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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In front of 70,072 fans on homecoming week, the Arkansas Razorbacks lost in embarrassing fashion to the Liberty Flames, 21-19.
The loss drops Arkansas to 5-4 on the season, with home games against LSU and Ole Miss, and a road trip to Missouri to finish the season.
Here are the answers to the five questions the Hogs had prior to the game:
Will the Hogs defer to the second half?
Liberty won the toss and deferred the ball to the second half, putting Arkansas’ offense on the field to start the game. As has been the case throughout the season, the offense started the game sluggish, going three and out, a sequence they would repeat often throughout the game.
Throughout the course of most games this season, the Hogs have been able to get some semblance of an offensive rhythm, but the starts for the unit have been poor to say the least.
In all but one game so far — the Week 2 win over South Carolina — Arkansas’ offense has punted the ball on their first possession, whether they started the game with it or not. That trend continued Saturday.
2. Who starts at quarterback for Liberty?
Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze played mind games throughout the week, using injuries and illnesses as a way to cloud who would take snaps for the Flames on Saturday until Friday night, when it was announced via Twitter that Johnathan Bennett would start for Liberty.
There was speculation that redshirt freshman Nate Hampton would get the nod, but Bennett, who has started for most of the season, was the guy Freeze sent out to start the game.
3. Can a healthy secondary step up against Flames’ passing attack?
All things considered, the secondary played decent, given they were on the field for over 30 minutes due to a lack of offensive success for most of the game. Bennett completed 15-of-25 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns and an interception.
The Flames did attack the secondary deep several times, once at the beginning of the second half. Backed up deep in their own territory, Bennett tossed a dime to Demario Douglas for 42 yards.
4. Will fans see Quincy McAdoo in the secondary?
After receiving praise from teammates and coaches since moving to cornerback, McAdoo got on the field in the secondary and made the most of his opportunity. On defense, he snagged a timely interception after an Arkansas turnover backed the defense up deep in their own territory.
He also made a huge play on special teams, blocking a punt that bounced through the back of the end zone for a safety. After the game, McAdoo said it was the support from friends and family in the stands that pushed him to play well.
“Coming from a small town, that’s all I got, all my people,” McAdoo said. “Everybody that was in the stands, it just felt like I was back at home again.”
McAdoo said he isn’t sure if he’ll stick to defense moving forward or if he would move back to the wide receiver room. He’s just “a football player. I like to play football.”
5. Can the Arkansas offense keep up its hot streak?
There are many reasons why the answer to this question is “no.” Pittman called it a lack of execution. Haselwood said after the game the offense was “not in sync.” The inability to control the line with 14 tackles for loss didn’t help either.
It took almost the entire first quarter for the offense to have positive rushing yards, sitting at -16 until a 19-yard run by running back AJ Green. Quarterback KJ Jefferson, who Pittman said was “banged up” in the game, threw for 284 yards on 23-of-37 passing, but also threw two interceptions.
As a whole, the offense didn’t get points on the board until the clock expired at the half, with a 50-yard field goal by kicker Cam Little. The first seven drives of the game ended in either a punt, turnover on downs, or an interception.
By the time the offense did start to get going, it became a race against the clock, and a missed two-point conversion sealed the fate for the Razorbacks.