Rutgers furthers Hogs’ spiral with big win in Fayetteville
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Cobi Hamilton was among a host of Arkansas players who didn’t hesitate a month ago when talking about the possibility of winning Southeastern Conference and national championships this season.
Times have certainly changed for Hamilton and the Razorbacks, who fell to 1-3 with a 35-26 setback to Rutgers on Saturday. It was the third straight loss for Arkansas, which started the season ranked No. 8 before plummeting out of the AP college football poll after a then-shocking loss to Louisiana-Monroe.
As a result of the win, the Scarlet Knights made their season debut in the Associated Press Top 25, coming in at No. 23.
It is Rutgers’ first appearance in the poll since holding the No. 25 spot on Nov. 15, 2009.
The overtime defeat to the Warhawks doesn’t look so surprising these days, not after the Razorbacks secondary was once again exposed by a quarterback on his way to a career game. This time around, it was sophomore Scarlet Knights’ quarterback Gary Nova who passed for a career-best 397 yards and five touchdowns against Arkansas — outdueling Razorbacks quarterback Tyler Wilson, who threw for 419 yards in the loss.
“That’s a quarterback’s dream to go back and forth like that,” Nova said. “Those are the moments you dream about in college football.”
The loss left the Razorbacks seemingly even more emotionally deflated than after the Louisiana-Monroe setback or after being soundly beaten 52-0 by No. 1 Alabama a week later. They made play after play on offense, including an SEC record 303 yards receiving and three touchdowns from Hamilton, but they had no answers for Nova and a Rutgers team that improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2006 and is now No. 23.
National championship for Arkansas?
Arkansas, which was 21-5 the last two seasons — including a the school’s first BCS berth and a Cotton Bowl win last season — is just hoping to make a bowl game at this point. Any bowl.
It’s a task that doesn’t get any easier with backto-back road games looming at Texas A&M and Auburn.
“If you would have told me we’d be 1-3 to start the season in August, it’s hard to say ...,” Hamilton said. “But like I say, we have to keep fighting and working together. We’ll go back to practice Tuesday and work our tails off like we always do. Hopefully we can finish the game next week against A&M and start the season off.”
While Arkansas’ freefall continued Saturday in its first season after the firing of former coach Bobby Petrino, Rutgers’ resurgence continued in its first season under coach Kyle Flood.
Flood took over the Scarlet Knights in January after former coach Greg Schiano left to take over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The career assistant coach looked right at home helping Rutgers earn its first win over an SEC team since 2004 on Saturday, a win that followed a Big East-opening win over South Florida.
The Scarlet Knights have off next week before returning to conference action against Connecticut. They’ll do so with a boost of confidence and a defense that intercepted Wilson — last season’s first-team All-SEC quarterback — twice.
Running back Jawan Jamison brought his twoweek total to 74 carries with a 33-carry, 118-yard effort against the Razorbacks. However, it was Nova’s breakout and the attacking defense that harassed Wilson throughout that led to the win.
Rutgers trailed 10-0 early before rallying to take a 2813 lead. Nova then staved off a late Arkansas comeback with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Mark Harrison.
“In the end, it was a win the Rutgers’ way,” Flood said. “Toughness, momentum swings, the ability to fight through adversity and big plays in the kicking game. The bye comes at a good time for us; we need to get healthy here. A win we’re very proud of.”
For the Razorbacks, the loss was hardly what they expected following the sound defeat to the Crimson Tide a week before — a loss Wilson missed with a concussion. Wilson said after that game that some of his teammates quit during the loss and promised to do his best to save Arkansas’ season.
The senior put his best effort forward against Rutgers, but a secondary that allowed 412 yards passing to Louisiana-Monroe once again struggled to stop an opponents’ passing game. The Razorbacks are now 111th in the country in pass defense, allowing 312.3 yards per game through the air.