"You have to give Rutgers a ton of credit, they are a good football team," said Arkansas Head Coach John L. Smith. "Our guys hung in there and battled, battled hard till the very end, just didn't make enough plays to win it."
Arkansas's Tyler Wilson returned after missing last week against Alabama with a head injury. He found his favorite target, senior Cobi Hamilton often. Hamilton caught ten passes for a Southeastern Conference record 303-yards. He broke Jarius Wright's previous school-record of 283-yards set last season against Texas A&M.
"I really didn't know I had that many yards until after the game," said Hamilton. "We just came up short."
Wilson finished 20-of-40 for 419 yards and three touchdowns. He did throw two interceptions.
Arkansas' defense had no answer for the Rutgers' offense. The Scarlet Knights gained 525 total yards. The Razorbacks forced Rutgers to throw most of the game. They did. Arkansas' inexperienced defense struggled in the last three quarters of the game.
"It comes down to execution, missed assignments, we have to make sure we put it all together," said defensive coordinator Paul Haynes.
"We talk about playing 60 minutes, you have to play the whole game. We are giving up far too many plays."
Arkansas' running-game sputtered again. Junior running-back Knile Davis rushed for ten times for only 17-yards. Dennis Johnson added 47-yards on six carries. Combined Arkansas' ground-game gained only 87-yards.
Tight-end Chris Gragg left the game in the second-quarter with a leg injury.
Arkansas players admit they never expected to start the season like this. Now, they know they must stay together to get better.
"Is it unbelievable? Not as you live it out," said Tyler Wilson. "We haven't done things we need to do. It is what it is."
Arkansas returns to SEC action next Saturday against Texas A&M. Kickoff is at 11:17 a.m. on the SEC Network.
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