Ryan Silverfield’s first win at Arkansas on Saturday was supposed to be a celebratory affair. While the new Razorbacks coach received the customary game ball presentation from athletic director Hunter Yurachek in the locker room, Silverfield wasn’t all that enthused about his team’s performance against North Alabama.
While Arkansas ultimately did what it needed to and came away with a 31-14 victory against the Lions, the way its offense played left much to be desired. The Razorbacks fell well short of the massive 40.5-point spread, and while they gained 415 yards against their overmatched FCS foe, Silverfield left with a long list of needed improvements before this week’s game against Utah.
“Today’s performance certainly wasn’t to the standard and the expectations that we all want and expect, especially in this new regime,” Silverfield said.
Starting quarterback KJ Jackson threw for three touchdowns and 267 yards, but also threw an interception, lost a fumble and completed 68% of his passes.
But the biggest disappointment for Arkansas fans on Saturday was the play of the offensive line, which did not generate the necessary push to unlock the run game against a vastly overmatched North Alabama defensive line.
Last year, the Lions gave up 179.2 rushing yards per game against mostly FCS competition; Arkansas rushed for just 148 yards on Saturday, with no running back eclipsing 50.
The offensive line graded out poorly, receiving a 52.3 grade from Pro Football Focus in run blocking. Arkansas also allowed three sacks and five tackles for loss.
The rushing attack was supposed to be Arkansas’ strength on offense, so the display on Saturday was a shock.
“Didn’t do a good enough job running the football. Obviously a turnover before halftime cannot happen. Absolutely inexcusable. The offensive line’s got to play better and see the run throughs, but that’s everybody,” Silverfield said.
“And then ultimately not being able to take care of the football. We said we want to play clean, disciplined football and take care of the football. We didn’t do that.”
Silverfield, who coached at Memphis for the past six years before taking the Arkansas job, called it “one of the worst offensive performances that I’ve been a part of.”
The lone bright spot for the Razorbacks, who snapped a 10-game losing streak with the win, was the play of their defense.
Even with an inefficient offense, Arkansas blanked North Alabama through nearly three quarters and held the Lions to only 153 yards of total offense and an astounding 40 yards of rushing. At halftime, North Alabama had just 18 yards of offense.
Arkansas finished with two sacks, five tackles for loss and a recovered fumble.
“I think the defense played lights out in the first half. Quite pleased with the way they played. Want our fans to know that’s Razorback defense that they can come to expect and to love,” Silverfield said.
“Start off the game with four three-and-outs and ran to the football and did some really good things defensively in the first half. Second half defensively, gave up an explosive play and a couple penalties.”
After a tune-up opener, things get real for the Razorbacks as they travel to Salt Lake City for a late kickoff at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday. Yurachek made waves this offseason by complaining about the 8:15 p.m. MDT kickoff time (9:15 p.m Central).
Arkansas plays at home vs. Georgia the following week at 11 a.m. Central. ESPN decided both kickoff times.
“I am extremely concerned and displeased about the recently released kickoff times for our football program in consecutive weeks this September and the impact it will have on the well-being of our student-athletes,” Yurachek wrote in a post on X.
“... This assigned schedule will cost our student-athletes nearly a full day of rest and recovery that they would otherwise have available to them. This is not simply a competitive disadvantage — it is a genuine welfare issue for the young men who represent our program and contribute greatly to the bottom line of our television partners.”
Arkansas will undoubtedly be walking into a fired-up Rice-Eccles Stadium, which has garnered a reputation for being hard to win at at night, and the crowd noise could make communication harder for the offensive line.
To pull off the upset as 11.5-point underdogs, the Razorbacks are going to have to be much, much sharper offensively than they were on Saturday.
“We got a quick turnaround and get ready for a heck of a challenge on the road versus Utah. Excited to watch this film and learn from it, but so many, so many opportunities that we can improve upon and we better do it very, very quickly,” Silverfield said.
Just as the season gets very real, very fast for Arkansas, it does for Utah as well.
While the Utes looked much better than the Hogs in their 66-14 win over Idaho, the first real test for Morgan Scalley’s team is now here.
Yes, Arkansas’ offensive line wasn’t impressive Saturday, but the Razorbacks are still much bigger, stronger and more skilled than Idaho’s line. They represent the first checkpoint for Utah’s defensive tackles, which were one of the question marks on the team heading into the season.
On the other side of the ball, the Hogs’ run defense was impressive Saturday, and though Arkansas didn’t get to the quarterback as often as it would have liked, the defensive line’s play will give the Razorbacks confidence heading into Salt Lake City.
Utah’s offensive line is still figuring itself out but had a solid — though not overwhelmingly impressive — performance against Idaho, even while missing projected starter Keith Olson and contributor Isaiah Garcia.
The Utes used the tune-up game to test out plenty of different players on both lines, with mostly backups playing in the second half.
Saturday’s matchup against Arkansas will go a long way in telling us what this Utah team could be. Though the Razorbacks are picked to finish last in the SEC and opened the season in an inauspicious way on offense, they could still pull the upset against a Ute team still working out the kinks, especially along the lines.
“We got Arkansas coming up next. They play on Saturday, so our guys will be watching that. We’ll break down the film, find ways to improve and get better,” Scalley said.
