Arkansas State coach Butch Jones saw plenty to be frustrated about when he went back and reviewed the film from the Red Wolves’ season-opening loss at Memphis.
He also saw enough to remain encouraged about what his football team could become.
Arkansas State fell 42-24 to Memphis on Saturday night at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, but Jones said Monday that the final margin didn’t necessarily reflect how competitive the game was. Instead, he pointed to turnovers, critical penalties, missed assignments and failures in situational football that allowed Memphis to take control.
“Way too many first-game mistakes,” Jones said. “Really kind of the same thought postgame. A lot of critical-down execution.”
Now the challenge is making sure those mistakes don’t follow the Red Wolves into their home opener Saturday against West Georgia.