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FAYETTEVILLE — It took almost half the season, but Arkansas seems to have finally turned the corner with its ground game.
In their 24-13 comeback win over Tennessee, the Razorbacks finished with 198 rushing yards. Had it not been for four sacks, they would have cracked the 200-yard mark for the second straight week, as they ran for 222 yards at Texas A&M.
Over the first three games of the season, Arkansas averaged just 86.3 yards on the ground. In the three games since, it has more than doubled that by averaging 190 rushing yards.
Head coach Sam Pittman was quick to praise the Razorbacks’ offensive line for the improvement.
“They're coming on, getting better and we were almost at 200 yards again this week,” Pittman said. “I'm just really proud of the guys coaching the O-line and the way our O-line is playing.”
Just as he did in the first four games, Trelon Smith led the way with a team-high 72 yards on nine carries. That gave him an impressive 8 yards per attempt. Rakeem Boyd wasn’t as explosive, but he managed 65 yards on a season-high 19 carries.
Together, the pair accounted for 137 yards.
“I thought the running backs ran extremely hard today, picking up those hard-earned yards,” quarterback Feleipe Franks said. “They did a good job and it helped me, as well - opened up the passing game.”
Arkansas’ other rushing yards came on a couple of plays designed for De’Vion Warren, who gained 19 and 22 yards on his two carries, as well as carries by Franks. Although he was nowhere close to his 91 yards against Texas A&M, the quarterback would have finished with 46 yards on 10 carries without sacks.
Reed’s Redemption
Coming off a rough performance at Texas A&M in which he missed a 48- and 49-yard field goal, A.J. Reed saw a nightmare scenario unfold for him Saturday.
When the Razorbacks’ offense stalled out inside the 5-yard line, the graduate transfer kicker was called upon for a chip-shot field goal. However, he missed the 21-yard wide right.
It was the shortest field goal missed by an Arkansas kicker since Cole Hedlund missed a 20- and 23-yard attempt against TCU early in the 2017 season. Since then, the Razorbacks had made 27 consecutive kids of 37 yards and less.
Despite those struggles, Pittman sent Reed back out to try a 48-yard field goal late in the third quarter. He rewarded the first-year coach’s confidence by booting it through the uprights to give Arkansas an 11-point lead.
Pittman said he knew Reed would make the kick because he’d seen him do it every day at practice. It was a big three points because it put the Razorbacks up by two possessions.
“If you give up on a kicker, you might as well just go for it all the time,” Pittman said. “I told him, ‘Hey, I’ve got the ultimate confidence in you. I know you’re going to make the next one,’ and he did.”
