By DON KAUSLER JR.

Just when you thought it was safe to forget about Arkansas’ sad, bad 2023 football season, the ugly nightmare of turnovers, penalties and poor clock management recurred, this time in Stillwater, Okla.

The turnovers were real. The penalties were real dreadful. Two missed field-goal attempts were excruciating.

The Razorbacks really did blow an early two-touchdown lead in a 39-31 double-overtime loss to No. 16 Oklahoma State.

Your therapist would prefer us to skip the gory details. We’ll just say Arkansas, a 10½-point underdog, came out with pistols firing and then shot itself in the feet, hands, head and heart.

A muffed punt. An unnecessary roughness penalty. A 21-7 halftime lead shrank to a 21-13 lead after 3 quarters. The Razorbacks rallied from a 28-21 deficit and scored a touchdown and field goal in the last 4 minutes. And … oh, yeah. We said we’d skip the gory details.

Arkansas now is 6-15 in 1-possession games during Coach Sam Pittman’s 4-plus seasons.

"It’s in our mind," defensive tackle Cam Ball said. "It’s just that these games like this, we just have to work more on closing out and finishing."

Enough déjà vu.

“It’s one loss,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said after what felt like 2 or 3 losses. “It’s not an SEC loss. It’s one that we’ll learn from and flush it and then come back.”

The Razorbacks (1-1) will come back with a 3:15 p.m. CDT home game Saturday against UAB (1-1). Arkansas is a 24½-point favorite in a game that will be televised by the SEC Network.

 

FIRST DOWN

Not all was lost: Overshadowed by negatives such as 2 lost fumbles and an interception that was returned for a touchdown plus a turnover on downs, 7 penalties (seemed like 17) and 2 missed field-goal attempts were some positives.

Arkansas compiled 648 total yards (416 passing, 232 rushing) and held Oklahoma State to 385. The ground-loving Cowboys ran 26 times for 59 yards (2.3 per carry).

Quarterback Taylen Green completed 26 of 45 passes for 416 yards and ran 18 times for 61 yards, including a 31-yard run in his second start for the Razorbacks. Ja’Quinden Jackson ran 24 times for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns. Andrew Armstrong set career highs with 10 catches for 164 yards.

The Razorbacks held Heisman Trophy candidate Ollie Gordon to 49 yards on 17 rushing attempts, but he ran 12 yards for the winning TD in the second overtime and caught a pass for a 2-point conversion.

Arkansas ran 93 plays. The Cowboys ran 74. The Razorbacks had a 33-21 edge in first downs and a 36:14 to 23:46 edge in time of possession.

But that dominance might have led to a few negatives. …

SECOND DOWN

Depth: Looking to explain the Razorbacks’ second-half collapse? Here’s a stat to consider: Not counting special teams, Arkansas used only 35 players, including only 17 on defense. On a hot day. Last season, The Razorbacks used at least 21 players on defense in every game.

"We've got to be stronger in the fourth quarter,” Pittman said, “and we played a lot of guys a lot of reps and probably wore out a little bit towards the end."

Jackson missed multiple plays in the second half because of cramps. On fourth-and-1 at the Oklahoma State 6 in the second overtime, the 233-pound Jackson was not available. Backup Rodney Hill (186 pounds) was stuffed up the middle for a 1-yard loss. Game over.

"Cramping. It happens. First full game," Jackson said Tuesday. "My body wasn’t really used to it, but I promise you, it won’t happen again."

Fatigue might have plagued defensive back Doneiko Slaughter, who committed 2 pass interference penalties as Oklahoma State drove for a go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter.

Freshman running back Braylen Russell did not play. Neither did backup offensive lineman Joe More. Right tackle Keyshawn Blackstock allowed 7 quarterback pressures, including 1 that resulted in the Cowboys’ pick-6. Pro Football Focus, via the Times Record of Fort Smith, reported that Blackstock received the lowest grade of any Arkansas player.

The Razorbacks’ hot start led to the coaching staff’s reluctance to make substitutions.

"I don’t want to mess up this vibe. Then you don’t get to it," Pittman said. "As you get later in the game, you’re going, 'Well, this guy doesn't have the experience, so I don’t want to put him in the game.' We had a very good conversation about we’ve got to get these kids in the game early no matter what is happening."

THIRD DOWN

Second guess? With the game tied at 21-21 in the fourth quarter, Arkansas went for it on a fourth-and-5 play from Oklahoma State’s 24, but Green was stopped half a yard short on a keeper. Kyle Ramsey missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt on the previous possession.

Pittman does not regret the call.

“I don’t know that we’d had many plays at that point in time that didn’t go for 5 yards,” Pittman said. “We were tied. Obviously, in my mind, we had just missed a field goal from the same distance. … It wasn’t a slow decision. …

 “I just felt at that point, if we score, we’ll put a hell of a lot of pressure on them. If we don’t, they still have a long way to go and our defense has been playing pretty good.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been here a long time and I’ve second guessed – not as much as everybody has – but I’ve second guessed myself a lot as the head coach here. I think every coach does. I’ll be honest with you, that one I do not. That one, I felt like it was the right thing to do. I thought we could really get some momentum there. Honestly, I thought our chances of making the fourth-and-5 were every bit as good as making the field goal, and if we did, I thought we could get to 7 and really put pressure on Oklahoma State.”

 

FOURTH DOWN

About the Blazers: UAB opened its season with a 41-3 victory over Alcorn State, but it is coming off a 32-6 loss at Louisiana-Monroe. The Blazers were held to 259 yards.

The loss dropped Trent Dilfer’s record to 5-9 in the second season of his first college head coaching job. The former NFL quarterback is 0-7 in road games.

“When you go on the road and you get caught up in things you can’t control, then it’s taking you away from your ability to be your best and [focus on] things you can control,” said Dilfer, who previously went 49-19 in 6 seasons – 26-1 in his last 2 seasons – as a high school coach at Nashville Lipscomb Academy in Tennessee. “If we can just get to a place where we are completely committed to both mentally and physically being invested into those things that we have control over, I think we’ll have better results on the road.

“But listen, it’s the elephant in the room, man. It’s the thing I don’t sleep about. I’m trying everything I can, and at this point I haven’t been able to find the secret sauce. But I won’t rest until I do.”

UAB is 2-28 against SEC teams. It has lost 22 consecutive games to SEC opponents. That includes a 45-17 loss in 2014 at Arkansas. The Blazers won 13-10 in 2000 at LSU and won 27-13 in 2004 at Mississippi State. UAB dropped its football program after the 2014 season but brought it back in 2017. The Blazers compete in the American Athletic Conference.

UAB’s second-year offensive coordinator is Alex Mortensen, who was a backup quarterback at Arkansas during the 2004-2005 and 2008 seasons. He is impressed with the Razorbacks’ defense.

“They’ve got really good players,” Mortensen said Tuesday on the Hawgs Sports Network Daily Podcast. “I think they play hard. They’ve got good defensive team speed. It’s evident they’re well-coached. They line up well, they adjust well and then they play well postsnap.

“I think they’re good at all three levels. You can’t say, ‘Hey, there’s one thing to go pick on or one weakness.’ I think they’re doing a really good job. They look like a really well-coached team.”

Bobby Petrino was the Razorbacks’ head coach in Mortensen’s last season as an Arkansas player. Petrino now is Arkansas’ offensive coordinator.

“I felt like I learned a lot about the other side of the ball,” Mortensen said. “The offense required you to redirect protections, required you to have some run checks that were very specific as to fronts, coverages, pressures. I learned more about blitzes, coverages, how the fronts and coverages tie together in some areas. I learned more about the run game.

“I think [I learned] some methodologies with how to read a defense, how to read zone coverages that were different. The other ways I learned were really good, but these were some interesting ways to look at the pass game. Some of it I still carry today into coaching.”

A UAB victory Saturday would be a big upset. Arkansas players say they are not looking ahead, but in case you are wondering, the Razorbacks’ next game is at home against Auburn.