Notre Dame RB duo rolls, Arkansas offense fumbles in ugliest game to date

It was a hard Saturday afternoon for Arkansas in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in a 56-13 beatdown at the hands of the No. 22 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Razorbacks suffered their worst home loss since 2023, when they were squashed by the Auburn Tigers on Nov. 11, 48-10.

Despite the offense looking decent in the first half for the Hogs, the defense looked as ugly as it has in the past two weeks. The Razorbacks are now sitting at 2-3 with a three-game losing streak.

Arkansas football vs. Notre Dame: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Good

Arkansas received the opening kickoff for the fifth straight game of the season. QB Taylen Green ran for a 14-yard gain on 2nd & 10 to the Razorback 41-yard line and then connected with WR O’Mega Blake for 33 yards to Notre Dame 28. After RB Braylen Russell ran for seven yards, Green threw back-to-back incompletions. Scott Starzyk put the Hogs on the board, 3-0, with a 39-yard field goal with 12:55 left in the opening quarter.

Trailing 14-3 with 4:14 left in the first quarter, Arkansas was looking for a response after giving up a touchdown on back-to-back drives. Green completed an eight-yard pass to Blake to the Razorbacks' 33-yard line. One play later, RB Mike Washington Jr. broke away with a 21-yard run for a first down to the Notre Dame 46. On 2nd & 12 at the 48, Green dotted up WR Jalen Brown for an 11-yard gain, and Russell picked up three yards on the run for a first down.

Washington ran for nine yards on the next play to the 25 to end the first quarter. One play later, Washington picked up a first down on a three-yard run. Green connected with Blake on a five-yard pass, and Washington ran through for 15 yards to the two-yard line. The Hogs were looking at 3rd & Goal at the one-yard line. Offensive lineman Jac’Qawn McRoy lined up in the fullback position. He took the handoff from Green and got the ball across the goal line for a touchdown to cut the lead to four, 14-10, with 11:19 left in the second quarter.

Notre Dame scored two touchdowns again on back-to-back drives to take a 28-10 lead with 6:04 remaining in the half. After throwing an incompletion on the first play of the drive, Green scampered for a 54-yard run down the right sideline to get the Hogs to the Fighting Irish’s 21-yard line. The Razorbacks were not able to do anything else and fell back to the 31-yard line. Starzyk came out and kicked a 49-yard field goal to cut the lead to 15, 28-13, with 3:48 left in the first half.

Bad

Notre Dame returned the second-half kickoff and went three-and-out for the first time of the game. On 4th & 10 at their own 25 with a 42-13 lead, the Fighting Irish decided to run a fake punt with WR Jordan Faison throwing a 40-yard pass to WR Malachi Fields for a first down to the Arkansas 35-yard line. Notre Dame went on to turn the ball over on downs.

Ugly

After Arkansas took an early 3-0 lead, Notre Dame opened up its drive by getting penalized for an offensive pass interference on the first play for 12 yards to its own 13. After a four-yard run by RB Jeremiyah Love, QB CJ Carr completed a 21-yard pass to WR Malachi Fields to the Fighting Irish 38-yard line. Love ran for three yards and caught a 25-yard pass from Carr to put Notre Dame on the Arkansas 34. On 3rd and 7, Love broke one off for 15 yards to the 16-yard line. Backup RB Jadarian Price rumbled his way for a 14-yard run on 2nd & 9 to the one-yard line, and Love ran it in for a touchdown to put the Fighting Irish in front, 7-3, with 8:16 in the first quarter.

Arkansas went three-and-out on the following drive and punted the ball to Notre Dame to the Fighting Irish's 27-yard line. Carr dotted up TE Eli Raridon on the first play for 18 yards to the Notre Dame 45. After a three-yard run by Price, Carr hit TE Will Pauling for 22 yards to the Razorback 30. Price ran through the defense for 20 yards to set up 1st & Goal. Love ran for three yards and caught a seven-yard touchdown pass on the next play to extend the lead to 11, 14-3, with 4:14 left in the first quarter.

After Arkansas cut the lead, 14-10, Notre Dame was right back to dominating on offense. Carr completed back-to-back passes to Love for five- and six-yard gains. Carr then threw a bullet to Raridon for a huge 25-yard gain to the Razorback 39-yard line. On 2nd & 1 at the 30, Price picked up a first down on a seven-yard run. Carr completed a wide-open pass to Pauling for a 23-yard touchdown to put the Fighting Irish back up by 11, 21-10, with 8:26 left in the first half.

The Hogs went three-and-out on the next drive and punted the ball away to the Fighting Irish's 30-yard line. Love ran the ball for 12 yards on the first play of the drive. One play later, Carr completed a 24-yard bomb to WR Jaden Greathouse to the Arkansas 34. Another play later, Carr threw a screen to Love, who went 34 yards for a touchdown to give Notre Dame a commanding 28-10 lead with 6:04 left in the second quarter.

After the Razorbacks put a field goal up on the board to cut it back to a two-possession game, the Fighting Irish continued to punish the defense. On 3rd & 5 at the Notre Dame 30-yard line, Carr ran to the right side on a passing play and picked up a first down on a 14-yard run. He followed it up with a 24-yard strike to WR Jordan Faison to the Arkansas 34. Facing 4th & 2 at the 24, the Fighting Irish converted with an eight-yard pass from Carr to Pauling. Notre Dame worked its way to the three-yard line and finished the drive with a rushing touchdown by Love to make it a 35-13 game with 35 seconds left.

Arkansas tried to score some points at the end of the half. At the Razorback 25-yard line, Green threw a dart to WR Raylen Sharpe. Sharpe caught the ball for a 20-yard gain, but fumbled the ball. DB DeVonta Smith recovered the fumble to put the Fighting Irish back on offense. Carr completed a 10-yard pass to Faison and connected with Price for a 35-yard touchdown with nine seconds left in the half to take a 42-13 lead.

Arkansas turned over the ball on downs at the Notre Dame 13-yard line. Carr started the drive with an 11-yard completion to Faison. On 3rd & 8 at their own 26, the Fighting Irish picked up a first down after Razorback DB Jordan Young was called for pass interference. Carr completed a 15-yard pass to Faison to put Notre Dame at the Arkansas 44. The Fighting Irish converted on 3rd & 9 with an 11-yard pass from Carr to Fields to the 32-yard line. One play later, Carr hit Faison again for a 14-yard gain to the 16. Price ran the ball into the end zone on the next play to extend the lead, 49-13, with 1:01 left in the third quarter.

Arkansas turned the ball over on downs again with 10:56 left in the fourth quarter on the Notre Dame 43-yard line. On 3rd & 7 on their own 46, the Fighting Irish got a big first down on a 37-yard pass from backup QB Kenny Minchey to WR Matt Jeffery to the Arkansas 17. RB Aneyas Williams ran the ball in on the next play for a 17-yard touchdown to put the cherry on top for the Fighting Irish, 56-13, with 8:54 left in the game.

Conclusion

This was a really rough loss for the Razorbacks. Many were expecting a close game with both teams having highly skilled offenses. Arkansas had an off day on offense, and the defense has not shown any improvement. The Hogs will have the weekend off next week until their next game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, Oct. 11, in Knoxville, Tenn., in Neyland Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for either 2:30 or 7 p.m., and the game’s broadcast is TBA.

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