Most of the time, when a team doubles another team in yards gained, they win. But that wasn’t the case on Saturday, as the Arkansas Razorbacks (1-1, 0-0 SEC) choked away a potential victory against the No. 16 Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) in a 39-31 double-overtime loss.
Arkansas was solid in the offensive department — putting up 648 yards of total offense — but turnovers and miscues doomed the Razorbacks in the end.
All those yards gained mostly came in the first, second and fourth quarter. The Razorbacks had a dismal third period of play and only put up 109 yards and zero points in that 15 minutes.
"We just shot ourselves in the foot a little bit," Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said after the loss. "Seemed like there for a while, maybe 20 minutes of the third and fourth quarter, everything we did was not right. In other words, we were putting the ball on the ground. Snaps. Trick play. Muffed punt. Missed field goal. Seemed like everything that could go wrong went wrong during that span of time."
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green threw a pick-six in the second quarter to put the Cowboys on the board and trim the Hogs lead to 14-7. Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson dropped the ball on a toss sweep and punt returner Isaiah Sategna muffed a punt return, which rounded out the Hogs’ turnovers on the day.
“I’m proud of how everybody fought in just the different situations that we were put in,” Green said after the game. “We have a lot to work on, as you can see, and cut out the mental mistakes. Focus in on what our assignment is, and just be consistent on that.”
Possibly the most influential turnover in the game was Sategna’s muffed punt. At the time, the score was 21-13 Arkansas with 10:23 to go in the game. Two plays later, the Cowboys scored and tied the game with a two-point conversion.
The turnover wasn’t all on Sategna, though. Freshman wide receiver Krosse Johnson fell into Sategna to result in the miscue.
“Exactly what happened was one of our guys got knocked into Sategna’s legs,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said after the game. “I mean, it was legal. But about the time he was getting ready to catch it, some guy hit him in the legs and he dropped it.”
Turnovers are only part of the miscues, though. The Arkansas secondary was picked apart for much of the second half by Cowboys seventh-year quarterback Alan Bowman, who finished the game 27-of-48 with 326 yards and a touchdown.
After Arkansas tied the game at 28-28 in the fourth quarter, Bowman engineered a drive that ended with a field goal for Oklahoma State, which was helped by two pass interference penalties by Arkansas defensive back Doneiko Slaughter.
Those were two of the penalties Arkansas committed in the loss. Obviously, they didn't end the game, but they did extend a drive that — had it ended farther back on the field — would have given the Razorbacks the chance to win in regulation with a field goal, not force overtime.
The Razorbacks were close, but close only works in horseshoes and hand grenades. Arkansas will need to clean up those mistakes in the coming week if they want to compete in the SEC this season.
“Once we get home, we've got to bounce back from this one and head to the next one,” Pittman said. “It's early in the year. I think we've proved that we've got a good team. We've just got to hang on to the football and we'll win a lot of games."
The Razorbacks will host Alabama-Birmingham on Sept. 14 in the home-opener at Razorback Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 3:15 p.m. CT and will air on the SEC Network.
