FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas defense didn’t play against LaNorris Sellers on Saturday, but it still played its best game of the season in a winning effort over No. 17 South Carolina.
Arkansas forced four South Carolina turnovers and picked off Cutter Woods three times, including a pick six from Joker Johnson, and held what was a surging South Carolina squad to only six points in a dominant 34-6 win.
“You get four takeaways, obviously one of those being a pick six, and then taking care of the football offensively,” Arkansas head coach Ryan Silverfield said. “That’s the type of football program we talked about when I got here and what we want to be, and it showed up tonight. And then Joker Johnson, clearly… a forced fumble, an interception, obviously that pick six. So he’s a smart young man that loves ball. He loves being a Razorback, and just so proud of his efforts tonight.”
Johnson had two interceptions, while Ben Bogle had one. Arkansas also recovered a fumble in the first half that led to its first touchdown of the night.
Johnson’s pick-six came with Arkansas leading 17-6 in the third quarter. After a touchdown and a stop, the Gamecocks had momentum and good field position — until Johnson tipped a pass to himself and ran 59 yards the other way for a touchdown that put the Razorbacks up 24-6 and all but put the game away.
While the offense sputtered in the second half, the defense kept getting the football back. On three of four South Carolina possessions, Arkansas brought down interceptions. The last pick, courtesy of Ben Bogle, led to a field goal that put the Razorbacks up 27-6.
Arkansas’ first forced turnover came at a critical point in the game. With the Hogs leading 3-0 and South Carolina in the red zone after recovering a fumble for a first down, Charlie Collins recovered a fumble. Eleven plays later, Arkansas was in the end zone for the first time.
“I told Charlie when he when he got that ball, I said, ‘it’s karma’,” Silverfield said. “Then we just had to wait an extra play to get the ball back. So listen, I believe if you if you go out there and it’s an interesting thing when things don’t go calls don’t go your way, you can have a woe as me, you can show bad body language, you can have a defeated mentality.
“But our guys when calls don’t go [our way]: Okay, we get to play another down of football. Are you kidding me? We get to go play defense for one more play. Let’s go get the ball back right now.”
The defense got the ball back plenty on Saturday, and it resulted in a huge win and a 4-0 turnover margin in favor of the Razorbacks.
Sign up to our free newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest in Razorback news.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
