Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

OFFENSE – B+
HIGHLIGHTS: Junior running back David Oku made his home debut in commanding fashion by rushing for 131 yards and the go ahead score that gave the Red Wolves the 33-28 victory over rival Memphis. Rocky Hayes made his offensive debut by helping out when the Wolves needed it most, picking up 68 yards on four carries. That’s not bad for moving to the offense from defense on Tuesday. Senior quarterback Ryan Aplin and the offense took awhile to get into a rhythm, but the best example of what a Gus Malzahn-coached offense can do came in the second quarter when Aplin orchestrated a two-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Aplin to Josh Jarboe. It was reminiscent of last year’s Memphis game, when the two hooked up on a 71-yard scoring play, the only play of the drive. Aplin finished with 302 yards passing and just one touchdown as ASU would finish with 619 yards of total offense.

LOWLIGHTS: The Red Wolves couldn’t get an early rhythm going, with their only first quarter points coming from a Brian Davis field goal. In their first five drives, ASU went three and out on three and punted four times. After going up 33-28, ASU opted to go for the two-point conversion, but Aplin kept the ball on a bootleg and was forced out of bounds right before the goal line.

DEFENSE – B
HIGHLIGHTS: Stats-wise the defense kept Memphis contained most of the night. ASU prevented the Tigers, led by quarterback Jacob Karam, from converting a single third down until the fourth quarter, when the Conference USA team converted three in one drive on the way to a missed field goal. John Thompson’s defense only gave up 13 first downs, compared to 33 Memphis surrendered. The Red Wolves didn’t force any turnovers and aside from one sack by senior lineman Tim Starson, the only sack by either team, Karam was left alone for most of the night. Junior lineman Ryan Carrethers finished with 10 tackles, nine of them assists, while Starson led the team in tackles for loss with 2.5.

LOWLIGHTS: The home debut of Gus Malzahn’s team did not get off to a great start. The Tigers received to begin the game and went 77 yards in seven plays to scored on an 18-yard pass from Karam to Alan Cross. The only other offensive score the Red Wolves would give up was when Karam found Keiwone Malone alone behind two defenders at the 10-yard line for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 3:46 left in the first half.

SPECIAL TEAMS — D
HIGHLIGHTS: If you take out the punting game, the only good thing to come out of Saturday night on special teams were field goals of 23 and 25 yards by Brian Davis. Davis connected on the first to cap off the Red Wolves' first drive and again at the end of the third quarter to cut ASU’s deficit to 28-27.

LOWLIGHTS: Everything else. Davis missed a 38-yarder on the last play of first half, but that was nothing compared to the blunders by the punting unit. Twice the Tigers fell on the ball in the end zone for touchdowns. Sixth year senior Neely Sullivant had one of his punts blocked by Tevin Jones, who then found the ball in the end zone, giving the Tigers a 14-3 lead. J.D McKissic, who had an impressive game at receiver, had one blemish: punt returns. McKissic muffed a punt inside the 15-yard line and the Tigers came out of a pile in the back of the end zone with the ball and the 28-24 lead with 4:03 left in the third quarter. McKissic had two punt returns for minus 10 yards while Memphis punter Tom Hornsey booted seven of his eight punts inside the Red Wolves 20. On kick returns, ASU was only able to bring the ball out of the end zone once on a 19-yard return by Andrew Tryon.

OVERALL — B
WHAT WE LEARNED: Just like in Week One against Oregon, ASU proved to be a team that’s slow to get going, not establishing the Malzahn trademark tempo until the second half. However, the offense is still in the reliable hands of Aplin, who can make things work even when he is short two receivers (Taylor Stockemer, Alan Muse), thanks to McKissic, Hayes and Oku. While the defense kept the Tigers tamed for the most part, the 33-28 score doesn’t reflect how the game played out thanks to the special teams.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
OFFENSE: Oku, with his 131-yards rushing, could prove to be the star running back ASU has been looking for. Aplin has been the Red Wolves' main run threat for much of the last two years and having a balanced offensive attack could prove beneficial in ASU’s Sun Belt title defense.

DEFENSE: Tim Starson was the main threat in the Tigers backfield with the game's lone sack and 2.5 tackles for a loss. He finished with six tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Not much to be happy about here. Wit out Davis’ two field goals, this game likely would have been a victory for Memphis.