Notebook: More special teams gaffes, Franks' performance, more

Perhaps no Arkansas assistant coach has drawn more criticism the first three weeks of the season than special teams coordinator Scott Fountain.

His unit had another disappointing showing Saturday and played a critical role in the Razorbacks’ 30-28 loss at No. 13 Auburn.

In fact, the first score of the game came on a special teams gaffe, as Jordyn Peters blocked a George Caratan punt in the end zone and the Tigers recovered it for a touchdown.

It was the second time in three games Arkansas has had a punt blocked. The first resulted in a safety against Georgia.

“People are going to try to block every punt we freakin’ punt until we figure out how to freakin’ protect the punter,” head coach Sam Pittman said. “We need to do that.”

When Arkansas found the end zone itself, it got stuck at six points because Caratan mishandled the hold and A.J. Reed wasn’t able to get the extra point off.

That led to the Razorbacks chasing points on their next two scores. They failed on both two-point conversion attempts, so the error ultimately cost them three more points.

Other special teams mistakes included a pair of kickoffs out of bounds, a 33-yard kickoff return allowed, one 12- and two 9-yard punt returns allowed and multiple penalties on the punt team.

A false start penalty on Mataio Soli forced the Razorbacks to re-punt before the blocked punt, but their main issue was lining up incorrectly, resulting in three illegal formation penalties.

The first two illegal formation penalties wiped out punts downed at the 8- and 15-yard lines and eventually gave the Tigers an additional nine and eight yards of field position. The third tacked on another five yards and allowed Auburn to start its game-winning field goal drive in Arkansas territory.

“They had us where we weren’t moved up on the line of scrimmage and that we were too deep,” Pittman said. “It was several times. We tried to correct it, but obviously we didn’t get it corrected.”

Here are several other notes and tidbits from the Razorbacks’ heartbreaking loss on the plains...

Franks’ Performance

The first couple games of his Arkansas career were okay, but Feleipe Franks had a breakout performance against Auburn.

The graduate transfer from Florida completed 22 of 30 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns while not turning the ball over. Excluding sacks, he also had 38 yards on 12 carries.

His completion percentage Saturday - 73.3 percent - was the highest of his career against an FBS opponent, as were his four touchdown passes. (Franks had a 25-of-27 performance against FCS UT-Martin last year and threw five touchdowns against FCS Charleston Southern in 2018.) It was his first career 300-yard passing game against any opponent.

“He just gets better every week,” Pittman said. “I was really proud of him. I know he's banged up a little bit, but it'd be hard not to be proud of his performance tonight.”

It was the most touchdown passes by an Arkansas quarterback since Brandon Allen had a school-record seven in a losing effort against Mississippi State in 2015.

The last time an Arkansas quarterback had more passing yards against an SEC foe was in the 2016 regular-season finale, when Austin Allen had 348 in a losing effort against Missouri.

Missed Tackles

Pittman has openly talked about needing Arkansas to improve its tackling, but he said most of its missed tackles have come in the second half of games when the defense has been worn down.

That wasn’t the case Saturday. The Razorbacks struggled to bring down Auburn’s ball carriers, especially running back Tank Bigsby, in the first half.