Nick Starkel earning his first start as a Razorback was the biggest news in Fayetteville heading into Saturday’s game against Colorado State but while the graduate transfer signal-caller may have provided a spark to the Arkansas offense, the defense mostly failed to show up against the Rams.

That just seems to be the way things have gone for the Razorbacks under Chad Morris — plug one major hole on the team and another one busts completely wide open.

Thanks to a great fourth quarter — which included a pair of touchdown drives by the offense and a scoop and score touchdown by the defense, Arkansas managed to avoid an upset and ended up beating Colorado State 55-34 on Saturday, but the Razorbacks will head into Week 4 of the season still searching for their first complete performance of the season.

The bad day for the defense started immediately as John Chavis’ unit allowed running back Marvin Kinsey Jr. to bust loose for a 75-yard touchdown to start the game. Kinsey was barely touched on the run that went right up the gut of the Arkansas defense.

Later in the game, the Razorbacks allowed a 75-yard catch on when an Arkansas defensive back failed to break up a pass and allowed Colorado State to score without any resistance following the catch. On the day, Colorado State racked up 425 total yards of offense.

The day would have been a complete disaster for the Razorbacks if not for the team’s offense, led by Starkel and running back Rakeem Boyd. The offense put up a season-high 55 points on Saturday, which is the most scored by the Razorbacks against an FBS program under Morris.

Starkel proved to be the spark Arkansas desperately needed heading into this game as he finished 20 of 35 for 305 yards and three touchdowns. The first-time Razorback starter led his team to back-to-back touchdown drives to open the game and a 24-point first-quarter effort. Arkansas had yet to score 24 points in a single game until this game.

Rakeem Boyd also went wild in this game, finishing with 122 yards on 20 carries and a pair of touchdowns. Boyd hit the Colorado State defense with a 60-yard touchdown in the first quarter and the first touchdown of the second half, too.

Making the move to Starkel really seems to be paying off for the team’s freshman receivers. Trey Knox registered six catches for 90 yards and a touchdown in the game while Treylon Burks had four catches for 92 yards.

After sitting out the first quarter, tight end CJ O’Grady did this to Colorado State’s defense late in the game.

Moving forward, this defense has to find its footing if the Razorbacks are going to win in league play but this was a nice bounce-back win following the tough outing on the road in Oxford. This team was not capable of putting a loss behind them last fall and while it may be taking longer than expected, things are trending up in Fayetteville.

Arkansas moves to 2-1 on the season and will host San Jose State in Fayetteville next Saturday.