HOGS GIVE UP 519 yards to FCS Skyhawks.
Razorbacks give up 519 yards to FCS Skyhawks
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas gave up more than 500 yards to an Ohio Valley Conference team Saturday.
Tennessee-Martin gaining 519 yards made it tough for Arkansas’ defenders to enjoy the Razorbacks’ 63-28 victory over the Skyhawks.
“We’re very upset,” Razorbacks senior strong safety Rohan Gaines said. “We know we can’t do that going on down the line now because we’ve got great opponents coming up. We can’t give up those type of yards and win games.”
The Razorbacks, whose next two games are on the road against No. 19 Mississippi and No. 4 LSU, allowed more yards against UT-Martin than they did the previous week against Auburn.
Auburn gained 416 yards in Arkansas’ 54-46 victory, and that was in four overtimes.
Despite the Skyhawks averaging 7.7 yards on their 67 snaps — 19 fewer snaps than Auburn — the Razorbacks insisted they weren’t overlooking the Football Championship Subdivision team that opened this season with a 76-3 loss at Ole Miss.
“I feel like we had our focus on this game, but we came out kind of flat and didn’t do things right defensively throughout the game,” Gaines said. “But we’ll be all right.”
Junior defensive tackle Taiwan Johnson said the Razorbacks prepared for UT-Martin the same way they have for every other opponent this season.
“We just weren’t 100 percent in our communication and our execution,” Johnson said. “Those are things we’ve got to fix moving on next week.
“We made a few mistakes with our eyes and being where we were supposed to be, so they were able to get yards off of it.”
The Skyhawks had 11 passing plays that gained 15 or more yards — including eight that gained between 20 and 31 yards — and five rushing plays that gained 19 or more yards.
“I’ll give credit to UT-Martin,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. “Their quarterback is a senior and really understands the game. You could see that on film. He’s a very accurate passer and he understood where they wanted to get the football.
“It was at times a little frustrating defensively, but overall I thought they played pretty well.”
UT-Martin quarterback Jarod Neal completed 30 of 43 passes for 380 yards and 1 touchdown with 1 interception.
“He gave us fits,” Johnson said.
Neal continually completed passes over the middle, especially to wide receiver Caylon Weathers, who had six catches for 111 yards. Rod Wright had six catches for 84 yards.
“A couple of those routes over the middle were getting us every time,” Arkansas junior middle linebacker Brooks Ellis said. “We just weren’t rallying to the ball.
“We’ve got to have our eyes in the right spots and make plays, and we just didn’t do that.”
The Skyhawks gained 417 yards through three quarters before the Razorbacks began using a lot of backups.
“We just weren’t executing the game plan,” Ellis said. “They had a better scheme than we did and they played better than we did on defense.
“We’ve just got to play better.”
UT-Martin gained 661 yards in a 52-45 victory over Murray State last week and came into Saturday’s game averaging 460.4 yards.
“It’s a very confident offense,” Skyhawks Coach Alan Simpson said. “Jarod leads us and our offensive line protects him. Normally we’re able to push the ball down the field, but Jarod took what was given to him.”
Arkansas forced three turnovers — interceptions by Gaines and Ellis and a forced fumble by Dre Greenlaw recovered by Hjalte Froholdt — but the Razorbacks didn’t have any sacks.
“We need to be more relentless in our rush,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to get there. We’ve got to make those plays.”
Najee Ray scored on a 21yard touchdown run to pull UT-Martin within 35-14 with 1:28 left in the second quarter when Gaines bounced off of him.
“I just missed the tackle,” Gaines said. “I’ve got to wrap up.”
Gaines said Arkansas’ problems on defense were brought on by the Razorbacks, not the Skyhawks.
“It was nothing they were doing,” Gaines said. “We basically did it to ourselves. It was our own mistakes.”
Gaines said he wasn’t disappointed in any of his teammates.
“I feel like everybody came out and played their hardest,” he said. “We just know we have things to work on.
“Nobody’s perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, and we just know we’ve got to come back against Ole Miss and do something better.”