FAYETTEVILLE — Bobby Petrino wasted no time in deflecting some blame from his much-maligned defense after his first home contest as Arkansas football interim coach.
In the postgame press conference after the Razorbacks (2-5, 0-3 SEC) 45-42 loss to No. 4 Texas A&M on Saturday, Oct. 18, Petrino used his opening statement to stress that no loss can be pinned on one unit.
“One thing I wanted to make clear in the in the locker room was that it’s a team loss,” Petrino said. “The offense’s job is to outscore them by at least one point. The defense’s job is to hold them to one less point, and special teams have got to give us some plays. So, we didn’t we didn’t accomplish that.”
It’s an admirable sentiment from the Arkansas play-caller, but it’s difficult to argue that Petrino’s telling the truth.
The Hogs’ defense continues to be the biggest factor in this season’s downward spiral. Against the Aggies (7-0, 4-0), Arkansas forced two punts, allowed seven scoring drives and failed to get off the field on three fourth-down conversions from Texas A&M.
All three successful fourth downs resulted in touchdowns for the Aggies.
“We’ve just got to stop them. That’s what we do. We play defense, so we just have to stop them,” Sorey said.
The biggest issue for the Arkansas defense is an overmatched defensive line. The Hogs recorded zero sacks and only two tackles for loss against Texas A&M. The Aggies ran for 217 yards and stayed ahead of the chains. Seven penalties hardly had a negative impact, with the big bodies up front paving the way for explosive plays to get Texas A&M drives back on track.
The lack of a pass rush is having negative impacts across the field. Arkansas’ secondary is having to cover for too much time, and minimal pressure on the opposing quarterback led to a second straight game with zero takeaways. Marcel Reed completed 22 of 32 passes for 280 yards and three scores.
“Turnovers come by pressuring the quarterback and hitting the quarterback and disrupting the quarterback, both fumbling and interceptions, because when you disrupt him and hit him as he’s releasing the ball and getting tipped balls, then you get interceptions,” Petrino said.
These defensive struggles are spoiling an Arkansas offense that should be celebrated. This was the fourth game this year the Razorbacks have lost despite scoring more than 30 points. Arkansas out-gained Texas A&M 527-497, and the Aggies scored a touchdown every single time they got the ball back after the Hogs cut the deficit to one score.
Quarterback Taylen Green should have been the hero on Dickson Street Saturday night.
After sustaining an injury midway through the second quarter, Green returned with a knee brace and played one of the finest games of his career. He completed 19 of 32 passes for 256 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Green finished with 86 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Without sacks, he would have ran for 132 yards.
“(Green’s) as tough as they come,” Petrino said. “He competed extremely hard, threw the ball, ran the ball, operated the offense. Changed protections, did everything he possibly could do to get us the win.”
Instead, Week 8 ended with a fifth straight loss, and time is running out for Petrino and his remade coaching staff to right the ship on defense.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@gannett.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas football defense ruins upset chance vs Texas A&M
