Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Line hurt by lack of cohesion

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FAYETTEVIL­LE — The Arkansas Razorbacks offensive line continued to struggle with penalties, sacks allowed and the shuffling of personnel during their 52-20 loss to Auburn on Saturday.

Auburn racked up six sacks, including two that resulted in lost fumbles, and the Razorbacks were flagged for three holding calls and three false starts.

A holding call against center Frank Ragnow wiped out a 6-yard sack late in the second quarter that would have been a seventh sack for the Tigers.

Left tackle Paul Ramirez was responsibl­e for one holding call and two false starts in the first half before Colton Jackson took over for him in the second half. Right guard Johnny Gibson had the third false start.

Tight end Jeremy Patton was also penalized for holding. The Razorbacks were penalized 7 times for 50 yards, with 6 of them by the offense for 45 yards.

“We were driving and we’d get a penalty or I’d take a sack and not get rid of the ball,” Arkansas quarterbac­k Cole Kelley said. “You can’t get yourself into second and 20s. Not against a defense like that.”

Gibson started at right guard after missing significan­t portions of practice time during the week. Right tackle Brian Wallace got up gingerly after a couple of plays, including a quarterbac­k sneak in which the pile engulfed him.

Freshman Ty Clary picked up playing time for Gibson, including a series when Gibson had a shoe come off.

“Just again, numbers. I wish we had more healthy numbers,” Coach Bret Bielema said of the offensive line. “Johnny Gibson really didn’t practice during the course of the week. We tried to find the five best guys.

“Again, we’ve just got to continue to work and keep pursuing ourselves, keep bringing our guys along and hopefully develop some players in the next five weeks. Then, obviously, recruiting takes over.”

Hayden hurt

Freshman Chase Hayden, the Razorbacks’ leading rusher, will apparently be out for a while after suffering an apparent injury to his left foot or ankle.

Hayden was dragged down from behind by Auburn safety Daniel Thomas at the end of a 40-yard run in the second quarter, the Hogs’ longest running play of the season.

Hayden shook off a tackler just past the line on a draw play and was running free until Thomas grabbed him from behind at the Auburn 40. Thomas appeared to land on Hayden’s left foot as they crashed to the turf. Hayden came up limping and immediatel­y headed to the Arkansas sideline for examinatio­n.

“It’s a lower leg injury,” Coach Bret Bielema said late Saturday. “Haven’t confirmed it from there.”

‘Sosa’ sitdown

Arkansas defensive end McTelvin “Sosa” Agim, perhaps realizing that the Razorbacks were caught trying to change out personnel, fell to the turf as Auburn was taking the snap after a 50-yard tunnel screen

to Darius Slayton on the Tigers’ opening possession.

The Razorbacks had nine men on the field as Jarrett Stidham ran untouched 15 yards for a touchdown around the left side on a read-option play.

“When they had a big play, we knew they tried to go as fast as they can, and somebody yelled for a substituti­on to go in and we just weren’t able to do that,” Bret Bielema said. “Made the adjustment­s after that play to make sure it didn’t happen again.”

0-4 in SEC

Arkansas has opened 0-4 in SEC play five times in 26 seasons in the SEC. Three of those 0-4 starts have come in the past five years under Coach Bret Bielema. The 0-4 starts occurred in 1996, 2005, 2013, 2014 and 2017.

QB Storey

Freshman quarterbac­k Cole Kelley took all 68 offensive snaps for Arkansas against Auburn, with no relief from sophomore Ty Storey.

Senior Austin Allen showed improvemen­t and range of motion in his right shoulder during the week but he did not dress out against the Tigers.

“Ty Storey, I think maybe if there was one more possession, but I think with Cole, we just wanted to keep repping him and getting him as many opportunit­ies as we can,” Bret Bielema said. “We didn’t want to take him out of there on a negative note. Wanted him to be positive, and obviously getting that [fourth quarter touchdown] was big.”

Third downs

Arkansas converted on 5 of 16 third-down conversion­s, 0 of 7 in the first half and 5 of 9 in the second.

“It was impressive not giving up a third-down conversion in the first half,” Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said. “That quarterbac­k [Cole Kelley] is a big man and he’s hard to get to.”

Malzahn touted a stop after Kevin Richardson’s intercepti­on in the second quarter.

“We got a three and out after the pick and that was big,” he said. “If they convert, they get momentum and the crowd gets into it …”

Auburn converted a

9 of 15 third-down plays,

including 6 of 10 in the first half.

Sack-strip central

Auburn sacked quarterbac­k Cole Kelley six times and three of the sacks resulted in strippedou­t fumbles. The Tigers recovered two of them, by Jeff Holland and DeShaun Davis and the third got kicked out of bounds by Auburn for a 7-yard loss.

Holland had 1.5 sacks and he forced fumbles on each of those plays, including a combo sack with Marlon Davidson. Auburn turned both of its sack-strip fumble recoveries into touchdowns, as well as a fumble recovery by Darrell Williams after the Razorbacks muffed a punt return in the second quarter.

‘Scoota’ stand

Linebacker De’Jon “Scoota” Harris was the big man in Arkansas’ goal-line stand in the second quarter.

Harris and linebacker Dre Greenlaw had the tackle on a Kerryon Johnson run up the middle on third and 2 from the Razorbacks’ 3. The play was ruled a first-down gain on the field, but the replay booth overturned the spot, giving Johnson 1 yard to the 2.

On fourth down, Johnson tried to dive high over the pile up the middle, but Harris met him in the mid-section and Jonathan Marshall pushed him back high and Johnson could not get past the 2. A line judge spotted the ball at the 1, but the Tigers were still short, and Arkansas took over on downs.

Inches

The Razorbacks came inches away from scoring a special teams touchdown on their first punt.

Arkansas’ Nate Dalton and Auburn’s Nick Ruffin collided with punt returner Stephen Roberts just as Blake Johnson’s punt was arriving at the Tigers’ 23.

The ball skittered into the end zone, where Auburn’s Carlton Davis tried to recover it, but the ball squirted free near the back line. Arkansas’ Kevin Richardson pounced on the ball just before touching the back line, but he did not appear to gain full possession until the ball was out of bounds.

Referee David Smith announced a touchback after a lengthy huddle among the officiatin­g crew.

Though there was no official booth review, replay official Ron Leatherwoo­d and the SEC headquarte­rs had plenty of time to determine the proper call.

Later, after Richardson jumped an out route for Will Hastings and made an intercepti­on, he was almost able to stop his momentum from going out of bounds. If Richardson had been able to turn upfield, he could have been in position for a touchdown return.

 ?? Arkansas defensive back Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN ?? Henre Toliver (right) and Auburn’s Carlton Davis try to recover a loose ball in the end zone during Saturday’s game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayettevil­le. Kevin Richardson eventually landed on the loose ball, but was ruled to be out of the end...
Arkansas defensive back Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN Henre Toliver (right) and Auburn’s Carlton Davis try to recover a loose ball in the end zone during Saturday’s game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayettevil­le. Kevin Richardson eventually landed on the loose ball, but was ruled to be out of the end...

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