FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks found rock bottom at the hands of the Hilltoppers on Saturday.
Former University of Arkansas quarterback Ty Storey directed the Western Kentucky offense with nearly flawless precision in a sizzling first half to lead the Hilltoppers to a 45-19 rout of the Razorbacks before a record-low announced crowd of 42,985 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas (2-8) lost its seventh consecutive game and finished the on-campus portion of its schedule at 2-4 entering an open date. The Razorbacks are 1-2 against Group of 5 teams and 1-8 against FBS competition.
Western Kentucky (6-4) qualified for bowl eligibility by thumping the Razorbacks in the first meeting between the teams.
Coach Chad Morris faced pointed questions about the Hogs' performance after being outgained 478-340 by the Hilltoppers and whether he believes he's the right man to continue the Razorbacks' rebuild.
"Absolutely. I am the guy," said Morris, with Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek sitting at the back of the media room. "There's no question. I knew this was going to take some time. I knew this was going to be a process of recruiting and developing and building, especially in this conference.
"I knew the strains that take place weekly in this conference and the depth that it needs to be successful. And right now, we don't have that. We've got to go get that. We've got to recruit to it and we've got to continue to develop. Right now, it's unfortunate that we're playing as many young guys as we're playing, but that's the truth."
Morris said he was scheduled to talk to Yurachek today, as he does every Sunday, with the Razorbacks entering an open date.
Tailback Rakeem Boyd was asked whether the locker room was still 100% behind Morris.
"Yes we are," he said. "We're gonna keep fighting. Like I said, it's a pride thing to go out there and play."
Boyd was a bright spot on the disappointing afternoon for the Razorbacks. He turned in a banner day with eight carries for a career-high 185 yards. The junior had touchdown runs of 76 and 86 yards, and went over the 1,000-yard mark in the fourth quarter. His final run was an 8-yard gain that took him to 1,005 yards on the season.
"I was proud of my O-linemen for helping me get there," Boyd said. "That was a goal this week basically, to get 180 [yards]. Our O-line went in there and got the job done, and I saw it and hit it. I was really proud of those guys, even though I didn't touch it much."
Otherwise, Arkansas struggled to get its offense in gear behind freshman quarterbacks John Stephen Jones and KJ Jefferson, who combined for 9-of-25 passing for 87 yards and 1 interception each.
Jefferson, who played through a left shoulder injury suffered in the first half, had a 26-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks nullified by a holding penalty in the third quarter. The true freshman went 6-of-15 passing for 60 yards, and rushed 16 times for 32 yards and a touchdown. Jones was 3-of-10 passing for 27 yards while playing the first four series of the day, and the first series of the second half.
Boyd accounted for 54% of Arkansas' 340 total yards.
Treylon Burks had 5 receptions and 59 of the Razorbacks' 87 receiving yards.
The Hilltoppers had not scored more than 30 points in a game, but they had a 35-7 lead at the end of the first half. Western Kentucky controlled the flow of the game by dominating time of possession -- 20:59 to 9:01 in the first half and 36:57 to 23:03 overall.
"I felt like our kids were locked in and came out firing early," Western Kentucky Coach Tyson Helton said. "I really felt like we had control of the game the whole time. It's kind of a signature win for us, and we still have a couple more to go and they'll be big games for us."
Storey, playing in front of a big group of friends and family, was the man of the hour, racking up 290 total yards and three touchdowns. He completed 22 of 32 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 77 yards and 2 scores.
Storey said offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis told him he had to stay within himself and not get overhyped playing against his former team.
"He said, 'Hey, it's just a game. Calm down. I know you're going to come out there and be wanting to do everything. But stay within yourself and stay within the system, and it's all going to work out,' " Storey said.
Arkansas did not stop any of Western Kentucky's five first-half drives, which all ended in touchdowns.
The Hilltoppers converted 7 of 12 third-down plays and were a perfect 5 of 5 on fourth-down plays in the opening half. They outgained the Razorbacks 317-119 in total offense to lead 35-7 at the break. Storey was 19 of 28 for 202 yards in the first half.
"If we're being honest, we didn't get it done," Arkansas linebacker Bumper Pool said. "I could come in here and make excuses that we fought hard. Y'all saw the score. That's something that is not acceptable, and we've got to reach down and every single guy has got to look in the mirror and understand that it's not someone else's fault. It's your fault."
Said safety Kamren Curl: "Early on in the first half when they got all their points, we just couldn't get off the field on third or fourth down. When you don't get them off the field on third or fourth down, that's going to happen."
Western Kentucky safety Antwon Kincaide made a diving interception on Jones' third-down pass for a falling Grayson Gunter at the Arkansas 42 on the first series.
The Hilltoppers went twice on fourth downs, gaining 5 yards on a fourth and 4, and 5 yards on fourth and 3, en route to a touchdown. Jacquez Sloan took a reverse around left end for a 19-yard touchdown to open the scoring.
Helton said Storey's passion Saturday played a role in the fourth-down aggressiveness.
"That's why we were really aggressive, to be honest with you, early," Helton said. "We just felt like he had the mojo, or whatever you want to call it, he had the juices flowing, and our guys really got around him and said, 'Let's go.' "
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Boyd's 76-yard touchdown run up the middle tied the score 7-7 with 8:02 left in the first period.
But the Hilltoppers responded with a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown march, capped by Storey's tackle-breaking 9-yard touchdown run to start a run of 31 unanswered points.
"I was disappointed we were not able to send our seniors out any better than that," Morris said. "It was not what we intended for these guys today. Could not overcome a slow start, could not get off the field, and unable to get much time of possession, especially in the first half."
Sports on 11/10/2019