The 41-point underdog couldn't quite get it done in SEC country Saturday. But the 21.5-point underdog did.
Toledo built a 16-7 second-half lead and stopped away three late Arkansas drives short of the end zone to come out of Little Rock with a 16-12 victory. The Rockets were outgained 513-322 but did not allow a touchdown in the second half and gave up only three offensive points after halftime.
Razorbacks quarterback Brandon Allen threw for a career-high 412 yards in the loss, but the vaunted Arkansas ground game produced just 104 yards on 3.7 yards per-carry.
Toledo quarterback Phillip Ely went 21-of-38 for 237 yards and one touchdown, with no interceptions. Damion Jones-Moore scored what would prove to be the winning touchdown on an 11-yard run with 5:09 to play in the third quarter.
Adding insult to injury, Arkansas paid Toledo a $1 million payout to play in Saturday's game.
Three things to know concerning the Hogs' shocking loss:
1. You'd think a power-rushing team wouldn't have red-zone problems against a MAC team. You'd think wrong. It's incredibly difficult to put up 513 offensive yards and score just 10 offensive points -- Arkansas's final two points were scored on an intentional Rockets safety -- but the Razorbacks managed it through some truly epic failures in Toledo territory. Bret Bielema's team had four different red zone possessions in the second half and scored a grand total of four points, with the drives ending in an interception, chip-shot field goal, downs, and the end of the game.
Add in two first-half drives that ended in a missed field goal and being stopped on downs, and Arkansas uses six drives inside the Toledo 35 to score three points. Whether you're playing an opponent from the SEC West or the MAC East, that's not going to work.
2. The Razorbacks might be even less warm towards playing in War Memorial Stadium going forward. The program has played at least one home date in Little Rock for years, but this is now the second embarrassing nonconference loss in the 67-year-old venue in four seasons; in 2012, John L. Smith's lone Arkansas team went down as a 30-point favorite against ULM.
All told, since Bobby Petrino was fired before that 2012 season, Arkansas has gone just 1-5 straight-up and a "perfect" 0-6 against-the-spread. Many in Arkansas would like to continue playing at War Memorial, but right now the Hogs themselves just aren't playing as well there as they are in Fayetteville.
3. Bret Bielema should maybe focus on the team from Ohio his team is actually playing. No one outside of Toledo proper is happier about watching Bielema's team go down than Ohio State fans, who've seen Urban Meyer targeted by public jabs from the former Wisconsin coach for years. The most recent came just last week, when Bielema pointedly complained about the number of ranked teams on the Buckeyes' schedule when compared to the number on Arkansas'.
A tip for Bielema: Maybe next time, don't take a shot at the unranked teams on someone else's schedule when your team isn't prepared to handle the ones on its own.
