interception by Greg Brooks Jr. on Friday was the Razorbacks’ first since Sept. 28 against Texas A&M (Montaric Brown) and just their sixth of the season. It ensured they didn’t have back-to-back seasons with only five interceptions. Before the last two years, Arkansas’ fewest in a season since 1948 was six - which it did in 1990, 1994, 2004 and 2012.

Arkansas’ never-ending quarterback shuffle continued Friday, as former walk-on Jack Lindsey made his first career start against the Tigers. Incredibly, he is the fifth different starting quarterback the Razorbacks have used this season - which is believed to be a school and SEC record, at least - and eight different starter since last year.

Previous starters in 2019 include Nick Starkel (5 games), Ben Hicks (4 games), John Stephen Jones (1 game), and KJ Jefferson (1 game). In fact, those five quarterbacks started Arkansas’ final five games of the season.

Last year, Ty Storey (9 games), Cole Kelley (2 games) and Connor Noland (1 game) each started at quarterback. None of them were on the roster this season, though, as Storey and Kelley transferred and Noland decided to focus on baseball.

The result has been some of the worst quarterback play in school history. Here are some of the team stats…

~Arkansas completed just 49.63 percent of its passes, its worst mark since completing just 49.50 percent in 2002.

~Arkansas averaged only 5.69 yards per passing attempt, its worst mark since averaging 5.65 yards in 2005.

~Arkansas threw just 14 touchdown passes, its fewest since throwing 13 in 2005. Its two-year total of 31 is its worst since having only 28 over the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

~Arkansas threw 15 interceptions, which is actually down from the 18 it threw last year. However, the Razorbacks’ two-year total of 33 is their worst since also having 33 interceptions over the 1971 and 1972 seasons.

Despite it being another miserable season for the Razorbacks, there were a handful of bright spots along the way…

Rakeem Boyd

With 95 yards on a season-high 21 carries - the second most in his career - against Missouri, Boyd finished the season with 1,133 rushing yards. That moved him past Michael Smith (2008), Alex Collins (2014), Darren McFadden (2005), Felix Jones (2007) and Fred Talley (2002) and into 14th on the UA’s single-season chart.

De’Jon Harris

It took 11 tackles against the Tigers, but Harris finished the season with triple-digit tackles for the third year in a row. His 101 tackles as a senior give him 371 in his career, which ranks fifth in UA history.

Career Tackles

1. Tony Bua - 408

2. Jerry Franklin - 382

3. Ken Hamlin - 381

4. Sam Olajubutu - 372

5. De’Jon Harris - 371

Connor Limpert

Even though he came up just short on his 54-yard attempt against Missouri, Limpert still ends his career as the most accurate field goal kicker in UA history. He made 41 of 52 attempts, which is 78.8 percent. The previous record was held by Zach Hocker, who made 77.2 percent of his attempts (61 of 79).

Treylon Burks and Trey Knox

Their production fell off as the season progressed, but Burks and Knox each had excellent freshman seasons for the Razorbacks.

Including his 6-yard reception against the Tigers, Burks finished the year with 29 catches for a team-high 475 yards. Those figures rank third and fourth, respectively, among true freshmen in UA history.

Including his 19-yard touchdown catch in the game, Knox finished with 28 catches for 385 yards and three scores. His 28 receptions are tied for fifth among true freshmen in UA history.

Receiving Yards by a True Freshman

1. Marcus Monk: 569 (2004)

2. Anthony Lucas: 526 (1995)

3. Treylon Burks: 475 (2019)

Receptions by a True Freshman

1. Marcus Monk: 37 (2004)

2. Richard Smith: 33 (2000)

3. Joe Adams: 31 (2008)

4. Treylon Burks: 29 (2019)

t-5. Trey Knox: 28 (2019)

t-5. Hunter Henry: 28 (2013)

Cheyenne O’Grady

His career was marred by off-field issues, eventually leading him to leave the team with four games left, but O’Grady was extremely productive when he was on the field. He ended his career with 12 touchdown catches, the most by a tight end in UA history.

Friday’s game at War Memorial Stadium had an announced attendance of 33,961. That is the lowest for an Arkansas game in Little Rock in exactly 23 years, as only 22,329 fans saw Arkansas lose to LSU on Nov. 29, 1996.

This wasn’t an issue unique to the Razorbacks’ second home this year, though. Attendance hit some all-time lows for Fayetteville home games, too. The Western Kentucky game drew only 42,985 fans, making it the worst crowd at Razorback Stadium since 1997, when the Mississippi State had an announced attendance of 39,911.

On top of that, seven of Arkansas’ last nine games in Fayetteville - dating back to last season - drew fewer than 60,000 fans. Since the stadium expanded before the 2001 season, the Razorbacks had only three such games - out of 94 - before that stretch and all three occurred between 2001-03.

The result was an average home attendance - including both venues - of 50,931, Arkansas’ worst since the pre-expansion 2000 season. Last year’s average of 59,884 was the second worst over that span.

Here’s the updated attendance chart since 2001…

Throughout the season, HawgBeat tracked how Arkansas was performing in relation to last season in an effort to see if it progressed at all - even if it didn’t in the win-loss column.

Here are the final charts, which paint an ugly picture…