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There was 7:28 remaining in the third quarter when the Arkansas Razorbacks scored a 64 yard rushing touchdown. That broke the game open and the score was now 27-9. Colorado State just turned the ball over on a promising drive when KJ Carta-Samuels was strip sacked. Some fans started to leave the exits and the massive number of Razorbacks fans were celebrating and singing their war cry all over the stadium. Then the unthinkable slowly began to happen. After Arkansas missed a field goal the Rams began to slowly chip away. Carta – Samuels found Preston Williams for a 4 yard touchdown and scored a two point conversion to cut the lead to 27-17. The Rams began to slowly take control scoring the final 25 points to win 34-27. Upsetting an SEC opponent, I don’t care if they’re at the bottom of the conference or not. A Mountain West team beating any team from the SEC deserves credit and recognition. Here is the recap of one of the biggest wins in program history.
Key moment of the game: Arkansas punts on 4th and 1 from the 50 in the 4th quarter
Arkansas was gassing the Rams run defense all game, especially from the late second quarter until the end of the third. To me they could have gone for it but the Razorbacks played field position. It ended up working out briefly when the Rams were pinned deep at their own 4 yard line. However the Rams went 96 yards in nine plays to cut the lead to 27-24. There has been a lot of talk about this moment as the turning point of the game.
Game Balls: There are three game balls for this one! The First one goes to K.J Carta-Samuels, throwing for 389 yards with 291 being in the second half. After the fumble deep in Razorback territory he was nearly flawless and lead the Rams on a furious comeback. Showing leadership and consistency with the second half.
The second game ball goes to Wyatt Bryan. I have been hard on this kid his entire CSU career, but his field goals kept Colorado State in the game. He also became an all time leading scorer among kickers in school history. Going 4/4 including a 55 yard bomb to give the Rams an early 3-0 lead.
The third and final one goes to Preston Williams. The Tennessee transfer has done nothing but ball since the season started. Also making Tennessee fans lash out at former coach Butch Jones for not finding a way for him to thrive while he was at Tennessee. He had 12 catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Including a sliding 29 yard reception that set up the Rams for the eventual game winning touchdown.
Honorable mention can go to Emmanuel Jones and the Colorado State defense for showing up big time. They were getting crushed the first couple of weeks after a couple of abysmal performances.
Colorado State takes on Florida this weekend in Gainesville in what is the tail end of a back to back against the mighty SEC. Arkansas will head back home to take on North Texas.