FAYETTEVILLE -- Busted the past two weeks by top Southeastern Conference quarterbacks, the Arkansas Razorbacks boomed Saturday on Tulsa's quarterback while debuting true freshman quarterback Connor Noland as a victorious starter.
Alabama's Tua Tagoviailoa and Ole Miss' Jordan Ta'amu quarterbacked their teams to victories of 65-31 and 37-33 with 639 and 611 yards of total offense, respectively. Arkansas (2-6, 0-4 SEC) shut down quarterback Seth Boomer and Tulsa's Golden Hurricane (1-6, 0-3 American Athletic Conference), 23-0, in the season's final non-conference game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Greenwood native Noland started in place of Ty Storey, who was injured in last week's loss to Ole Miss (5-3, 1-3). Noland shrugged off an interception on the first possession to complete 10 of 16 passes for 124 yards with a seven-yard touchdown pass to tight end Grayson Gunter.
Arkansas relied on the running game, defense and special teams to quiet the Hurricane. The defensive effort marked the first shutout under first-year head coach Chad Morris.
"A shutout is always great," Morris said. "It's really good when you can see it on those defensive kid's faces because that's something you work really hard for. It's hard to shut anybody out. It really is. I'm just proud for our players and our coaching staff. That's really impressive to me."
Saturday's win marked Arkansas' first against one of its own Football Bowl Subdivision opponents since former coach Bret Bielema's Razorbacks beat Ole Miss for their lone SEC success in 2017. Arkansas will try to crack the SEC win column on Saturday when it hosts Vanderbilt (3-4, 0-3) in Fayetteville.
The Razorbacks sacked Boomer six times. Defensive lineman Sosa Agim tallied two sacks, including the shutout-preserving seven-yard sack on Tulsa's last play on fourth-and-seven at Arkansas' 11-yard line.
Boomer only completed 8 of 25 attempts for 127 yards and was intercepted by cornerback Ryan Pulley in the second quarter. Pulley was held out of the first quarter following his unsportsmanlike conduct ejection in the waning seconds against Ole Miss last week at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Senior defensive tackle Armon Watts was voted Arkansas' outstanding senior in the homecoming game with four tackles and a sack. Watts caused the fumble recovered by fellow senior Randy Ramsey for the defense's other turnover.
"It was definitely momentum for our defense and the next week is SEC," Watts said. "We've got to carry this with us and keep it up."
Tulsa's best chances to score early were missed on field goal tries from 28 and 42 yards by Nate Walker. Safety McKinley Whitfield picked off Noland's second pass attempt and returned it 18 yards to the Arkansas 23-yard line.
The Arkansas defense forced coach Philip Montgomery to settle for a field goal try at the 12. Walker missed wide right again from the 42 after Tulsa drove from its 15 before the drive stalled on successive incompletions.
Arkansas' own kicker, Connor Limpert, was 3-for-3. He made a 33-yarder for a 3-0 lead in the second quarter, a 35-yarder in the third quarter and a 24-yarder in the fourth.
Morris said the early interception "didn't faze Connor one bit." Senior Hjalte Froholdt concurred.
"He never froze up or gave you the deer in the headlights and didn't say anything," Froholdt said. "He was like, 'I threw a pick. Next play.' His mood was still up. It was awesome to see that from a freshman like him."
"I'm very proud of his fight, considering after the first drive he had an interception," Morris said. "To lead the Razorbacks to a win, he's probably dreamed of this moment his entire life then to have that happen shows you the competitor he is."
Noland later scrambled for a first down and took a hard lick. Backup quarterback Cole Kelley replaced him and just missed a touchdown pass to tight end C.J. O'Grady. The play was reviewed, but O'Grady was ruled not to have corralled the throw.
Receiver La'Michael Pettyway later caught a 30-yard pass from Noland. Running back Maleek Williams finished the drive with a four-yard touchdown run.
Noland was not Arkansas' lone emergency starter. Fourth-year junior left offensive tackle Colton Jackson suffered pregame back spasms and was replaced by redshirt freshman Dalton Wagner.
"Dalton didn't really know until game time," Froholdt said. "He did a phenomenal job. So, I'm proud of him."
Sports on 10/21/2018