FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema’s most intense postgame media moment came when he was discussing the touchdown Rutgers scored just before halftime.
Bielema called the 68-yard touchdown drive “huge” and voiced his frustration over Jarrett Lake’s senseless personal-foul penalty on a push of quarterback Gary Nova just out of bounds with the Scarlet Knights about to face third-and-21 at the Arkansas 30.
Lake’s push on Nova came one player after defensive end Chris Smith sacked Nova for a 15-yard loss.
“We get a negative-yard play,” Bielema said. “We take them really, probably, out of field-goal range and then we have a personal foul.”
Bielema called Arkansas’ penalties, which included a face mask by Tevin Mitchel and a holding call on Mitch Smothers “absolutely insane.”
Lake was immediately pulled from the game to get an earful from Bielema on the sideline.
“Foolish,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said of the defensive penalties.
“The one that really hurt us was a personal foul. … You just can’t go on the road, or at home, you can’t beat anybody any good if you’re going to make mistakes like that.”
Nova found tight end Tyler Kroft two plays after the Lake penalty for a 15-yard touchdown that trimmed Arkansas’ halftime lead to 10-7. Kroft was being defended by inside linebacker Austin Jones, .
Earlier, Nova said it was the Scarlet Knights who were killing themselves with mistakes.
“We knew that we really wanted to get on the board, even if it was a field goal,” Nova said. “Luckily it was a touchdown and we were excited in the locker room and we knew we had set ourselves up with a chance to win.”
Now wearing 82
Arkansas had to switch deep snapper Alan D’Appollonio’s jersey number from 53 to 82 to make him eligible to catch the pass on a fake punt against Rutgers.
Sam Irwin-Hill took the snap and began running right as he’s done often on rugby kicks. This time, he pulled up and completed a 24-yard pass to the wide open D’Appollonio at the Rutgers 27, setting up a 42-yard Zach Hocker field goal for the game’s first points.
Assisant Coach Charlie Partridge said the scheme was a group effort led by Coach Bret Bielema.
“He was the lead on that one, without a shadow of a doubt,” Partridge said, “and certainly it was a team effort as the week went on, to tweak it and get it to a point where we felt good about calling it.”Sack-sations
The Razorbacks posted a season-high five sacks against Rutgers, led by freshman tackle Darius Philon’s two sacks for 15yards. Ends Trey Flowers and Chris Smith and linebacker Martrell Spaight had one each.
Arkansas moved up to No. 10 nationally with its 14 sacks for an average of 3.5 per game, best in the SEC.
Pick problems
Arkansas won the turnover battle 3-0 with fumble recoveries by Jarrett Lake and Chris Smith and Tevin Mitchel’s 26-yard interception return for a touchdown, but not registering takeaway No. 4 proved costly.
Linebackers Martrell Spaight and Otha Peters had their hands on quarterback Gary Nova passes deep in Rutgers territory early in the fourth quarter with Arkansas ahead 24-14.
“Two opportunities that guys had a chance to make plays, and they didn’t do it,” linebackers coach Randy Shannon said. “You only get so many chances to do those types of things, so they’re kind of down on themselves a little bit, which is good, because they know they have a long ways to go, and they’ll continue to improve.”
Peters, seeing his first extended action at linebacker this season, had a cast on his right hand, which made his potential pickoff more difficult.
“I understand he’s wearing a cast, but that’s a missed opportunity, and he knows it,” Shannon said. “That could have been a game-changer.” Derby day
Junior AJ Derby completed 14 of 26 passes for 137 yards, with 1 touchdown and no interceptions in his first college start.
“I thought he did solid,” offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. “He played a solid game. That’s what I would say. He missed some throws out there, but he made a few throws that were pretty good too. So I think for his first outing on the road he played solid. We need AJ to throw the ball a little bit more accurately down the field. He’s aware of that. We watched the tape and he’ll work on that all week.”
Sophomore Brandon Allen, who started the first three games, is questionable this week with an injury to his right (throwing) shoulder.
Numbers don’t add
Defensive coordinator Chris Ash said Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova showed great courage to stay in the game after the pounding he took from the Arkansas rush.
“I really can’t recall I’ve been in one where you’ve got three takeaways, you’ve got a defensive score and five sacks, and you hit the quarterback several other times and you don’t come away victorious,” Ash said.
“That just goes to show you the only stat that matters is the number of points on the board.”A&M bits
No. 10 Texas A&M beat SMU 42-13 on Saturday, giving the Aggies 40-plus points in their first four games for the first time ever.
The Aggies replaced kicker Taylor Bertolet after he missed consecutive extra-point attempts against SMU. His replacement, Josh Lambo, missed his first attempt after a bad hold, giving the Aggies three misses in a row in the second quarter. Lambo remained in the game, booting the final extra point and a 40-yard field goal.
SMU did not take a snap inside the Texas A&M 25 on Saturday, with the Mustangs’ only touchdown coming on a 31-yard pass.
The Aggies had 13 penalties for 114 yards.
Cowan close
Receiver D’Arthur Cowan could be on the brink of returning from the broken bone in his foot suffered during camp.
“The prognosis looks good,” receivers coach Michael Smith said. “We don’t know yet until we get him on the field Tuesday.”Carroo’ed
Freshman Leonte Carroo burned the Razorbacks for two fourth-quarter touchdowns: a 33-yarder on fourth-and-12 that beat Tevin Mitchel down the right sideline and a 4-yard slant against Will Hines on the other side.
“As a corner, you go through those things,” Mitchel said. “You go through big plays and great plays. It’s an island. You’re out there by yourself. You just have to win more of those than you lose.”Arkansas (2-1) DATE OPPONENT (TV) TIME/RESULT Aug. 31 La.-Lafayette (FSN) W, 34-14 Sept. 7 Samford (PPV)+ W, 31-21 Sept. 14 So. Miss. (SECN) W, 24-3 Sept. 21 at Rutgers (ESPN) L, 28-24 Sept. 28 Texas A&M*(ESPN2) 6 p.m. Oct. 5 at Florida TBA Oct. 12 South Carolina TBA Oct. 19 at Alabama TBA Nov. 2 Auburn TBA Nov. 9 at Mississippi TBA Nov. 23 Mississippi State+ TBA Nov. 29 at LSU TBA SEC game +At War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock
Sports, Pages 20 on 09/23/2013