History repeated itself with Notre Dame's fake punt against Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — While Arkansas fans are still reeling from a loss to Notre Dame Saturday, they may not realize history has a habit of repeating itself.

This time, history circled back around eight seasons later with Fighting Irish's special teams coordinator Marty Biagi calling a fake punt reverse pass to start the third quarter.

The Razorbacks had finally stopped Notre Dame's high-powered offense with a chance to cut into a 29-point third quarter deficit only to find itself in despair with what happened next.

Meet Marty Biagi, special teams coordinator at Notre Dame.

He called a successful fake punt reverse pass with Jordan Faison against Arkansas on Saturday.

What if I told you this isn’t the first time he dialed up some trickery at Razorback Stadium? #whewpig pic.twitter.com/TwFveXVUvg
— Jacob Davis (@JacobScottDavis) September 28, 2025

Arkansas was looking for incremental victories inside an insurmountable lead given how bad its defense was, giving up 420 yards of offense along with 28 second quarter points.

Instead, Biagi decided to catch the Razorbacks' punt return team off guard with an unforgettable fake concept using wide receiver Jordan Faison taking a reverse to find fellow pass catcher Malachi Fields crossing to the right for 45 yards.

The Razorbacks have been on the receiving hand of embarrassing special teams plays over the years, but one play sticks out among most, the North Texas fake fair catch that was taken 90 yards for a touchdown by Keegan Brewer.

While the play straddled the fence of legality and unseen, Biagi was granted the opportunity by officials to go through with the trick play, which continues to live on through social media each offseason as one of the most memorable moments in college football history.

“[Biagi] has got something he wants to talk to y’all about,” Mean Green coach Seth Littrell told the officiating crew ahead of North Texas' game in Fayetteville during the 2018 season. The only thing he had to do was hint that the play was coming ahead of time. “[The officials] had some wide eyes,’” Biagi said. “They were like, ‘O.K., it’s legal.’”

Everything began to avalanche for the Razorbacks following the fake fair catch, losing in embarrassing style 44-17. It just so happened that it was just a bump in a long, winding road of what was the 22-game Chad Morris era.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman on the field before a game with the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. | Ted McClenning-allHOGS Images

Given the Fighting Irish were going to continue a beatdown of Arkansas, Biagi's unit likely wasted the perfect fake punt in a game they didn't really need it in.

While Notre Dame perfectly executed something they likely saw on film during the week leading up to the game, doing it as you're drubbing a team so badly into the grass is just rubbing salt in the wound of a coach already on the hot seat such as Arkansas' Sam Pittman.

For Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman, he needed a statement victory to stay in the good graces of the College Football Playoff committee following an 0-2 start to the season, which were losses to a pair of top-10 teams.

The fake punt didn't result in points for the Irish, but it was certainly a gutsy move by Freeman out of halftime to keep his foot on the gas against an effortless Razorbacks defense.

From an outsiders point of view, it appears the Razorbacks have already let go of the rope without the calendar flipping to October. Whether or not Saturday was the beginning of the end of Pittman's tenure, he is looking for answers as to why things are going awry inside the Arkansas locker room.

"You can not tackle well and still give good effort," Pittman said after Saturday's 56-13 loss to Notre Dame. "You can try to cover and get beat. I think I probably need to look at the tape and see exactly what the effort was on it. I know there were several plays in there that we had guys there to make plays, and we didn't for whatever reason. So, I think I'm going to hold that answer until I watch the tape."

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