FAYETTEVILLE — Ryan Mallett was up to his old record-breaking tricks with 409 yards passing and three touchdowns, and Jerico Nelson returned an interception for a touchdown as Arkansas whipped Vanderbilt 49-14 on the eve of Halloween.
Mallett broke his own school record by 1 yard and found veterans D.J. Williams and Jarius Wright for their first scores of the season as the Razorbacks (6-2, 3-2 SEC) reached bowl eligibility before a homecoming crowd of 70,430 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“We won it the way we should have,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said of the Razorbacks, No. 19 in the BCS. “Games like this challenge your maturity and poise. You don’t want to have a letdown after a game like last week.”
Vanderbilt (2-6, 1-4) looked sharp early, building a 14-6 lead with 2:53 to play in the first quarter, then went more than 43 minutes without a first down,
The Razorbacks’ runaway victory was tempered by injury news for a third consecutive week and a plague of 13 penalties for 130 yards.
Receiver Greg Childs, who had five receptions for 87 yards, had to be helped off the field with an apparent knee injury after a 17-yard catch early in the fourth quarter. Petrino did not comment on his status. Defensive tackle Byran Jones left the field with a leg injury in the first quarter.
Nelson’s 39-yard interception return for a touchdown was the final score of the game at the 13:15 mark of the fourth quarter, and it was the flashiest play of what became a dominating defensive performance the .
Linebacker Jerry Franklin forced a fumble from Vanderbilt quarterback Larry Smith in the second quarter that resulted in a safety and a 22-14 Arkansas lead.
“I was proud of the way we played on defense,” Petrino said. “We not only knocked them backwards, but we scored nine points.”
The Razorbacks gave up 130 yards to Vanderbilt’s hurry-up attack in the first quarter, but just 23 for the rest of the game, while notching 4 sacks, 2 takeaways and 8 tackles for loss.
“We had to settle down and play our assignments better,” Franklin said. “We weren’t communicating at first and they took advantage of that. We weren’t disciplined either, but we took care of that and finished with a solid ”The Commodores had one first down in the final 48 minutes and 153 total yards on the day, a season-low for the Arkansas defense.
The Razorbacks racked up 417 passing yards and 555 total yards. Mallett connected on 27 of 44 passes, didn’t throw an interception, notching the
fourth 400-yard passing game
at Arkansas.
“With an offense with Mallett and all the threats at wide receiver and running back, it’s a small room for error,” Vanderbilt safety Sean Richardson said. “You have to go out there and execute. Even if you do that, sometimes you still come up on the bad end.”
Williams, who scored Arkansas’ first touchdown on a 2-yard reception, finished with four receptions for 32 yards and was voted the Crip Hall Award winner, which is given to the top Razorback senior on homecoming.
Wright had six receptions for 87 yards and caught two 15-yard touchdown passes.
“The coaches depended on me with Joe Adams out and Greg Childs limited,” Wright said. “I felt like everyone was depending on me, and that I needed to go out there and make some plays.”
Vanderbilt, playing with the recently promoted Des Kitchings as offensive coordinator, drove 85 and 55 yards on its first two series, scoring on Jonathan Krause’s 21-yard reverse and quarterback Larry Smith’s 8-yard pass to tight end Brandon Barden for a 14-6 lead at the 2:53 mark of the first quarter.
“The first quarter I thought we did an excellent job moving the ball, but after that we just started going downhill,” Smith said. “Our offense kept going three-and-out and the defense was on the field constantly and it really took a toll on them.”
The Commodores would need another 43-plus minutes to notch another first down.
“That’s very disappointing,” Vanderbilt Coach Robbie Caldwell said. “We started off like gangbusters, got after them pretty good, made some things happen and unfortunately had some bad things occur.”
Sports, Pages 27 on 10/31/2010