ARKANSAS AT TCU
Saturday, 7 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Both teams managed to get to this meeting of former Southwest Conference rivals at TCU’s Amon Carter Stadium undefeated. This is first meeting between the Razorbacks and Horned Frogs since 1991. Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference the next year.
TCU (1-0) needed four quarters to put away Football Championship Subdivision team South Dakota State. Arkansas (1-0) avoided disaster with a 21-20 victory against Louisiana Tech.
TCU Quarterback Kenny Hill, in his first start since transferring from Texas A&M after the 2014 season, threw for 439 yards and two touchdowns. He also found a favorite target with junior Taj Williams logging 158 receiving yards in the opener.
But Hill’s penchant for throwing interceptions followed him to Fort Worth. In nine games between Texas A&M and TCU in 2014 and 2016, he has thrown 10 interceptions.
“It’s something we can improve on and something we will watch on film and get better at so we don’t make the same mistake next week,” Hill said after the South Dakota State game.
Arkansas (1-0) trailed most of the second half but rallied. The Razorbacks had the same turnover issue as TCU. Quarterback Austin Allen tainted an otherwise efficient performance with two interceptions. Protecting him was an issue as the Razorbacks gave up four sacks.
“I don’t know if my first three years here we would have won that football game, A, from the way I called it, to B, the way that we rallied there at the end and were able to pull it out,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema. “A lot of times we were in that same exact situation and came away with a defeat.”
If it’s close, it could be advantage Horned Frogs. TCU coach Gary Patterson is 43-25 in games decided by seven points or fewer and has won nine of the last 11. The winning percentage is going to be difficult to maintain without major defensive improvement. TCU had to rebuild its offense since the 2015 season ended. The defense returned mostly intact. Giving up 461 yards to an FCS team to start the season was surprising.
“We have to play better across the board,” Patterson said.