Arkansas football report: Razorbacks focused on postseason, rebounding from LSU loss

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas Razorbacks’ losses so far this season have each come in close road games against ranked teams in Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, so their 34-10 setback to No. 8 LSU on Saturday broke a pattern.

The 24-point loss was much different than last season, when opponents Auburn and Missouri took control of the games.

Arkansas trailed LSU 16-10 with 4:58 left in the third quarter before Whit Week’s tip interception turned into a 2-yard touchdown drive and changed the flow of the game.

Coach Sam Pittman was asked how he thinks the Razorbacks will respond to their biggest loss of the season.

“Oh, I think we’ll be fine,” he said. “I still think we have a good football team. I think LSU is pretty good. But I think we have a good football team. We have to react. I mean, we go to Mississippi State and then we have Ole Miss and Texas, we have Missouri, we have Louisiana Tech.

“We have some good teams, but we can… We always want to get to the postseason and we can still do that. “Our kids will be excited to get to the postseason and we obviously have to bounce back next week , because I think Mississippi State is playing a lot better than it was at the beginning of the year.”

Defensive player Landon Jackson said the Razorbacks will focus on the right spot moving forward.

“Just like after a big win, you have to do it,” Jackson said. “After a big loss, you have to make up for it. We’ll have to delete this after watching the movie and making corrections. Go back to practice on Monday ready to work and play against Mississippi State because you can’t allow a loss to negatively impact you over the next few weeks and cause more losses.”

Quarterback Taylen Green said, “We have a great opportunity to bounce back with Mississippi State.”

Green’s recovery

Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green only missed part of the fourth quarter in the Razorbacks’ 19-14 victory over then-No. 4 Tennessee after suffering an illegal shot in his left knee.

Green was asked after Saturday’s game if he had any concerns that he might not be able to return to the LSU game.

“I was a little worried, but I’m thankful it wasn’t really anything serious and we had a bye week,” Green said. “The training staff did a great job preparing me. I didn’t get to go home for the bye week, so it was a little disappointing, but you know, I was just trying to focus on getting my body right and getting healthy. They had a great plan and I felt great out there.”

Jackson update

Arkansas starter Ja’Quinden Jackson limped off twice with a nagging ankle injury and didn’t return after going down at the end of a 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Jackson was examined in the medical tent and then went to the locker room for further testing.

“Yeah, he had that ankle,” coach Sam Pittman said. “He wanted to go and had been practicing all week. But he just improved it a little bit, same thing.”

Radio waves

Coach Sam Pittman said on the Razorback Sports Network’s postgame show that Arkansas was “physical from the start,” a scenario that hasn’t occurred this season.

Pittman said Arkansas didn’t play very well in the first half.

“We got it to 16-10 and I thought we had a really good chance,” he said. “Unfortunately we had tipped the ball up and hit it to intercept it. They scored on the next play. Three turnovers to no turnovers against a team like LSU because I think they’re a really good team that’s tough to win.”

Number of crowds

The Razorbacks drew 75,893 fans in the loss to LSU, marking the fourth-largest attendance in Reynolds Razorback Stadium history.

Attendance was the UA’s highest since a 24-20 loss to No. 1 Alabama in 2010.

Snap trap

LSU was assessed 11 penalties for 80 yards, all of them on the offensive side, and eight of them were either false starts or illegal snaps.

Although the violations repeatedly put the Tigers behind the uprights, they overcame most of them, including one on their first touchdown drive and two on their second drive, which led to a Damian Ramos field goal.

“We had three that left our center on the fence, and sometimes it’s the quarterback who takes a little too much time,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “I think the responsibility for that lies with the management of the entire offense.

“We could easily say it was the noise of the crowd. Sometimes we need to find a better rhythm and get the receivers into position quicker. Sometimes it’s a fire drill out there. Garrett (Nussmeier) receives information. So, you see, we have to clean up all of this because something like this can’t continue to happen. There were more punishments than I would have liked. We’ll go back and take a closer look, but it’s not a single person. The entire administration needs to become cleaner.”

Next

The Razorbacks play their second-to-last road game of the season against Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., on Saturday at 11:45 a.m.

Mississippi State (1-6, 0-4) joins Auburn as the only winless teams in conference play, while Ole Miss (1-2), Oklahoma (1-3) and Kentucky (1-4) each have a win.

The Bulldogs are winless since their season opener with a 56-7 win against Eastern Kentucky. However, first-year coach Jeff Lebby’s team played within 10 points of well-regarded teams Georgia and Texas A&M over the last two weeks, losing 41-31 in Athens, Ga., and 34-24 at home to the Aggies on Saturday.