It was sort of fitting.

Austin Allen finally led the Arkansas offense down the field and got it within three yards of pay dirt. The Razorbacks trailed No. 23 TCU by a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter, and prior to that drive, the offense had been virtually nonexistent. Allen started the Razorbacks’ march with a key 20-yard scramble on 3rd-and-14. That, plus some nice runs from David Williams, set Arkansas up with an opportunity to score.

As soon as Arkansas got into the red zone, CBS color commentator Gary Danielson said what was on the mind of every Arkansas fan.

“Boy, did Arkansas’ defense need this drive.”

On 3rd-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Allen found Austin Cantrell in the back of the end zone for what should’ve been a game-tying touchdown. But Cantrell drifted out of bounds by the time he made the catch. No score.

So Arkansas settled for a field goal from 20 yards. Or so it thought. TCU didn’t even rush Arkansas kicker Cole Hedlund on his attempt.

Shank. Doink. No good.

Zero points were scored for that long, get-back-in-the-game drive. It was a microcosm of what turned out to be a frustrating afternoon for the Hogs.

The 28-7 loss was not the product of a dominant TCU squad that was vastly superior than Arkansas. The opportunities were there for Bret Bielema to pick up a quality win in front of the home crowd.

Instead, his team shanked it in every way.

Credit: Joey Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s not get it twisted. Hedlund was not the sole reason Arkansas lost that game. His two missed field goals were just the straw that broke the Hogs’ back.

Like Hedlund, there were several Hogs who didn’t do their job Saturday, most of whom were on the offensive side of the ball.

Arkansas isn’t beating a Top-25 team on a day in which Allen completes 9 of 23 passes. Ever.

Allen deserves part of the blame for that, as do the Razorback receivers who couldn’t get open. It seemed like every time Allen was scrambling, it wasn’t the result of poor offensive line play like last year. It was a mix of stellar coverage and poor route running.

For all the stereotypes about Big 12 defenses against the pass, Allen certainly didn’t make TCU fit that build. Instead, the passing game had zero rhythm all afternoon.

And part of that was the fact that the Razorbacks had nothing doing on the ground, either. It’s hard to establish balance when your offense runs for 3 yards per carry for most of the afternoon (some last-ditch runs gave Arkansas four yards per carry).

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As a result, it was only a matter of time before Arkansas’ solid defensive effort went to waste. That’s why Danielson’s comment was so appropriate. Go figure that the Razorback defense would be doing the heavy lifting in a matchup against a Top-25 team.

But when Arkansas needed one more big stop on 3rd-and-long with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, it got an unnecessary pass interference penalty. That led to TCU’s dagger touchdown to put the game away for good.

And just to add insult to injury, Arkansas shot itself one more time on the ensuing kickoff by coughing up the ball.

It was a head-scratcher of an afternoon for Bielema’s squad. The necessary offensive adjustments weren’t made. The special teams mistakes were obvious. The defensive miscues down the stretch were magnified.

Everyone played a part in Arkansas not winning what was a very winnable game.

Now, the Hogs will have to wait two weeks to get that bad taste out of their mouths. They’ll head into their first SEC game after two rather unimpressive offensive efforts. That’s a troubling sign for a group that was supposed to be the backbone of this team.

Arkansas can still bounce back from what was a brutal loss. The Hogs can still rack up quality wins and make noise in the SEC. One game doesn’t dictate the next 10.

But it’ll be a long year if they shank opportunities like they did on Saturday.