Bielema has experienced MAC heartache before

Saturday wasn’t the first time a Mid American Conference team caused heartbreak for a Bret Bielema-coached team early in the season.

The last time it happened, Bielema’s team went on to finish its season on a tear and win its first conference title in 70 years.

In 2003, when Bielema was a co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State, the Thundering Herd of Marshall rolled into Manhattan, Kansas, and stifled the No. 6 Wildcats’ run game for a 27-20 upset. Kansas State was only three yards from the end zone in the closing seconds, but its quarterback’s pass attempt fell incomplete as the buzzer sounded, setting off a raucous celebration for a Marshall team which had just beaten a ranked major college foe for the first time.

“We really got our tails handed to us that day pretty handedly,” Bielema said in aftermath of an eerily similar outcome when No. 18 Arkansas’ lost 12-16 to unranked MAC team in Little Rock on Saturday.

In the game’s final minutes against Toledo, the Hogs got as close as the 1-yard line from Toledo’s end zone but quarterback Brandon Allen misfired on a few touchdown pass attempts. Afterward, when asked for silver linings in the loss, Bielema brought up Marshall and his 2003 Kansas State team. He indicated he learned lessons in that setback which could help his team now.

So how, exactly, is Arkansas like that Kansas State team?

For starters, both squads dealt with injury issues before or during the upsets. Kansas State ‘03’s highly efficient starting quarterback missed the Marshall game with a broken hand.

Arkansas’ all-SEC running Jonathan Williams, of course, is out with an ankle injury. Early season injuries also hampered two key Kansas State defenders, while Arkansas suffered a spate of injuries within the Toledo game itself.

Kody Walker, the Hogs’ 260-pound running back, likely would have played a pivotal role in the second half had he not been sidelined by a thumb injury.

Below are other parallels which strengthen Bielema’s case for a comparison between UA-Toledo 2015 and KSU-Marshall 2003:

Running backs

Although held to 77 yards by Marshall, Kansas State junior Darren Sproles had a monstrous season for Kansas State - finishing with just under 2,000 yards. He remains the Wildcats’ all-time leading career rusher.

While Toledo held junior running back Alex Collins to 57 yards, Collins has shown in the past he can strongly bounce back. If the offensive line sharpens its run blocking, Collins projects to challenge Darren McFadden for Arkansas’ all-time career rushing title in the next two seasons.

Meltdown Season Not Far in the Rear View Mirror

Kansas State started the 2001 season on a high note, reaching as high as No. 11 early on, before a close loss to Oklahoma triggered a four-game losing streak. In that stretch the Wildcats lost their mojo to sputter to a 6-6 finish.

After the Marshall loss, Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder admitted he felt like they were on the verge of another “meltdown,” according to the The Salina Journal. But he also believed it was in his team’s control to right their ship.

The KSU seniors agreed. Another slide “is not what we’re thinking about,” all-American linebacker Josh Buhl said.

In 2012, the Hogs entered the season with Top 10 national rankings and high hopes of their own under interim head coach John L. Smith. Those hopes took a significant blow in a Week 2 upset loss to Louisiana-Monroe. En route to a 4-8 record, things got even worse the following week in blowout loss to Alabama.

The writing was on the wall for the fans and at least one coach, too. On the day of the Alabama game, former Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino approached a Crimson Tide assistant coach, said Dennis Dodd, a CBS Sports Columnist on the SEC on CBS Sports podcast.

Petrino whispered into the assistant’s ear something along the lines of “Don’t forget me,” or “Get me out of here,” Dodd said.

“In other words, get him a job. He knew [Arkansas] was going to clean house, and they did.”

Resolve to Bounce Back

Bret Bielema as Arkansas’ head coach and a new staff resulted from that cleaning house, and it appears they have instilled tremendous confidence in their players. Confidence is one thing, though, and execution is another.

If the Razorbacks are to avoid a 2012-esque meltdown and instead use Toledo as a motivating lesson, they must avoid the kinds of penalties which haunted them on Saturday. And they must run block better.

After the loss, senior Brandon Allen appeared to have no doubt Arkansas will respond well.

“I know this team," Allen said. "We have our minds right and this isn't going to affect the rest of the season. We have a lot of games left."

Senior Rohan Gaines sounded a similarly upbeat note.

"I feel like we've got enough leaders to turn things around," Gaines said. "I've been down this road before. I've been here for a long time and I know it can go one of two ways. I feel like with the leaders that we have on this team it can go up from here."

In 2003, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder also resolved to use the Marshall loss as a key lesson and a chance to “roll our sleeves up and go to work and realize that we’ve got shortcomings - and we need to correct the shortcomings.”

The Wildcats’ quarterback, Jeff Schwinn, told the The Salina Journal he considered it “a good thing” the team had suffered a meltdown in previous seasons because the players knew better how to avoid a repeat.

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Not surprisingly, the parallels between these two situations are far from exact.

Allen, for instance, is more a traditional pocket passer. Against Toledo, he racked up 412 passing yards but didn’t complete a touchdown pass.

Kansas State, meanwhile, had more mobile quarterbacks which did a lot of their damage through the option game. But Marshall held backup quarterback Schwinn to only 32 yards on 21 carries.

Eli Roberson, Kansas State’s starting quarterback, did return from injury a couple games later was a major reason Kansas State went on a 6-0 run to finish the regular season. Arkansas’ own game-changing talent, Jonathan Williams, won’t be back during the regular season.

The Razorbacks will also be without senior receiver Keon Hatcher until at least the end of October after Hatcher broke his foot against Toledo. Hatcher has more catches, yards and touchdowns than any of the rest of Arkansas' receivers combined.

Strength of schedule is a major difference here.

After the next game against Texas Tech, Arkansas faces a gauntlet of a schedule involving ranked SEC teams on a regular basis. Should it lose this Saturday and fall to 1-2, its margin for error in terms of high bowl placement will be very narrow heading forward.

This wasn’t the case with Kansas State ‘03. It lost three in a row starting with Marshall, but its division, the Big 12 North, helped KSU by providing only a single ranked regular-season opponent after Oct. 4, 2003.

In that span, key KSU defensive players were able to heal while Bielema helped tighten the defense by incorporating more zone - even in blitzing situations.

That defense’s crowning achievement was a 35-7 annihilation of No. 1 Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. That landed KSU a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.

But the Buckeyes, long a thorn in Bielema’s side since his days as a player and coach at Iowa, won.

Get post-Toledo detailed interview transcript excerpts from Bret Bielema, Brandon Allen, JaMichael Winston and Mitch Smothers through Evin Demirel’s BestOfArkansasSports.com.