Vandy loss takes a toll

The best news for these Arkansas Razorbacks after a 45-31 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday was an open week allowed them to have Sunday completely off and away from their coaches.

First-year Arkansas head coach Chad Morris is normally upbeat no matter what, judging from his demeanor after Saturday’s loss in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks (2-7, 0-5 Southeastern Conference) would not have enjoyed seeing him on Sunday.

Morris inherited a 1-11 SMU team in 2015 when he left Clemson as offensive coordinator to become a head coach in college for the first time. The Mustangs improved to 2-10, 5-7 and 7-5 before he left Dallas in December with SMU st for he Frisco Bowl.

He knew he was inheriting no bed of roses from former Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, whose Razorbacks went 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the SEC in his final season. But Morris immediately made it known that Bielema’s players immediately became his players.

Morris maintained that upbeat them, even when the Hogs lost non-conference games in September when they were favored to win. He cited progress over the next four losses as underdogs in SEC play.

Arkansas defeated Tulsa (1-7,

0-4 American Athletic Conference) on Oct. 20 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium and Morris got his hopes high that the Hogs would break the SEC ice at home against Vanderbilt (4-5, 1-4). They have an open week this week before three final SEC games to end the season.

The Razorbacks will host No. 4 LSU (7-1, 4-1) on Nov. 10 in Fayetteville; travel to Starkville, Miss., on Nov. 17 to face No. 21 Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3); and go to Missouri (4-4, 0-4) on Nov.

23, the day after Thanksgiving. “He basically told us we were the better team,” Arkansas junior linebacker Scoota Harris said after the game on Saturday. “We didn’t play our best game today. We didn’t come with it, so this was the result. It’s frustrating knowing watching the film that you’re the better team and we didn’t come out with the win.”

While still polite, Morris minced no words in concise replies to postgame media questions and his opening observations before taking questions.

“Bottom line, we didn’t play well enough,” Morris said. “You get what you deserve and we didn’t deserve to win.”

Morris knew Vandy has the great running back, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, and heady senior quarterback, Kyle Shurmur, that Tulsa doesn’t, but he had real optimism of the Hogs generating defensive momentum off their Tulsa shutout.

Vaughn ran that idea out of the stadium with a 63-yard touchdown romp the third time he touched the ball. The 5-10,

222-pounder finished with 172 yards and three touchdowns on

26 carries.

Though sacked three times, Shurmur exploited Arkansas aggression with screen passes catching the Hogs with gaps between pass rushers and secondary defenders blocked by screening Commodores. Shurmur finished passing 13 of 19 for

191 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover.

“They had an experienced quarterback,” Morris said. “They wanted to run the football and they executed very well. Ke’Shawn Vaughn is as dynamic a back as we’ve seen.”

Offensively, Arkansas actually netted five more yards,

447-442, of total offense than the Commodores, but Vanderbilt’s defense made the stops it had to make and mustered two turnovers by intercepting Ty Storey twice.

“We didn’t play our best,” Morris said. “Make no bones about it, we didn’t play our best. In front of our home crowd, we didn’t play our best.”

Morris will look at the film and likely see some players did play well Saturday, such as running backs Rakeem Boyd and Chase Hayden, as well as tight end C.J. O’Grady. By Monday, when he next meets with players, he will spot other positives from the game.

But for Sunday, it was probably better for the staff and the players that they had a day away.