Arkansas Football: Razorbacks need late game plays to beat FCS Opponent

Despite paying the opponent to play them, Arkansas Football didn’t have a lead till the fourth quarter against Missouri State. The Razorbacks struggled with turnovers in this game. Arkansas needed help from special teams to beat former coach Bobby Petrino’s squad.

The Arkansas Razorbacks beat the Missouri State Bears, 38-27. In a game where Arkansas Football paid Missouri State to play them, the Bears were leading in the fourth quarter. In fact, they took a two-possession lead with 12:04 to go in the fourth.

Arkansas got to this point because of offensive struggles. The Razorbacks either fumbled or punted away the ball to start the game on offense. None of their four drives to start the game ended up lasting more than 6 plays. On defense, the Razorbacks struggled to defend the passing game.

Jason Shelley had the game of a lifetime, throwing for 357 yards on 24 completions. The Bears took a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter. After a big play by KJ Jefferson to start the drive, Raheim Sanders ran the ball well and took the Razorbacks down the field for a touchdown.

After miscues by Arkansas on offense and multiple punts by the Bears, the Razorbacks scored again behind a nice two-play drive by Jefferson and Co.. Jefferson unleashed his big play capabilities by finding Matt Landers and Jadon Haselwood for big plays deep consecutively to get a touchdown for the Razorbacks.

The game would go into half, 17-14 Bears. While Arkansas woke up in the second half, the college football world was shocked by the score of this game. While college football fans had this game noted as the return of Bobby Petrino after his infamous run as head coach at Arkansas (among other coaching stops), they did not think this game would be at close at half, nonetheless, have Petrino’s squad up.

The half started out with an interception by the Bears on the first Razorbacks’ drive coming out of the half. On a tipped ball, Todd Chambers picked up an interception. Turnovers were an issue all night for the Razorbacks, as they had three turnovers for the game. The Razorbacks would force a three and out and on their next offensive drive, they would go down the field to tie the game, 17-17.

Jason Shelley responded by showcasing his arm on a fourth and 1 pass that would lead to a touchdown for the Bears. After an Arkansas punt, the Bears would have a nice drive that led to a field goal and wasted four minutes off the clock. This is when the Razorbacks woke up.

KJ Jefferson threw for a 72-yard touchdown on the second play of the ensuing drive. After a three-and-out from the Bears offense, they would have to punt the ball to the Razorbacks. Arkansas would return the punt return for a touchdown. Bryce Stephens ran for 82 yards on a punt return that flipped the game. Arkansas would never look back, and they would win the game, 38-27.

For a team that paid its opponent to play them, the fact that the game was close should worry Arkansas fans. Despite getting the victory, I am not as confident as I used to be in the Razorbacks going forward.

Jason Shelley and the rest of the Bears have a lot to be proud after playing this team close. I did find it a bit strange that the majority was rooting for Arkansas to win online because of Bobby Petrino’s past. Besides that, Shelley and the rest of the Bears players have a lot to be proud of after they played an opponent close that paid their school to play them.

After beating Cincinnati and South Carolina (they destroyed South Carolina by the way, only a 14-point game because of late gameplay that didn’t matter because the game was already over), I was very confident in the Razorbacks. I thought they may have been the second-best team behind Alabama in the SEC West. After this game, I am not so sure. Hopefully, it was just a one-off and they will play better next week against Texas A&M.