COLORADO STATE’S 96-yard drive harbinger of demise.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Arkansas Razorbacks had Colorado State right where they wanted the Rams.
With the University of Arkansas leading by 10 points with 14:36 left in the fourth quarter, the Razorbacks had Colorado State backed up to its 4 after a Razorbacks punt and a holding penalty on the Rams.
Arkansas needed to bottle up Colorado State, force a punt and get good field position to take control of the game.
Instead, the Rams put together a nine-play, 96-yard touchdown drive to gain the momentum and rally to beat the Razorbacks 34-27 on Saturday night at Canvas Stadium.
Colorado State senior quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels completed 6 of 7 passes for 76 yards on the 96-yard drive in 3:29, including a 10yard touchdown pass to Preston Williams to pull the Rams within 27-24 with 11:07 left.
“I honestly don’t even remember that drive,” Arkansas defensive lineman McTelvin Agim said when asked what happened on the 96-yard drive. “They had so many drives where they were running the ball down the field.”
Colorado State had drives of 70, 96, 60 and 59 yards on its final four possessions to score three touchdowns and get a field goal while erasing a 27-9 deficit.
“We’ve just got to finish the whole four quarters,” Arkansas junior cornerback Ryan Pulley said. “Both halves.”
Razorbacks Coach Chad Morris said he was feeling pretty good about his decision to punt on fourth and 1 from the 50 after Colorado State had to take possession at its 4.
“I thought we had the momentum right there,” Morris said. “That was the purpose of [punting] to see if we could win it on field position.”
Carta-Samuels, a graduate transfer from Washington, completed 32 of 47 passes for 389 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception.
The Razorbacks were credited with four quarterback hurries, including two by Agim.
“We were getting to him a little bit,” Agim said. “But D-line wise, we definitely could have gotten to him a lot more.
“I just saw the stats, and he threw the ball 50 times and I think we only had one sack. So that’s just something we’ve got to work on.”
Senior defensive tackle Armon Watts, who made his first career start, had Arkansas’ lone sack for a 4-yard loss.
“I think first of all, you’ve got to give those guys credit,” Morris said of the Rams. “They made some plays.”
Carta-Samuels completed 13 of 15 passes for 150 yards in the fourth quarter.
“He had a good game, man,” said Agim, who forced two fumbles. “You’ve got to pay your respects. We gave him some things, but the things we gave him, he took.”
Pulley, who had his first interception of the season in the first quarter, said the Razorbacks had too many missed assignments in the fourth quarter.
“We had busted coverages where they got behind us,” Pulley said. “And [Carta-Samuels] caught fire. Give credit to them. They did pretty good on their drives, but we’ve got to do better as a defense.”
Agim said he didn’t believe the defense wore down or that the 5,000-foot elevation was a factor.
“I think we hydrated enough this week,” Agim said. “So I don’t think it was the altitude.
“I just think we were breaking down defensive scheme-wise. We were having some busts, and that just led to them making the plays they made.”