Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas State 50, ULL 27

OFFENSE – A
HIGHLIGHTS: After Tausaun Holmes intercepted Terrance Broadway in the second quarter, it took two plays for the Red Wolves to find the end zone. Ryan Aplin threw a 35-yard bullet to junior Julian Jones. With the catch Jones tied with J.D. McKissic and Josh Jarboe for most on the team with three touchdowns. Rocky Hayes can strike at any time and two games after narrowly missing his first career touchdown on a 73-yard run against Florida International, the freshman running back finally found the end zone when he took a hand off around the left side and ran 57 yards for the score to give ASU a 40-14 lead in the third quarter. The run was featured on the No. 4 spot of Sportcenter’s Top Ten Plays. Frankie Jackson was the scoring bookend for the Red Wolves, running for the first and last touchdowns of the game. Jackson has four this season.

LOWLIGHTS: The Red Wolves scored on their first four drives of the game, but the first two came from field goals after two drives of 11 plays and 45 and 82 yards stalled. The other three field goals came from drives that ended after fewer than 10 plays. J.D McKissic and his usually reliable catches on screen passes were a no show Tuesday night, as the freshman finished the night with four catches of 20 yards, though 19 of those came on one catch. McKissic took one screen pass and fell to the ground by himself for a loss.

DEFENSE– A-
HIGHLIGHTS: ASU forced the Cajuns sophomore quarterback, in just his third start, to commit three interceptions and two fumbles. All five turnovers resulted in points for ASU, which entered the game with a minus-two turnover differential compared to ULL’s plus-six. Taushaun Holmes, freshman Chris Stone and Chaz Scales were in the right place at the right time, with Stone earning his first career interception while Holmes and Scales earned their second and third career picks respectively. Junior Eddie Porter also forced his team-leading third fumble of the year. Amos Draper forced the second fumble as Tim Starson and Nathan Herrold each had one recovery.

LOWLIGHTS: For a team with the best pass defense in the conference going into Tuesday night, ASU look far from it, allowing Terrance Broadway to find the holes in a secondary that showed its inexperience. The Cajuns finished the night with 372 yards and three touchdowns through the air, with Darryl Surgent leading both teams in receiving with two touchdowns and 107 yards on just five catches. Jamal Robinson also broke the century mark with 106 catches and on five catches. Garbage time started halfway through the third quarter, but that didn’t stop the Cajuns from mounting one last scoring drive with just more than a minute to go in the game. Broadway led the offense 52 yards in six plays, keeping plays along the sideline before stopping the clock with 4 seconds left inside the 5-yard line. Broadway then threw to James Butler for a touchdown on the final play of the game.

SPECIAL TEAMS — B+
HIGHLIGHTS: So this is new. It wasn’t the deciding factor in the game, but special teams gave the ASU something to smile about Tuesday night. ASU sent Brian Davis out the attempt a field goal five times and the junior made every single one. Davis hit field goals of 47, 22, 45, 21 and 29 yards while also making every extra point attempt. Lafayette attempted a fake punt in the first half on 4^th and 6, but the pass attempt by Brett Baer found nothing but turf.

LOWLIGHTS: This time it was the kickoff unit that underperformed, as it gave up 143 yards on returns, with 103 coming from Darryl Surgent alone. It was a 27-yard return by Qyen Griffin to the Cajun’s 48-yard line that set up the final scoring drive for ULL. A week after having the longest punt return of the season, Rocky Hayes had only two returns for minus-five yards, so there is still much to improve on in the special teams game.

OVERALL —  A-
WHAT WE LEARNED: Even though it took the Red Wolves time to get up to speed, they had control of momentum for all four quarters, something they could only claim for the Alcorn State game previously. The passing game is back to its 2011 efficiency with the return of Taylor Stockemer. Everyone contributed in some fashion. The running game has more weapons than it knows what to do with, as David Oku, Rocky Hayes and Frankie Jackson are all threats to have multi-touchdown games. It was just one game, but the special teams showed the improvements needed to help take pressure off the offense and defense during the final stretch of the season. Tuesday night was the most balanced effort ASU has put together in conference play so far and it should give it the confidence needed as it presses toward a date with Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 8 that could very well decide who takes home the Sun Belt Championship.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
OFFENSE: Frankie Jackson put the exclamation point on the game, with his two touchdowns that got started and ended the Red Wolves 50-point explosion.  Jackson finished the night with 82 yards on 17 carries for the third most on the team.

DEFENSE: Eddie Porter reared his head again, getting one sack of four yards to take his season total to 2.5 while also forcing a team leading third fumble.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Brian Davis kicked five field goals, which gave him the third most in a single game in ASU history and the third most in the country this season. Davis also finished the night with a season high 20 points which is the second most in both school and Sun Belt history. His 47-yard kick in the first quarter matched a career high.