Arkansas is heading into Saturday night’s home matchup with Tulsa still sorting through a quarterback picture on the other side, and the Razorbacks aren’t leaving anything to chance.
The Hogs close out non-conference play against the Golden Hurricane at 7 p.m. (CDT) in their first primetime home game of the season, with SEC Network Plus carrying the stream.
Arkansas comes in at 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the SEC after back-to-back blowout losses to ranked opponents - a 43-10 defeat at No. 20 Utah and a 45-17 loss to No.
2 Georgia.
The margin didn’t change much from one week to the next, but the Razorbacks did leave Athens with a little more to point to. The offense still had a rough night and never found a touchdown in meaningful game time, while the defense showed better effort than it did against Utah. Even so, the unit still had too many mental mistakes and breakdowns, and that added up to 45 points allowed.
Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts addressed that earlier in the week, and he also made it clear Arkansas is preparing for both of Tulsa’s quarterbacks.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported earlier this week that Tulsa starter Baylor Hayes is expected to miss a second straight game and was listed as “doubtful” for Saturday. If that holds, veteran dual-threat quarterback Dexter Williams would get the start.
Still, Roberts said Arkansas is working through both possibilities in practice and studying the different ways Tulsa’s offense functions with each quarterback.
"The quarterback situation, obviously, I don't know what to believe," Roberts said Tuesday "[Williams] did play, started last week. [Hayes], he's a very savvy kid, runs the offense and pretty comfortable doing it. Does a good job improvising plays and extending plays, running out of the pocket, being able to move the sticks with his feet.
"[Williams] came in last week, he's a really athletic kid. He's been around a while.
He's got a really talented arm and he did some improvising. Obviously, he made some really nice plays, and he's athletic, he can run.
I don't know how many quarterback designed runs we'll see with him if the other guy's hurt, but obviously he's got some juice to him, too. He's athletic, he's a dual-threat guy."
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