Chris Marshall gives Arkansas offense needed upside

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The Arkansas offense did not show much in its first three games. The two touchdowns it scored against Georgia were both in garbage time, long after the game ceased to be competitive. The Utah game was done and dusted by the time Arkansas scored its only touchdown in that particular game. The North Alabama game was a win, but everyone knows that was not a crisp, impressive performance for Ryan Silverfield's offense. 

Saturday night against Tulsa, Arkansas finally showed real signs of life on offense. The hope is that what happened in Week 4 can be carried into the rest of the SEC football season over the next two months. Chris Marshall was the straw that stirred the drink for the Razorbacks. On a night when someone needed to show that Arkansas didn't have to remain mediocre (or worse) on offense, Chris Marshall told everyone in Fayetteville that he was sick and tired of being sick and tired. 

Marshall went off against Tulsa's defense. He torched the Golden Hurricane secondary for 195 receiving hards on 9 catches, nearly 22 yards per catch. He got open. He ran after the catch. He scored. He changed the shape of Tulsa's defense. He did it all.

KJ Jackson remarked after the game that Marshall "makes playing football really easy. He makes really quick and decisive decisions."

Marshall, by giving KJ Jackson a reliable target but also someone who can get large chunks of yardage, began to push the Arkansas offense past the limitations we saw the first three weeks of the season. Arkansas' passing game has been painfully limited to the short and short-intermediate ranges of attack. We saw more vertical passing and bigger playmaking results in this game. It is absolutely necessary for Arkansas receivers to be able to stretch the field so that the running game can begin to function against a thinner, lighter tackle box. Arkansas and Ryan Silverfield might have finally realized that throwing to set up the run, rather than running to set up the pass, should probably be the fundamental sequence and play mixture for the Hogs in the coming weeks.

This is not a bad Tulsa defense, either. The Golden Hurricane put talented Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker in plastic wrap and didn't let him get free earlier this season. Arkansas was better than Oklahoma State against Tulsa. Chris Marshall had a lot to do with that. Suddenly the floor for this offense is a lot higher than people ever imagined it would be.

Now let's see how high the ceiling is in the coming weeks.

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