What Ryan Silverfield Said After Arkansas' 31-14 win over North Alabama

FAYETTEVILLE — The Ryan Silverfield era started with an uninspiring 31-14 victory over North Alabama on Saturday at Razorback Stadium.

Here's what Silverfield had to say in his first postgame news conference at Arkansas.

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Carter Stoutmire celebrates following a tackle for loss against North Alabama. | Nilsen Roman

On the game as a whole:

"We went 1-0, and I understand what that means, but today's performance certainly wasn't to the standard and the expectations that we all want and expect, especially in this new regime.

On offensive struggles:

"Offensively, not good. Not good by any stretch of the imagination, especially the first half. I'll say this: it's probably one of the worst offensive performance that I've been a part of. That's on me, and I got to get it fixed. Didn't do a good enough job running the football. Obviously, a turnover before halftime cannot happen. Absolutely inexcusable. The offensive line's got to play better."

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson prepares to call for the snap against North Alabama in the season opener. | Nilsen Roman

On KJ Jackson's performance:

I don't think he was timid. We saw a different look than they had shown. Prior to half, you certainly can't make that decision to throw the ball in the end zone when you already have points and there's plenty of checkdowns available. And we saw what happened. I thought KJ at least settled a little bit in the second half and played the way we think he's capable of playing."

On his halftime message:

"I told the offense, I said, 'defense, you know, keep your foot on the throat, but offense, take a deep breath.' I think so many guys – three penalties on our left tackle. Yeah, it can't happen. It can't happen. You know, our right tackle got beat across the face a few times, just by not taking the proper footwork and things that we've been working on since January. Take a deep breath, be calm, cool, collected, go out there, and do what you need to."

On if Jackson's struggles had anything to do with him splitting reps in the fall:

"Absolutely zero. You still got to split reps in camp. Nobody goes out there and throws it 6000 times. So nothing to do with it. You know, nothing to do with when we named the starter."

Arkansas will travel to Salt Lake City to play No. 21 Utah (1-0) on Sept. 12. Kickoff is set for 9:15 p.m. CT, with coverage on ESPn and the Razorback Sports Network.

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