Razorbacks Rewind

Trick play brainchild of ex-Hog

North Texas Mean Green wide receiver Keegan Brewer (18) reacts after scoring from running the ball back from a punt after signaling for a fair catch during the first quarter of a football game, Saturday, September 15, 2018 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
North Texas Mean Green wide receiver Keegan Brewer (18) reacts after scoring from running the ball back from a punt after signaling for a fair catch during the first quarter of a football game, Saturday, September 15, 2018 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- North Texas pulled off a special-teams touchdown for the ages, plotted by former Arkansas graduate assistant Marty Biagi, midway through the first quarter in its 44-17 victory over the University of Arkansas.

Punt returner Keegan Brewer fielded Blake Johnson's 27-yard pooch punt by acting as if it were a fair catch, though he never made a signal. As Brewer made the catch and stood his ground, Arkansas defender Grant Morgan charged into the personal space of the return man but fell victim to Brewer's body language. Nate Dalton also was in position to make a tackle but pulled up.

The play involved some nerve, as Brewer could have been blasted during the couple of seconds pause he took before bolting left toward the North Texas sideline.

"There was definitely a thought in my mind that I definitely could get hit," Brewer said. "But the punt was actually perfect for the play because he shot it low. He didn't shoot it high."

The deception involved body language and played against the fear of drawing a personal foul penalty for hitting a player in that position. Brewer said the Razorbacks were puzzled.

"One of them actually asked me, 'Why didn't they blow the whistle?', and I just didn't say anything," said Brewer, who later identified the player as Morgan. "I was just like, 'Oh, I don't know.' As soon as he passed me, I knew it was go time, so that's really all it was."

Biagi, the second-year special-teams coach for North Texas and a graduate assistant at Arkansas under Bobby Petrino, began "scripting" the play in training camp.

He talked to SBNation on Saturday night about the play.

"You can't just put that in on a Wednesday and then go, 'Hey! Trust me!' " Biagi told the website. "Keegan looked me square in the eyes and said, 'Coach, let's practice it until you know it'll work.' So instead of just practicing that once, my big thing is: Don't practice it till you get it right, practice it till you can't get it wrong."

After leaving Arkansas, Biagi coached at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, South Dakota, Southern University and served as special-teams analyst at Notre Dame before joining Seth Littrell's staff last season.

Tube talk

The SEC announced late Saturday that the Razorbacks' conference opener at Auburn on Saturday would kick off at 6:30 p.m. and be telecast on the SEC Network.

Arkansas (1-2) is looking for its first victory over Auburn since 2015 and its first road victory on the Plains since a 24-7 upset in 2012. The Tigers opened as 27½-point favorites.

Personnel report

The fluctuations on Arkansas' injury list continued Saturday, with defensive end Randy Ramsey and offensive tackle Colton Jackson returning to action while a few other players were knocked out of the game.

Receiver Mike Woods notched his first catches as a Razorback with four receptions for 61 yards, but he came out of the game in the fourth quarter after bending the wrong way on a pass thrown behind him. Coach Chad Morris said he thought Woods suffered an ankle injury.

Receiver and kick returner Gary Cross made his season debut, but it was a short one. He suffered a left ankle injury and was spotted on the sideline with crutches and his foot in a boot.

Devwah Whaley stayed on the ground briefly on the North Texas sideline after a 6-yard catch in the third quarter. Whaley had the wind knocked out of him, Morris said.

On and off

On the same day tight end Cheyenne O'Grady made his 2018 debut after a two-game suspension, cornerback Chevin Calloway missed the North Texas game.

Coach Chad Morris said Calloway, who started the first two games, missed for personal reasons.

Mirror, mirror

Coach Chad Morris repeated several times in his postgame remarks Saturday that the accountability for the 44-17 loss to North Texas begins with him and the coaching staff.

"You have a locker room of young men that are disappointed and coaches that are disappointed," Morris said. "As I said before and I'll say it again, they do care. They continue to fight and they will fight.

"And we've got to go back and look in the mirror. It starts with us. It starts with me. It starts with every coach and every player, and we start right off looking back in the mirror."

Sun comes up

Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, whose social-media prowess is well known, posted a picture of the sun coming up on his Twitter account Sunday morning.

The symbolism of the sun rise delivers the message things will get better for the 1-2 Razorbacks. Yurachek, who once tweeted out a picture of black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel during a coaching search at Houston -- indicating a decision had not been made -- will speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club today.

Run woes

For the second consecutive home game, the Razorbacks were largely thwarted in their attempt to run between the tackles.

Arkansas ran for 126 yards on 32 carries, averaging 3.9 yards per carry. That figure factored in 5 sacks for 27 lost yards and also Maleek Williams' 68-yard touchdown run in the final minute.

With the sacks and the breakaway score taken out, the Razorbacks ran 26 times for 85 yards, an average of 3.3 yards per carry.

Starting tailback Devwah Whaley had 9 carries for 12 yards; Chase Hayden had 5 carries for 21 yards; and Rakeem Boyd did not have a rushing attempt after racking up 67 yards last week when the Razorbacks ran for 299 yards in a 34-27 loss at Colorado State.

Coach Chad Morris said the game plan was to use two tight end sets and get push on the line of scrimmage, but the Mean Green overpopulated the box and made that difficult.

"I was disappointed that we were not able to sustain and move any double teams," Morris said. "Especially the way we ran the ball the week before.

"We have to go back and be able to run our base offense effectively."

Message of love

Chad Morris was asked what his message to the team was after the decisive loss to North Texas.

"My message is I love those guys," Morris said. "There's nobody who hurts more for those guys in that locker room than me and these coaches. And the hard work these guys have put in ... the love and care we have for them isn't going away. We're going to go back and look in the mirror and get better. And it's going to be everybody in that room that's going to get better.

"My message is it's going to start right here with all of us, and let's go back and self-reflect and go back to basics."

Big payday

North Texas is the second school in four years to pocket a $1 million guarantee and leave Arkansas with a victory.

Toledo had the same $1 million agreement in 2015 when the Rockets left Little Rock with a 16-12 victory.

Sports on 09/17/2018

Players of the week

Offense

RB Maleek Williams and WR Mike Woods

Woods, a true freshman from Magnolia, Texas, caught his first passes as a Razorback to total 4 receptions for a team-high 61 yards before being injured. Williams, a freshman from Punta Gorda, Fla., logged 5 carries for 74 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown.

Defense

LB De’Jon Harris

Harris, a junior from Harvey, La., notched his third double-figure tackle game of the season with 12 stops. He had 7 solo tackles and 5 assists. Harris was also responsible for two pass breakups.

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