Tulsa falls to Arkansas in final non-conference tilt.
Fayetteville, Arkansas — The Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the Tulsa football team 34-6 on Saturday night in the final non-conference game of the season, sending the Golden Hurricane home with their first loss of the season. The “Hogs,” as they are called affectionately by Arkansas fans, and sometimes by opponents given their level of play in recent years, dominated from start to finish on a rain soaked night in northwest Arkansas. A boisterous pregame atmosphere on a beautiful fall evening gave way to heavy showers as the game kicked off, though it did little to deter a sizable crowd at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback stadium. A number of Tulsa students and fans also made their presence during the game, including a small group of TU students in the upper level which started the “tarps off” section as the rain poured down.
Arkansas opened the game with a 12 play, 72 yard drive ending in a field goal, and quickly followed up with a 60 yard touchdown drive, jumping out to a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter. Six of the next seven possessions ended in punts, with the Hogs tacking on another field goal midway through the second quarter, and yet another on the final play of the half, taking a 16-0 lead to the locker room. The Golden Hurricane, without starting quarterback Baylor Hayes, looked lifeless in the opening half. They attempted to generate offense with short throws to the perimeter, in an effort to simplify the offense for quarterback Dexter Williams II in his second TU start. Unfortunately, the Arkansas secondary was excellent at taking away running lanes for a Tulsa skill corps which looked outmatched and overwhelmed athletically, and Williams found nothing further downfield either. The running game was even less successful, as the lack of a credible Tulsa passing threat allowed Arkansas to load the tackle box with extra defenders, holding Tulsa to 65 yards on the ground, and lead tailback Damari Alston to just seven carries on the day. The Tulsa offense was perhaps its own worst enemy in the first half, though, committing six penalties, two of which wiped out key runs by Williams. His counterpart, meanwhile, came out firing. Arkansas QB K.J. Jackson threw for 309 yards in the game, most of which went to receiver Chris Marshall. Marshall caught a long pass from Jackson on a key third down during the second possession and did not look back, as his career day ended with eight catches for 195 yards and a touchdown.
The Golden Hurricane, however, looked like a different team coming out of the locker room. Williams made his best throw of the day to convert a fourth down near midfield in the early third quarter, which sustained an 81 yard touchdown drive that took just three minutes and cut the deficit from 16 points to 10. Tulsa head coach Tre Lamb wisely chose to attempt a two-point conversion to bring Tulsa within one possession, but Williams’ pass fell incomplete as he was hit hard from his blind side. On the ensuing kickoff, Lamb caught the Hogs off guard with a surprise onside kick. Arkansas was not lined up in a typical onside recovery formation, and the kick was well executed by Marlon Hauck, but unfortunately for the Golden Hurricane, Jeremy Evans made an alert play to recover the ball for Arkansas. The failed conversion and onside kick effectively killed any momentum the visitors had. The Tulsa defense tightened up in the second half, particularly up along the line of scrimmage, where they stymied the Arkansas running game and sacked Jackson three times, also intercepting him once, but the offense was able to conjure nothing. The last four Tulsa possessions resulted in a punt, two fumbles and a turnover on downs, as a pass-heavy, frenetic attempt to close the gap produced mistakes, giving many Arkansas fans leeway to hit the parking lots early and beat the traffic as their team snapped a 12 game losing streak against FBS teams.
The takeaway? This does little to affect the season’s outlook for Tulsa. The dream start to the season may be over, but the most important part of the schedule is just beginning for TU football. Arkansas is hardly a contender in the Southeastern Conference at the moment, but this was still an SEC program with SEC caliber athletes, something which was clearly on display Saturday. While Tulsa fans can and should expect to compete in games like this, when such a talent and resource gap exists between two teams, it takes elite execution, coaching and ability to win in the margins to steal a win, especially in such a hostile environment. The encouraging part for Tulsa fans, however, is the fact that in such games, a little bit of error can often lead to a bigger gap on the score board than there really is between the two teams, and such was the case in Fayetteville on Saturday. The style and tone of the game were dictated by a poor start for Tulsa, digging a hole which forced the offense to abandon the run game and play from behind, in turn making offense exponentially more difficult. Had one or two plays gone Tulsa’s way in the first quarter, the game could have played out very differently. Additionally, the emergence of the TU defensive front in the second half, and their ability to control the line of scrimmage against an SEC offensive line validated much of the promise they showed against Oklahoma State. Tulsa will look to continue their defensive success up front, while returning to their reliance on the running game offensively next week when they host a rebuilt North Texas program at Chapman Stadium.
While the result was lopsided on the scoreboard, the implications of Saturday’s game for the rest of the season are minimal. As they enter Coach Lamb’s second season at the helm, Tulsa football has all the ingredients to be a contender in the American Athletic Conference — if they can stay relatively healthy. Most of the attention on the program this week will now be on the health of Baylor Hayes, who it was initially reported would miss only one game after he went down with a knee injury against Sam Houston State. Despite being expected to play earlier on in the week, Hayes was ruled doubtful for the Arkansas game on Thursday and did not appear in the game. The possibility of an extended absence for Hayes is the main concern at the moment, as Tulsa most likely needs him to contend for the conference crown. It will be a short rest this week, however, with Tulsa playing host to North Texas on Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. Regardless of who starts at quarterback, the Golden Hurricane need a conference win to right the ship and get the ball rolling once again as they chase history for Tulsa football.
