FAYETTEVILLE — Kyle Ramsey held onto the kicking job for the University of Arkansas after a rough game at Oklahoma State last week.
The coaches’ confidence in Ramsey was rewarded Saturday when he hit 3 of 4 field goals in Arkansas’ 37-27 victory over Alabama-Birmingham at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Ramsey’s 51-yard field goal tied the game 20-20 with 50 seconds left in the first half and his 40-yarder extended Arkansas’ lead to 30-20 with 13:31 left in the fourth quarter.
Ramsey, a walk-on senior transfer from Abilene Christian, also hit a 28-yarder and missed from 45 yards. His career long is 55 yards last season against Prairie View A&M.
When Oklahoma State beat Arkansas 39-31 in double overtime last week, Ramsey was 1 of 3 on field goal attempts, including a 41-yard miss in regulation and a 46-yard miss in the first overtime. He hit a 45-yarder on the last play of regulation to tie it 31-31 and send the game to overtime.
“Ramsey is the one I got to stand up in front of the team because he got ridiculed last week and all that,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said of acknowledging Ramsey in the locker room postgame. “The difference in what he did this week versus what he did the week before was he hit the ball. He was hitting the ball [with authority].
“He hit the ball all week so I thought he’d have a pretty good game and he certainly did.”
Pittman was asked about Ramsey’s mental toughness.
“Well, obviously, I think he persevered,” Pittman said. “He’s always been pretty accurate when he hits the ball well. And this last week he was hitting the ball well.
“I’m really, really proud of him. We’re happy for him, happy for him on the team.”
Arkansas All-SEC senior defensive end Landon Jackson praised Ramsey.
“The dude knows how to battle adversity,” Jackson said. “He had a game he wasn’t happy with last week with his performance. He went to work all week and turned it around.
“We need a lot of guys on the team who are willing to take criticism, get coached and go out there and change the mistakes.”
Injury report
Arkansas starting center Addison Nichols went down with a left ankle injury with 6:40 left in the first quarter on the same play quarterback Taylen Green was intercepted by UAB linebacker Michael Moore.
Nichols’ ankle was heavily taped.
Amaury Wiggins replaced Nichols at center and played there the rest of the game.
“[Nichols] practiced probably individual on Monday, Tuesday a little bit of team, Wednesday a little bit of team, Thursday the whole day,” Pittman said. “We felt pretty good about him coming in if it didn’t get [the ankle] rolled up again and obviously it did.
“Those high ankles, they’re harder to come back from and longer to come back from than low ankles, so we’ll have to be smart with him.
“We’ll go back [and watch game tape] and see how Amaury Wiggins played. He snapped the ball twice when [UAB’s defense] simulated a cadence.”
Guard Patrick Kutas (back) missed his third consecutive game and safety Hudson Clark (back) missed his first game of the season. Cornerback Jaylon Braxton (knee) dressed out, but didn’t play.
Defensive back Miguel Mitchell was on the sideline, but not dressed out. Pittman hasn’t said why Mitchell isn’t playing.
“He’s just out for right now,” Pittman said last week.
Big crowd
Saturday’s announced crowd of 75,021 was the largest for a nonconference game in Fayetteville since Sept. 2, 2006, when a crowd of 76,564 watched No. 6 Southern Cal beat Arkansas 50-14.
The Southern Cal game is the largest attendance for a nonconference game in Fayetteville with a 22-20 loss to No. 7 Texas in 2004 ranking second (75,671).
The crowd for Saturday’s game ranks No. 3 on the nonconference list for Fayetteville games, surpassing the 74,821 for BYU’s 38-31 victory last season.
Nice catch
Monte Harrison, Arkansas’ 29-year-old freshman walk-on receiver, fielded an onside kickoff by UAB in the first quarter and returned it 16 yards to the Blazers 28.
An offsides penalty on UAB gave Arkansas a first down at the 23, but the Razorbacks could only turn that field position into a field goal that cut the Blazers’ lead to 10-3.
Harrison played 10 seasons of professional baseball before joining the Arkansas football program last summer. He was a center fielder and showed off his good hands.
All Armstrong
Taylen Green completed 3 of 10 passes in the first half — all to Andrew Armstrong for 52 yards.
Green’s first completion of the third quarter also went to Armstrong for a 17-yard gain on Arkansas’ opening drive of the second half.
Someone other than Armstrong finally caught a pass for the Razorbacks when Green hit Isaiah Sategna for a 5-yard gain on the play after Armstrong’s catch.
Armstrong finished with 8 catches for 137 yards, Sategna 2 for 16 and running back Ja’Quinden Jackson 1 for 8.
For starters
Arkansas cornerback Marquise Robinson was back in the starting lineup after missing last week’s game at Oklahoma State because of a shoulder injury he sustained in warmups.
Jaheim Singletary, who started in Robinson’s place last week, stayed in the lineup with Jaylen Braxton sidelined by a knee injury.
Braxton dressed out Saturday, but didn’t play.
Hall of Honor
The nine newest members of the UA Sports Hall of Honor class were honored on the field during the break between the first and second quarters.
The class, in alphabetical order, included Ravin Caldwell (football), Alex Collins (football), Matt Hemingway (track and field), Matt Jones (football and basketball), Kareem Reid (basketball), Dave Van Horn (baseball), Devon Wallace (softball), David Walling (baseball) and Wendi Willits (basketball).
They were inducted into the Hall of Honor on Friday night during an event at the Walton Arts Center. Collins was inducted posthumously.
23 in a row
UAB lost its 23rd consecutive game to an SEC opponent, including two losses to Arkansas.
The Razorbacks are 2-0 against the Blazers, with a 45-17 victory in 2014 in the teams’ first meeting.
UAB is 2-29 against SEC teams, with victories at LSU, 13-10, in 1999 and at Mississippi State, 27-13, in 2004.
The Blazers’ losing streak against SEC teams began with a 17-10 loss at Tennessee in 2005. They have two overtime losses against SEC teams — 16-10 at Mississippi State in 2006 and 32-29 at Tennessee in 2010.
Making it 30
Armstrong, a sixth-year receiver, has caught a pass in 30 consecutive games, going back to his 2021 season at Texas A&M-Commerce. He has multiple receptions in 25 consecutive games.
Isaac TeSlaa, also a sixth-year receiver for the Razorbacks, had his streak of games with at least one catch stopped at 27.
Olympians
Several former and current Razorbacks who competed at the Olympics were introduced before the game, including Roje Stona (gold medalist in the discus), Kaylyn Brown (gold in the women’s 1,600 relay, silver in the mixed 1,600 relay), Taliyah Brooks (competed in heptathlon), Rachel Glenn (high jump), Jarrion Lawson (long jump), Shafiqua Maloney (800) and Sanu Jallow (800).
Brooks also served as an in-game emcee during the game with Jon Williams.
About The Author
Leave a Reply