ARKANSAS 34, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 14

Smashing success

Arkansas tips scale with rush

Bret Bielema, Arkansas head coach, looks back to the field after checking on one of his injured players Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013 during the first quarter of the game against Louisiana at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Bret Bielema, Arkansas head coach, looks back to the field after checking on one of his injured players Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013 during the first quarter of the game against Louisiana at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE- Arkansas unleashed a double-barreled running attack to complement Brandon Allen’s three touchdown passes and hammered Louisiana-Lafayette 34-14 in the head coaching debut of Bret Bielema on Saturday.

Jonathan Williams rushed for 151 yards, a 75-yard touchdown run included, and Alex Collins had 131 rushing yards in his college debut as the Razorbacks overwhelmed their visitors with 522 yards total offense.

Allen completed 15 of 22 passes for 230 yards and connected with Javontee Herndon for two touchdown passes in the first half. The Razorbacks rushed for 292 yards and dominated in time of possession - 37:12 to 22:48 - to steamroll Lafayette on a scalding day before a crowd of 69,801 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Game Sketch

RECORDS Louisiana-Lafayette 0-1; Arkansas 1-0

STARS Jonathan Williams rushed for 151 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown, and Alex Collins ran for 131 yards for the Razorbacks.

TURNING POINT Arkansas answered Louisiana-Lafayette’s tying touchdown with a five-play scoring drive, capped by Javontee Herndon’s diving 49-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Allen in the second quarter.

KEY STATS Arkansas nearly doubled the Cajuns in total offense, with 292 rushing and 230 passing for 522 yards to Louisiana-Lafayette’s 274.

UP NEXT The Razorbacks play their Little Rock opener with a 6 p.m. kickoff against Samford, a member of the FCS, at War Memorial Stadium.

Bielema’s 1-0 philosophy was literally fulfilled for the only time it was available this season.

“I know this: When we really became a great team in the past … we’ve been over 200 running and throwing,” Bielema said. “You win a lot of games that way. You win a lot of games if you’re balanced like that and you play good defense.”

Arkansas sacked Louisiana-Lafayette quarterbacks four times and forced two turnovers. Trey Flowersstripped quarterback Terrance Broadway and linebacker Austin Jones recovered, and Chris Smith tipped a pass that was intercepted by JaMichael Winston.

“All the fans were anxious about what it was going to be, and I think we came out and set a pretty good tone,” said Flowers, who had two sacks. “We have to keep moving forward with a 1-0 mentality.”

The Razorbacks wouldn’t allow the Ragin’ Cajuns to catch a breath after Williams’ 75-yard scoring run, by controlling the clock on a day in which temperatures remained above 90 degrees the entire game.

“That’s kind of the definition of how I like to play games is that second half,” Bielema said. “To wear it down, get some turnovers. People don’t just want to play football for four quarters a lot of the time. So I think our kids bought into it.”

The Razorbacks took charge early with a 75-yard drive after the opening kickoff. Williams and Collins combined for 62 yards to set up Allen’s 6-yard scoring pass to Herndon.

Arkansas grabbed the lead for good on Herndon’s 49-yard diving touchdown catch on a deep post five plays after the Ragin Cajuns had tied the game at 7-7.

“I thought the ball was in the air forever,” Herndon said. “I used a technique called ‘lay hands.’ A lot of people say I caught it one-handed, but I really don’t know how I caught the ball.”

Herndon’s touchdown was impressive, but his teammates contributed two more eye-opening scores.

Fullback Kiero Small caught a pass in the flats, stopped on a dime at the sideline to juke one defender, then powered through two more for a 10-yard touchdown in third quarter.

Then, after Louisiana-Lafayette pulled to within 27-14 with a 75-yard scoring drive, Williams finished off the Cajuns. Allen called an audible at the line, and Williams took the handoff. He headed to the right side, ran into a wall of defenders, cut back left and got to the sideline for a 75-yard score for the final touchdown with 6:04 left in the third quarter.

“We were ready to get out there against someone else,” said Allen, who was credited by teammates with making timely adjustments at the line of scrimmage as the Hogs averaged 7.1 yards per snap, “I thought we pretty much did a great job imposing our will on them.”

The Razorbacks, coming off a 4-8 season and a coaching change, had not left a field victorious since a 19-15 decisionover Tulsa last Nov. 3.

“It’s been so long since we’ve gotten out there and just had this feeling of winning,” senior center Travis Swanson said.

Louisiana-Lafayette, which averaged more than 455.0 yards per game last season, managed 274 yards total offense and 4.3 yards per play.

Ragin’ Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth said his team felt like it would be a good physical match for the Razorbacks, but it didn’t turn out that way.

“You’ve got to give Arkansas credit,” Hudspeth said. “They run it right at you. They make you tackle them. And they’re strong and physical. That’s what they do.

“They played awfully well. They’ve got a really good football team. I think coach has done a great job with them.”

Louisiana-Lafayette drove 65 and 71 yards on its first two possessions, utilizing a hurry-up, quick-passing game with mobile quarterback Broadway, managing a missed field goal and a touchdown for a 7-7 tie early in the second quarter.

But the Razorbacks found a way to keep Broadway in check and their pass rush eventually wore down the Cajuns, who managed 138 yards in total offense after their first two series netted 136.

“I’ve always thought that with defense, you’ve got to get hit in the head a couple of times,” Bielema said. “You’ve got to get knocked around, got to get used to making the calls, getting them lined up in a hurry.

“Again, that’s a very good offense. They had a nice plan coming in, keeping us off balance with some of the run and play-action stuff.”

Louisiana-Lafayette (0-1) fell to 0-5 against the Razorbacks, with all the losses coming in Fayetteville, and are 0-37 all-time against SEC teams.

Williams and Collins both surpassed the 100-yard mark in the third quarter - Williams on his 75-yard touchdown run and Collins a short while later on a 16-yard run.

Sports, Pages 23 on 09/01/2013

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