PISCATAWAY, N.J. - A game Arkansas seemed to have in its grasp slipped through its fingers in the fourth quarter as Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova stuck it to the Razorbacks again.
Rutgers (3-1) rallied from a 17-point deficit in the final 18 minutes, using two long punt returns from freshman Janarion Grant and Nova’s clutch passing to surge past Arkansas 28-24 before a crowd of 51,969 at High Point Solutions Stadium on Saturday.
Arkansas (3-1) managed 35 fourth-quarter yards and rushed for 3 yards on 6 carries after dominating the final quarter during its 3-0 start.
“They’re a tremendous football team that played a four-quarter game and did a really nice job of executing in the fourth quarter when we didn’t,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said.
“Rutgers is a good team, but we kind of gave the game away,” Arkansas tailback Jonathan Williams said.
Rutgers swept the two-game nonconference series over the Razorbacks, and Nova, who was sacked five times by the Hogs, was the point man.
Nova, a junior who bounced back after suffering a concussion one week ago, completed 22 of 43 passes for 346 yards and 3 touchdowns, including the game-winner on a 4-yard slant to Leonte Carroo with 5:18 remaining. Nova was 47 of 78 for 743 yards and 8 touchdowns in his games against Arkansas.
Carroo caught 5 passes for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns while tight end Tyler Kroft worked the middle of the Arkansas defense and caught 6 passes for 133 yards and 1 touchdown.
“We were punching them and punching them, but we knew they were a good team that was going to fight their way back,” said Arkansas defensive end Chris Smith, who had a sack and a fumble recovery that set up a touchdown. “We just let it slip away from us.”
Arkansas led 24-14 early in the fourth quarter and had Rutgers backed up to its 5 when the game began to turn.
Arkansas linebacker Martrell Spaight had a Nova pass rifle through his hands on second-and-14. Then, after Nova completed a 14-yard pass to move the chains, linebacker Otha Peters had a blitz-beater pass over the middle trickle off his hands to prevent the Hogs from taking over deep in Rutgers territory.
“All the momentum was on our side, we’ve just got to have that mentality to put our foot on their throat,” Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers said. “We’ve got to deliver more punches than we get.”
Bielema said he told his team that a series of unmade plays or mistakes - such as linebacker Jarrett Lake’s personal foul push on Nova late in the first half, which set up Rutgers’ first score - can make the difference.
“Sometimes a team does some things to give the ballgame away before the other team … wins it,” Bielema said. “I’m not taking anything from Rutgers.
“I don’t know what our penalty totals were, but they’re absolutely insane. That’s just something that needs to be eliminated. We cannot win football games … you will not win a football game you’re supposed to creating penalty yardage like we did.”
The Razorbacks, playing without starting quarterback Brandon Allen, introduced an array of brazen plays and put them to good use to build a 24-7 lead midway through the third quarter.
Punter Sam Irwin-Hill completed a pass off a fake punt to snapper Alan D’Appollonio to set up a first-quarter field goal, and Jonathan Williams connected with tight end Hunter Henry on a 21-yard halfback pass for a touchdown to help the Razorbacks put Rutgers on its heels.
“I think the fake punt and the halfback pass, those were things that kind of have been in our system, but we knew we would have to kind of steal some first downs today in order to be productive,” Bielema said.
The pregame hype centered on the power run games of both teams, but the expected duel between Rutgers’ Paul James and Arkansas’ Alex Collins and Williams never materialized.
The Scarlet Knights held the Hogs’ 11th-rated rushing game to 101 yards on 34 carries. James ran 17 times for 80 yards, but he appeared to suffer an ankle injury in the third quarter and never regained form.
Arkansas quarterback AJ Derby missed some open receivers and had a few passes dropped by receivers. The walk-on finished 14 of 26 for 137 yards and 1 touchdown.
Perhaps the key play in the game came when Rutgers, trailing 24-14, called timeout facing fourth-and-12 from the Arkansas. Nova threw a go route down the right sideline to Carroo, who raced past Arkansas cornerback Tevin Mitchel to haul in the touchdown pass and stoke the home crowd even more.
“It was deafening loud when they were on offense in that fourth quarter, and I can’t thank them enough for that,” Rutgers Coach Kyle Flood said of the crowd. “That is what a home field advantage should be. It’s what a home field advantage can do for a football team, and it’s one of the factors in the win today, there’s no doubt about it.”
Arkansas had all the momentum early in the second half.
Derby had his best moments directing a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended on his 17-yard pass to Javontee Herndon.
Henry’s touchdown catch came one play after Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers sacked Nova and forced a fumble that end Chris Smith recovered deep in Rutgers territory.
“We made big plays, it just wasn’t enough to win,” Flowers said.
One of those big plays came late in the first quarter with Arkansas leading 3-0. Flowers applied enough pressure on Nova to force a wild pass that Mitchel intercepted and returned 26 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 Arkansas lead.
The Scarlet Knights got their crowd back into it when Grant returned a rugby punt 58 yards for a touchdown to slice Arkansas’ lead to 24-14 with 2:14 left in the third quarter.
Rutgers could not capitalize on early opportunities.
The Scarlet Knights blended Nova’s passing to Kroft and the running of James to rack up seven first downs and 126 total yards on its first two series, but they were fruitless.
Rutgers reached the Arkansas 8 after five snaps and a pass interference call on Braylon Mitchell on its first drive. But Nova erred making a read option decision and the ball squirted loose to the Arkansas 19, where Lake recovered.
Rutgers was quickly back on the move after Arkansas went three and out. Nova completed six throws for 66 yards in a seven-play stretch, but the Hogs started getting to the junior quarterback.
Darius Philon had a clean hit on Nova just as he dumped off a screen pass to James, then Philon blew past guard Isaac Holmes for a 6-yard sack. The series bogged down at the 15 when Chris Smith forced an errant pass and a third-down blitz forced a bad Nova pass.
Sports, Pages 23 on 09/22/2013