FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green was roughed up a it, coming up injured after running backwards on fourth down during the offense’s final play, tackled to the ground by Mississippi State linebacker Nevaeh Sanders.
While the tackle wasn’t dirty, Green’s head appeared to be sandwich between Sanders’ body and the ground. He laid in pain on the grass for a few moments before sitting upright to be evaluated by Arkansas’ medical staff.
Green was penalized for intentional grounding, which led to a 10-second runoff as Mississippi State won its first game in SEC play since 2023, 38-35 in Razorback Stadium.
“I don’t think he’s doing really well,” Razorbacks interim coach Bobby Petrino said after the loss. “He’s with the doctor right now, and we’ll just have to see how everything comes out. But it was– it didn’t look good. Ugly looking play.
“He was trying to get a chance to throw the ball, and as he’s throwing, he got hit and twisted, and he got hurt.”
Longtime friend and teammate Raylen Sharpe seemed confident Green will be able to bounce back following the injury scare.
“He shook back,” Sharpe said. “I think everyone was just doing their jobs in the receiver end as well so he could throw the ball around. Once he gets comfortable, he can do a lot of things.
“He played his butt off, he’s going to do that each week. He’s going to play till his last limb. I’m always proud of him, always pushing him. Just praying for his health, praying that God just watches over him is the biggest thing at the moment.”
Officiating can be a touchy subject, especially when Arkansas stumbled to a school record 18 penalties for 193 yards Saturday afternoon.
Eight of the 18 penalties were of the personal variety, which speaks to how out of control the program is during a coaching transition.
Whether that be Petrino’s personal foul, late hit on a punt return or rolling into the kicker, the Razorbacks continue to hurt themselves in critical moments.
“I do want to say something, but I can’t, you know, that’s how they handcuff you,” Petrino said. “But I’ll just say, watch the video. And you know, the one thing I can say is they picked our quarterback up and (suplexed) him, which is a really bad deal.”
For the second straight week, Green wasn’t his usual self completing just 19-of-31 passes for one touchdown but sacked three times. While he rushed 17 times for 82 yards and another score, he also lost 36 yards in scramble drills gone wrong.
The Razorbacks will have some time to get over another heartbreaking loss with its second bye coming next weekend. It’ll allow Green along with several other banged up teammates an opportunity to get healthy for a two-game road trip against LSU and Texas.
“Yeah, [we’ll] take tomorrow off and bring them back in on Monday and watch the video,” Petrino said. “Take a deep breath, come out and work a couple days during the week. Give them some time off and come back and get going again on Sunday night.”
