ARKANSAS’ DEFENSE picks apart Rice during the fourth quarter.
FAYETTEVILLE — Rice quarterback Wiley Green completed as many passes to the Arkansas Razorbacks as he did to his own receivers in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
It was three for the Owls and three for the Razorbacks as Green was 3 of 9 for 31 yards in the quarter with 3 interceptions.
University of Arkansas redshirt sophomore safety Jalen Catalon had two interceptions, and senior cornerback Montaric Brown had one pick.
The turnovers helped the Razorbacks turn what had been a close game into a 3817 victory to open the season.
“You need your good players to play well, and that’s what Cat did,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said about Catalon.
Catalon spent much of preseason camp wearing a green no-contact jersey because of a sore shoulder, and he sat out the second scrimmage.
“He obviously had a shoulder that was beat up a little bit, but he can control that,” Pittman said. “He doesn’t have to go in there and hit a guy. So we put him in green.”
Catalon was in red Saturday and did plenty of hitting. He had 11 tackles.
“He’s a ballplayer, man,” Pittman said. “Great kid. Reads eyes well and makes plays.”
Catalon had a combined 83 return yards and said he thought he had a chance to score on both interceptions. He didn’t get into the end zone — despite hurdling over some Owls on his first interception —but he set up two of Arkansas’ final three touchdowns.
“I was in the middle and the ball was thrown and I saw [defensive lineman] Markell Utsey, and he tipped it,” Catalon said of his first interception. “Coach [Barry Odom] always says tips on overthrows, you’ve got to have them.
“On the second one, I was playing the middle and the quarterback didn’t see me. I came up and made a play. Wish I had scored, but we’re not going to speak on that.”
Catalon, who had three interceptions and 99 tackles in 10 SEC games last season, showed why he was voted an Associated Press second-team preseason All-American.
“Awesome,” Arkansas senior offensive tackle Dalton Wagner said when asked about Catalon’s play. “That’s what he does. He goes up and he finds the ball. He’s a ballhawk, man.
“He does a great job of finding the ball, and it’s a momentum-changer when he does. Guys on the sideline explode.”
Brown had his interception between Catalon’s takeaways.
“I’m just thankful to God for our team and the scout team giving me that look in practice, and it just translated out over to the game,” Brown said of making the proper read. “It was easy, and I had to trust what I had seen on the [practice] field.”
Said Pittman, “I tell you, I really loved the interception that Montaric Brown had because he cut that corner off. He drove on that ball. That was a heck of an interception, too.”
As big as the interceptions were, Pittman said the biggest play by the defense was when linebacker Bumper Pool and Catalon dropped running back Jordan Myers for a 1-yard loss on fourth and 1 from the Arkansas 18 with 4:42 left in the third quarter and Rice leading 17-14.
“I think everybody played their holes right,” Catalon said. “The defense got good pursuit, and [Myers] had to bounce it [outside].
“Coach [Odom] always says you’ve got to run to the ball, and everybody did. The result was good. We got a stop that the team needed.”