Brandon Allen did not lose the game to Toledo any more than Tony Romo won the game for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, a victory that saved the weekend for a lot of football fans.
The offensive line didn't lose the game.
Alex Collins didn't lose the game.
The Arkansas Razorbacks, as a team, lost the game.
The holding call on Jared Cornelius' apparent 58-punt return for a touchdown didn't lose the game. That did hurt a lot, though.
Yes, Allen threw an interception in the end zone, but he was the offense on a day when there wouldn't have been any without him.
He completed 32 of 53 passes for 412 yards.
The only Razorbacks quarterback to ever complete more passes in a game was Ryan Mallett, who plays for the Houston Texans and may start this weekend.
Arkansas' offense isn't geared to throw the football 53 times and run only 31; in fact, those numbers are supposed to be flipped.
Coach Bret Bielema pointed the finger at one person, himself, after the loss. That's what a good head coach is supposed to do, take responsibility and put that burden on his shoulders so the team can focus on the obvious, getting better.
There are no excuses for losing to Toledo, a good football team but not a SEC or power 5 team.
Yet, the Razorbacks did lose, and now they are at a crossroad: Where do they go from here?
The most important game on the Arkansas schedule is no longer Texas A&M or Tennessee, it is the one being played this Saturday in Fayetteville against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
A year ago, the Hogs manhandled the smaller Raiders and won easily in Lubbock.
A few weeks later, Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb was hurt and Coach Kliff Kingsbury went with a true freshman, Patrick Mahomes, who will be a huge challenge for the Hogs this Saturday.
Mahomes is a 20-year-old sophomore who plays like a 23-year-old redshirt senior.
He's athletic -- he can run almost as well as he throws -- and his passing is phenomenal.
That Mahomes was rated as a three-star recruit coming out of high school proves two things -- the state of Texas is loaded with talented quarterbacks, and the star ratings handed out by recruiting analysts aren't always perfect.
In high school, Mahomes, the son of former major league pitcher Pat Mahomes, started in basketball and baseball.
His poise is amazing, but he hasn't won every game, and no one is singling him out as the reason.
Drew Brees threw 83 passes in a game against Wisconsin when his position coach was Jim Chaney, the former Arkansas offensive coordinator. Purdue lost, but no one blamed Brees.
Granted, football sometimes doesn't seem like a team sport when you watch guys on TV jumping around, dancing and acting silly for the cameras after they make a single good play, but it is a team sport.
Everyone has a job to do on every snap, and all it takes is one guy not doing his job to increase the odds of failure on that play.
No one plays a perfect game. No one. But every player on the field has to try to play a perfect game.
It would be impossible to point a finger at any individual thing as being the reason Arkansas lost to Toledo, which makes it difficult to explain.
What seems obvious was the Razorbacks were out of sync much of the time.
Perhaps they believed the hype they heard every time they turned on ESPN.
The truth is this is a blue-collar team that has to outwork every opponent to have a chance to win. There are no superstars.
If they are going to get back on course, then they have to do it as a team. Every player playing as hard as possible on every snap. Every player taking responsibility for his role.
Sports on 09/16/2015