Razorbacks at home against Colorado State
Hogs look to get a much-needed win against the Rams in Fayetteville
sports@theeveningtimes.com
The Arkansas Razorbacks lost their SEC opener to the Ole Miss Rebels on the road, 31-17, are they are looking to bounce back in Fayetteville this coming Saturday in a non-conference matchup against the Colorado State Rams.
With the loss to the Rebs in Oxford, the Razorbacks’ SEC losing streak reached 12 games. Junior Nick Starkel took over at quarterback for senior Ben Hicks to start the second half and brought a spark to the squad, completing 17 of his 24 passing attempts for 201 yards and a touchdown. Hicks went 7 of 16 for 98 yards in the first half.
The Hog defense lost their legs in the second half, and they allowed 246 yards through the air in the contest and another 237 on the ground. Ole Miss running back Scottie Phillips put up 143 yards and 2 touchdowns on 26 carries.
“I’m extremely disappointed. We’ve got a group of young men and coaches that are invested deeply into this program, and there’s a lot of disappointment,” Arkansas coach Chad Morris said after the game. “It’s hard to win in the SEC on the road, and it’s really hard when you make as many mistakes as we made tonight.”
“Disappointed. I thought we did some good things, but I thought we did some bad things. We have a lot to improve on, and we’re going to get back in there tomorrow and make corrections we need to make,” Razorback linebacker Bumper Pool said.
“Our culture is so much different than it was last season. We’re going to take this loss and the mistakes we made today and get it corrected Sunday, then we’re going to have a fresh mindset going into next week.”
The Rams won their latest game against FCS-level Western Illinois, 38-13, in Ft. Collins to advance to 1-1. Colorado State lost its season opener the week before to in-state rival Colorado. The Buffaloes only led by three points at halftime but were able to pull away in the end, 52-31.
Junior quarterback Collin Hill has put together an excellent season for the Rams, so far. He has thrown for 741 yards while completing 56 of his 79 attempts on the year. The South Carolina product has also managed to throw seven touchdowns in two games and has accumulated a quarterback rating of 173.85.
Mike Bobo is the head coach at Colorado State, and the former Georgia offensive coordinator has done some good things since taking over prior to the 2015 season. The Rams finished 7-6 every year during Bobo’s first three seasons at the helm, but the members of the Mountain West Conference slipped to 3-8 last season.
Last season in Ft. Collins, the Razorbacks let the game slip away from them, losing to the Rams, 34-27. After trailing 27-9 late in the third quarter, Colorado State scored 25 straight points, including the game-winning touchdown with eight seconds left to play. The loss was a gut punch for the Hogs, who went on to finish the season 2-10.
