September 17, 2016 Week 3 · Regular Season Belt defended

Arkansas defends the belt, 42–3, at home over Texas State.

Home · Defending Holder

ArkansasAP No. 24 42

Away · Challenger

Texas State 3

AP poll, week 3: Texas State unranked at Arkansas No. 24 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Arkansas came in 7 days into reign #295, which began with a win over TCU, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. It was the last defense: Texas A&M took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 24, 2016.

For Texas State this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t; this remains its only belt game.

This is the only time Arkansas and Texas State have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Arkansas dominated Texas State from start to finish, with quarterback Austin Allen and receiver Keon Hatcher establishing an early rhythm that the Razorbacks never relinquished. Allen connected with Hatcher three times in the first quarter alone, including a spectacular 73-yard completion that set up a short touchdown run by Kody Walker to make it 14-0. Texas State's only offensive spark came from a Tyler Jones interception return for a touchdown by Ryan Pulley in the second quarter, but Arkansas immediately answered with a Jeremy Sprinkle touchdown reception and a Rawleigh Williams III rushing score to make it 28-7 by halftime. The Longhorns managed only a field goal in the second half as Arkansas cruised to a 42-3 victory, effectively putting the game away with their suffocating offensive efficiency and overwhelming control of time of possession.

Austin Allen to Keon Hatcher 73-yard completion in Q1 -- established Arkansas's aerial dominance early and set up easy scoring opportunity
Ryan Pulley interception return for TD in Q2 -- Texas State's only score and brief spark before Arkansas reasserted control
Multiple short-yardage touchdowns by Kody Walker and Rawleigh Williams III -- showcased Arkansas's dominance in the red zone and ability to finish drives

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

ArkansasTexas State

Total yards467105

Rushing yards22622

Passing yards24183

First downs268

3rd down conv.4/93/14

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards7–405–45

Time of possession34:2920:31

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 9:15	Arkansas	+9 yd	Austin Allen pass complete to Keon Hatcher for 9 yds for a TD, (Cole Hedlund KICK)
Q1 15:00	Arkansas	+29 yd	Austin Allen pass complete to Keon Hatcher for 14 yds to the Ark 32 for a 1ST down TEXAS STATE Penalty, face mask (15 yards) (Brandon McDowell) to the Ark 47 for a 1ST down
Q1 6:56	Arkansas	+73 yd	Austin Allen pass complete to Keon Hatcher for 73 yds to the TexSt 1 for a 1ST down
Q1 4:36	Arkansas	+1 yd	Kody Walker run for 1 yd for a TD, (Cole Hedlund KICK)
Q2 11:31	Texas State	-25 yd	Tyler Jones pass intercepted for a TD Ryan Pulley return for 25 yds for a TD, (Cole Hedlund KICK)
Q2 5:22	Arkansas	+10 yd	Austin Allen pass complete to Jeremy Sprinkle for 10 yds for a TD, (Cole Hedlund KICK)
Q2 5:22	Arkansas	+23 yd	Connor Limpert kickoff for 65 yds , Tyler Watts return for 23 yds to the TexSt 23
Q2 2:00	Arkansas	+32 yd	Austin Allen pass complete to Dominique Reed for 32 yds to the TexSt 14 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:44	Arkansas	+1 yd	Rawleigh Williams III run for 1 yd for a TD, (Cole Hedlund KICK)
Q2 2:00	Arkansas	+27 yd	Kody Walker run for 12 yds to the Ark 34 for a 1ST down TEXAS STATE Penalty, face mask (15 yards) (Quinn Tiggs) to the Ark 49 for a 1ST down
Q3 15:00	Texas State	+24 yd	Tyler Jones pass complete to Elijah King for 24 yds to the Ark 33 for a 1ST down
Q3 9:56	Texas State	+39 yd	James Sherman 39 yd FG GOOD
Q3 1:02	Arkansas	+15 yd	Rawleigh Williams III run for 15 yds for a TD, (Cole Hedlund KICK)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Arkansas

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Austin Allen	16/21	241	11.5	2	0	93.5
Ty Storey	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	2.8

Texas State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tyler Jones	11/26	83	3.2	0	1	5.6

Rushing

Arkansas

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Rawleigh Williams III	19	121	6.4	2	18
Devwah Whaley	11	50	4.5	0	9
Kody Walker	7	23	3.3	1	12
Dominique Reed	1	15	15.0	0	15
Austin Allen	4	15	3.8	0	8
Damon Mitchell	2	2	1.0	0	2

Texas State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Stedman Mayberry	10	34	3.4	6
Eddie Printz	2	19	9.5	13
Jericho Worrell	4	2	0.5	2
Tyler Jones	10	-33	-3.3	4

Receiving

Arkansas

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Keon Hatcher	3	96	32.0	1	73
Cody Hollister	3	38	12.7	0	19
Dominique Reed	2	36	18.0	0	32
Drew Morgan	3	28	9.3	0	15
Jeremy Sprinkle	3	20	6.7	1	10
Austin Cantrell	1	12	12.0	0	12
Kody Walker	1	11	11.0	0	11

Texas State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Elijah King	1	24	24.0	24
Thurman Morbley	2	19	9.5	10
Stedman Mayberry	3	13	4.3	6
Gabe Schrade	2	12	6.0	8
Eric Luna	1	9	9.0	9
Tyler Watts	2	6	3.0	4

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Arkansas

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
Brooks Ellis	7	4	0	1	1	0	0
Dre Greenlaw	6	5	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremiah Ledbetter	4	3	1.5	1.5	2	0	0
Brandon Lewis	4	1	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
Ryan Pulley	3	3	0	0	1	0	1
Deatrich Wise	2	1	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
De'Andre Coley	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Karl Roesler	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Harris	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Randy Ramsey	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Santos Ramirez	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Dwayne Eugene Jr.	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Liddell	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
De'Jon Harris	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tevin Beanum	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Henre' Toliver	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
McTelvin Agim	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
Taiwan Johnson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
JaMichael Winston	1	0	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
DJ Dean	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryder Lucas	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bijhon Jackson	1	0	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
Byron Keaton	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
T.J. Smith	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Austin Capps	1	0	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
Jared Collins	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

Texas State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD
Bryan London II	10	2	0	0	0
Clarence Guidry III	9	3	0	0	0
Quinn Tiggs	8	4	0	0	0
Gabe Loyd	8	1	0	0.5	0
Gavin Graham	7	3	0	0.5	1
Javante O'Roy	7	2	0	0	0
Brandon McDowell	6	3	0	0	0
Dallas McClarty	4	0	0	0	0
Teron Fitzgerald	3	1	0	0	0
Easy Anyama	3	0	0	0	0
Nikolas Daniels	2	2	1	1	0
Stan Kanu	2	1	0	0	0
Stephan Johnson	2	1	0	0	0
Hal Vinson	2	1	0	0	0
Damani Alexcee	2	0	0	0	0
Ishmael Davis	2	0	0	0	1
Jordan Mittie	2	0	0	0	0
Inoke Langi	1	1	0	0	0
Stephen Smith	1	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Miller	1	0	0	0	0
Andrew Aneke	1	0	0	0	0
Jordan Eastling	1	0	0	0	1
Dean Taylor	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Arkansas

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Austin Allen	1	1	0

Texas State

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Nikolas Daniels	0	0	1

Interceptions

Arkansas

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Ryan Pulley	1	25	1

Texas State

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Dominique Reed	2	26	13.0	13	0

Texas State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Tyler Watts	1	23	23.0	23
Brandon McDowell	1	15	15.0	15
Thurman Morbley	1	15	15.0	15

Kicking

Arkansas

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Cole Hedlund	0/0	0.0	0	6/6	6

Texas State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
James Sherman	1/1	100.0	39	0/0	3

Punt Returns

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Drew Morgan	2	1	0.5	1	0

Texas State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon McDowell	1	1	1.0	1	0

Punting

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Blake Johnson	2	94	47.0	0	0	48
Toby Baker	2	80	40.0	0	0	50

Texas State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Lumi Kaba	8	365	45.6	0	0	57

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 400868992) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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