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Hogs happy to be home, but tough stretch awaits | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Hogs happy to be home, but tough stretch awaits | 
  Arkansas Democrat Gazette


ARLINGTON, Texas — The University of Arkansas football team will finally get to spend some extended time at home.

After playing its first five games in five different locations, four of Arkansas’ next five games are at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the Razorbacks’ next four games in Fayetteville are against ranked SEC opponents with a combined 17-2 record.

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Arkansas (3-2, 1-1 SEC) began its run of playing ranked conference teams with a 21-17 loss to No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The gauntlet continues when Arkansas plays No. 4 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at home on ABC with the network’s top crew of play-by-play man Chris Fowler, analyst Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporter Holly Rowe working the game.

While the Razorbacks were suffering their latest soul-crushing loss to the Aggies — who are 12-1 in the series since 2012 with six victories by seven or fewer points with three going overtime — the Volunteers had an open date and should come to Fayetteville rested and ready to continue competing for a spot in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

Tennessee welcomed No. 19 Oklahoma to the SEC with a 25-15 victory at Norman, Okla., on Sept. 21 in a game it led 22-3. The Volunteers also crushed NC State 51-10 in Charlotte, N.C.

Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman understandably is embracing the challenge and opportunity that awaits the Razorbacks rather than lamenting the strength of schedule for their upcoming games.

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“Excited,” Pittman said. “Excited to play the University of Tennessee at home.”

Before playing in Arlington, Arkansas beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Little Rock; lost at then-No. 16 Oklahoma State 39-31 in double overtime in Stillwater, Okla.; beat Alabama-Birmingham in Fayetteville; and won at Auburn.

“It’ll be nice to get back home,” Pittman said. “We’ve got a good football team. We just didn’t score as many (points as Texas A&M).”

Texas A&M, which is tied for No. 25 with UNLV in The Associated Press poll released on Sunday, handed Arkansas its sixth consecutive loss to a ranked team.

Arkansas is 0-2 against ranked teams this season, including the loss at Oklahoma State, which fell out of the AP poll after losing at Kansas State 42-20 on Saturday.

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The Razorbacks were 0-4 against ranked teams last season. Arkansas lost at No. 12 LSU 34-31, at No. 16 Ole Miss 27-20, at No. 11 Alabama 24-20 and at home to No. 10 Missouri 48-14.

Arkansas last beat a ranked team in 2022 with their 42-27 victory over No. 14 Ole Miss in Fayetteville.

If Arkansas is to qualify for a bowl game this season and finish no worse than 6-6, the Razorbacks have to beat at least one ranked team along with Mississippi State and Louisiana Tech.

Arkansas has an open date after the Tennessee game, then is home against No. 13 LSU, plays at Mississippi State and is back home against No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 2 Texas.

The Razorbacks then play their last nonconference game against Louisiana Tech in Fayetteville and finish the regular season on the road against No. 9 Missouri.

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The losses to ranked teams last season resulted in a 4-8 record.

“I feel like we’re a lot closer this year,” said Arkansas senior defensive end Landon Jackson, who had two sacks against the Aggies. “We’re a really tight-knit group. I feel like we can’t let a game, a tough loss, a really close game that we wish we could have had, we can’t let that tear us apart.

“We’ve got to stay together and continue to fight. SEC play is brutal.

“You’re playing ranked teams and then crap, I mean, there’s teams in the SEC that aren’t ranked that are better than ranked teams.

“Every week’s a tough game, so we’ve got to stay together and continue to fight.”

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Senior receiver Isaac TeSlaa had his best game in two seasons as a Razorback with five catches for 120 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown.

“You hate to play the comparison game, comparing last year to this year, just because there’s so many different pieces,” TeSlaa said. “But I would definitely say there’s a lot of camaraderie within the team.

“Obviously, as an offense and as a defense, but both as the team as a whole, I think there’s a lot of support going both ways.”

Arkansas fell to 6-16 under Pittman in games decided by eight or fewer points, including 1-7 since last season. The Razorbacks’ lone one-score victory in that span was 39-36 in overtime at Florida last season.

“We’ve got to figure it out,” Pittman said. “We’ve got to continue to work on how to win these games.

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“I expect our team to be ready to play and our fans to be ready to support us and help us with crowd noise and all that, but it’ll be nice to get back home.”



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Arkansas

Suwannapura eagles 2nd hole of playoff to outlast Li in NW Arkansas Championship

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Suwannapura eagles 2nd hole of playoff to outlast Li in NW Arkansas Championship


ROGERS, Ark. (AP) Jasmine Suwannapura made a 12-foot eagle putt on the second hole of a playoff with Lucy Li to win the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday.

Suwannapura – playing in the group behind Li – also eagled the par-5 18th in regulation to force the playoff at Pinnacle Country Club. They each birdied the 18th on the first extra hole.

Suwannapura shot a career-best 10-under 61, playing the back nine in 7-under 28, to match Li at 17-under 196. Tied for 25th entering the day, Li shot a tournament-record and career-best 60, making her third eagle of the round on 18.

“Lucy was not the easy player to play in a playoff with, so I’m really glad to play and stay calm and stay within myself, play my game,” said Suwannapura, who jumped into husband-caddie Michael Thomas’ arms after the winning putt. “Today happened, so I’m very happy.”

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Suwannapura won her third LPGA Tour title, playing the last 22 holes without a bogey. The 31-year-old Thai player also won the 2018 Marathon Classic and teamed with Cydney Clanton to take the 2019 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

“It’s been a long time, and there is a time that I think I probably not going to win again,” Suwannapura said. “But today everything just fall in the right place, right time. And we did it with my husband is even more special.”

Li, the 21-year-old American who played in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at age 11, missed a chance for her first LPGA Tour victory.

“I had honestly no clue that this was going to happen,” Li said. “I did not think I was in it at all. I mean, after two three-putts in the first four holes I was just like, `I don’t know.′ And then some magic came and I shot 60. Even though I didn’t win, just this is the greatest thing.”

Sei Young Kim was a stroke back after a 63. She made a 20-footer for eagle on 18.

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Mao Saigo (65) and Arpichaya Yubol (66) tied for fourth at 14 under, and second-round leader Ashleigh Buhai (69) was sixth at 13 under.

University of Arkansas sophomore Maria Marin topped the Razorbacks contingent in the field, closing with a 69 to tie for 17th at 10 under in her first tour start.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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Kickoff time announced for Tennessee-Arkansas football game

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Kickoff time announced for Tennessee-Arkansas football game


Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) will return to action in Week 6 after an open date.

The Vols will next play at Arkansas (3-2, 1-1 SEC). The game will be contested at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

A kickoff time has been determined for the Tennessee-Arkansas Southeastern Conference matchup. The Week 6 contest is slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday and ABC will televise the game.

READ: Updated SEC football power rankings after Week 5

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Tennessee has two open dates in 2024. Josh Heupel discussed having two off weeks this season.

“It’s different, it’s been a long time since I have had two during the course of the year, early part of it,” Heupel said. “Certainly need to continue to improve fundamentals and technique, and as you get to the second one I’ll probably look a little bit more at the health of your roster. Being intentional and making sure you are ready for that last run.”

Sam Pittman. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire



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Hogs call on Bale two times | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Hogs call on Bale two times | 
  Arkansas Democrat Gazette


ARLINGTON, Texas — The University of Arkansas special teams went 1 for 2 on fakes involving Devin Bale in Saturday’s 21-17 loss to No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday at AT&T Stadium.

In the first quarter Bale — who punts, kicks off and holds on field goal and extra point attempts — rushed for a first down on fourth-and-15 from the Arkansas 46 when he gained 25 yards on a fake punt.

Bale’s run set up a touchdown that put the Razorbacks ahead 14-7.

After Bale fielded the ball from long snapper Ashton Ngo, he took a few steps as if getting ready to rugby kick, then took off running when he saw an opening.

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“The fake punt was just a green light for Devin,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. “We had seen that they turn their back and I trust the guy.

“So we just said, ‘Hey, if they turn their back and you feel like you can get 15 yards, take off,’ and he did.

“And, man, he did a phenomenal job with that. Big play.”

Bale also was involved in a fake field goal attempt in the third quarter with the game tied 14-14.

The Razorbacks lined up for what would have been a 50-yard attempt by Kyle Ramsey on fourth-and-6 from the Texas A&M 32 when Bale took the snap from Ngo and got up to run.

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Instead of getting the first down, Bale was tackled for a 5-yard loss by safety Marcus Ratcliffe and defensive end Shemar Stewart.

Pittman said the Aggies initially showed the same look on field goal defense as they have this season, but they reacted differently.

“The problem was, they normally drop the two outside guys,” Pittman said. “We were trying to run Landon (Jackson) on a fake pass and we knew the guy would go with him if we could run him into the middle linebacker, and then kick out the outside guy because he always just came up and stopped.

“It was the exact same look, except they rushed off the edge, which they hadn’t shown this year. On a tackle-over situation to the boundary, they rushed and they got us on it.

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“Obviously, I felt like we’d make it or I wouldn’t have called it. But we didn’t.”

Back issue

Arkansas starting tight end Luke Hasz came out of the game with 11:26 left in the third quarter and didn’t return. He caught a pass from Taylen Green for a 2-yard gain, got up and grabbed his back, then motioned that he needed to come out. He went to bench and didn’t return.

“He came into the game with a back (issue),” Razorbacks Coach Sam Pittman said. “We felt like he could get through the game. He obviously could not.”

Hasz suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Texas A&M last season in the fifth game.

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First loss

Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino suffered his first loss in six games in which he’s coached at AT&T Stadium. He had been 5-0 in Arkansas-Texas A&M games with both teams.

Petrino was 3-0 as Arkansas’ head coach when the Razorbacks beat the Aggies three consecutive years, winning 47-19 in 2009, 24-17 in 2010 and 42-38 in 2011.

Petrino won again at AT&T Stadium when Arkansas beat Kansas State 29-16 in the Cotton Bowl to cap the 2011 season.

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Last season, when Petrino was Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator, the Aggies beat the Razorbacks 34-22.

In a rush

Arkansas running back Ja’Quinden Jackson has as many rushing touchdowns as the Razorbacks did all of last season.

Jackson’s 8-yard touchdown run with 4:50 left in the first quarter to put Arkansas ahead 14-7 was his ninth rushing touchdown in five games.

The Razorbacks had nine rushing touchdowns last season in 12 games with KJ Jefferson, Raheim Sanders and AJ Green sharing the team lead with two each.

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Arkansas has 17 rushing touchdowns this season.

First sacks

Landon Jackson, Arkansas’ senior All-SEC defensive end, finally got his first sacks of the season to make sure the Aggies didn’t get a score late in the second quarter to take a halftime lead.

Jackson broke through double-team blocking to sack Marcel Reed for a 9-yard loss to push the Aggies back to their 43.

With 25 seconds left before halftime and the scored tied 14-14, Texas A&M faced third-and-19 and chose not to run another play.

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Jackson was credited for another sack in the third quarter, when Reed was called for intentional grounding.

Arkansas sophomore defensive end Quincy Rhodes got the first sack of his career when he tackled Reed for a 7-yard loss in the third quarter.

60,000-plus

Announced attendance for Saturday’s game — with the contract expiring for the Arkansas-Texas A&M to be played at AT&T Stadium — was 60,928.

It was a slight increase over last season’s attendance of 59,437.

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The largest crowd at AT&T Stadium for an Arkansas-Texas A&M game was 71,872 in the teams’ first meeting there in 2009.

Going long

Taylen Green’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Isaac TeSlaa to cap Arkansas’ first possession was the longest play of the season for the Razorbacks.

The previous long play was Green’s 58-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna in Arkansas’ 24-14 victory at Auburn last week.

Green’s touchdown pass to Sategna was on third-and-19. His touchdown pass to TeSlaa was on third-and-10.

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Injury report

Arkansas starting cornerback Jaylon Braxton missed his third consecutive game because of a knee injury. Marquise Robinson started in Braxton’s place.

Hogs safety Hudson Clark dressed out but didn’t play because of a back injury that has sidelined him the last three games.

Tight end Andreas Paaske missed his second game in a row because of concussion protocol.

Guard Patrick Kutas still hasn’t played this season because of a back injury. Wide receiver Monte Harrison was out with an undisclosed injury.

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Running back Rashod Dubinion missed the game because of a suspension.

Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman missed his third consecutive game because of a shoulder injury and again was replaced in the starting lineup by Marcel Reed.

Vs. Aggies

Arkansas leads its series against Texas A&M 42-36-3, but the Aggies have been dominant in SEC matchups.

Since Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012, the Aggies are 12-1 against the Razorbacks, including 10-1 at AT&T Stadium.

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Arkansas’ only victory in its last 13 game against Texas A&M was in 2021 when the Razorbacks won 20-10 at AT&T Stadium.

Quick score

Arkansas took a 7-0 lead on Taylen Green’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Issac TeSlaa with 13:49 left in the first quarter.

It was the second-earliest score in the history of the Southwest Classic, which started in 2009 with the game played in Arlington.

The earliest score came in Texas A&M’s 35-28 overtime victory in 2014 when the Aggies took a 7-0 lead on Brandon Williams’ 13-yard touchdown run with 13:55 left in the first quarter.

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Honorary captains

Fred Marshall, a senior quarterback on Arkansas’ 1964 team that won a share of the national championship, served as an honorary captain along with R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M’s coach for 14 seasons from 1989-2002.

Marshall was an Arkansas teammate of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The two sat together at Saturday’s game in Jones’ private box. The 1964 Razorbacks finished 11-0, capped by a 10-7 victory over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.

Slocum led Texas A&M to a 124-47-2 record overall and three consecutive Southwest Conference championships from 1991-93.

For starters

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Arkansas opened in a two-tight end set as Luke Hasz — who has started every game — was joined in the lineup by Ty Washington. It was Washington’s first start of the season.

Quarterback Taylen Green kept the ball on a rushing attempt and was dropped for a 2-yard loss by defensive end Nic Scourton.

Rankled

Arkansas fell to 0-2 against ranked teams this season with its loss to No. 24 Texas A&M.

It was the second loss for Arkansas to a ranked team this season along with Oklahoma State’s 39-31 victory in double overtime on Sept. 7.

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The Cowboys were ranked No. 16 for their game against the Razorbacks and rose to No. 13 in the subsequent Associated Press poll.

After a 22-19 home loss to Utah last week, Oklahoma State fell to No. 20.

The Cowboys’ 42-20 road loss at Kansas State on Saturday likely will drop them out of the poll.



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