LITTLE ROCK — The party started early for Arkansas and the fun lasted for more than three hours as the Razorbacks defeated Missouri State 48-10 in the season opener Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
The capacity crowd of 55,572 had barely settled in before Dennis Johnson took the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.
Before the evening was over, Arkansas had thrown for a school-record 447 yards and three players had scored their first touchdowns as Razorbacks. Arkansas also had 591 total yards, 197 more than it had in last year's opener.
"We came down here and did what we set out to do," said Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino, who is in his second season. "We are a moremature team than we were a year ago, and it showed in the game."
Quarterback Ryan Mallett made a striking debut, completing 17 of 22 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown. The 6-7 sophomore completed his first nine passes and directed scoring drives on all five of his possessions, totaling 27 points before coming out midway through the third quarter with the Hogs ahead 41-10.
"We came out fast, and if we do that, we're going to be an explosive football team," Mallett said.
Johnson told special teams coach John L. Smith he would return the first kickoff for a touchdown and then went out and did it, sending the partisan crowd decked out in red into a frenzy.
Sophomore Jarius Wright led an Arkansas receiving corps that did not drop a pass with six receptions for a career-high 139 yards. His one-handed grab late in the second-quarter nearly resulted in a touchdown, and sophomore tailback Broderick Green, a transfer from Southern California playing in his hometown, powered in on the next play for a 21-3 lead.
The Arkansas defense, bludgeoned on the ground by Western Illinois in last year's opener, looked much tougher up the middle in holding the Bears to 82 rushing yards and 205 total yards.
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"That's what an SEC team is supposed to do to a team like that," Arkansas defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard said. "I think we're trying to become an SEC team. We weren't an SEC team last year."
An interception by linebacker Wendel Davis ended Missouri State's first possession and set up tailback Michael Smith's 15-yard scoring run for a 14-0 lead before seven minutes were gone.
"We're a better football team than we've been, and the score's probably not indicative of that," Missouri State Coach Terry Allen said. "But you can't spot them two touchdowns and expect to be in the football game."
An interception by sophomore cornerback Tramain Thomas off Missouri State junior quarterback Cody Kirbyquelled the Bears' initial drive of the second half at the Arkansas 1-yard line.
Kirby, a Rogers native, finished 12 of 20 for 107 yards and was sacked three times.
Mallett and redshirt freshman Tyler Wilson completed a combined 30 of 41 passes for 447 yards and 3 touchdowns, sharing a fist bump after the game when told about the school passing record.
"It's great," Mallett said.
"I hope we break it," said Wilson, who threw two short touchdown passes.
Mallett directed a two-minute drive that resulted in a 20-yard Alex Tejada field goal at the end of the first half, then led a 99-yard drive on Arkansas' first series of the second half.
The second of those was a seven-play drive, culminating with his 40-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Joe Adams. He took a short pass in the right flats, burst into the secondary and used blocks by Wright and sophomore receiver Greg Childs to make it into the end zone.
Wilson engineered two scoring drives and threw touchdown passes to fullback Van Stumon and freshman receiver Cobi Hamilton. Wilson finished 13 of 19 for 138 yards.
Stumon, Hamilton and Green all scored their first touchdowns for the Hogs.
Arkansas shuffled its large crew of running backs around, with seven tailbacks getting carries on the night.
Freshman Ronnie Wingo led the way with eight carries for 50 yards, while Smith ran for 43 yards on just four carries.
The performance was in stark contrast to last season's opener, when the Razorbacks trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 28-24 victory over Western Illinois.
Petrino noted how Johnson's touchdown differed from the first play of Arkansas' 2008 season.
"To start the game with a kick return for a touchdown is a good way to start the season," Petrino said. "Just about the complete opposite from a year ago. If you remember, we started off with a fumbled kickoff return. So I was happy."
While the Razorbacks dominated their Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) opponent, the night was not free of mistakes.
Arkansas went without a turnover until the 1:43 mark, when Antonio Brown intercepted a Wilson pass. Arkansas also sent three kickoffs out of bounds.
The Razorbacks appeared to suffer a couple of key injuries as well with receiver London Crawford leaving the game with a right collarbone problem and guard Grant Cook coming out with an ankle injury.
Petrino said Crawford would have a magnetic resonance imaging today, but he's not encouraged by the initial diagnosis.
Sports, Pages 25, 35 on 09/06/2009