LUBBOCK, Texas -- Arkansas broke Texas Tech's will with its punishing running attack Saturday and might have turned a corner in the Bret Bielema era in the process.
Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins combined to rush for 357 yards and six touchdowns and Arkansas notched a significant road victory with a 49-28 romp over the Red Raiders before a crowd of 60,277 at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Bielema's first road victory at Arkansas broke the Razorbacks' streak of 13 consecutive losses to teams from the Power 5 conferences and marked Arkansas' first nonconference road victory since a 38-28 decision at Texas in 2003.
"We want to be able to enforce our will on a team, and Texas Tech is a good team," said Williams, who rushed for 145 yards and became the first Razorback to run for four touchdowns in a game since Darren McFadden in 2007.
"This is Arkansas football, Hog ball, Hog strong, whatever you want to say. This is what we are," Bielema said. "I know at times it ain't that pretty, but it's a heck of a lot of fun."
Arkansas (2-1) improved to 16-2 in games at Texas Tech (2-1) by more than doubling the Red Raiders in time of possession -- 40:39 to 19:21 -- and rushing for 438 yards and 7 touchdowns, harassing Texas Tech into three turnovers and keeping the potent Air Raid offense and quarterback Davis Webb on the sideline.
"In my experience of playing an up‑tempo offense, the more you can monopolize the clock, it just keeps their offense on the sideline and gets very, very frustrating," Bielema said. " You see that coach over there pacing around the sidelines because he just wants that ball back. If you kind of say, 'Hey, hey, I got it, you can't have it,' that's kind of frustrating, and it's a lot of fun."
Texas Tech lost to an unranked nonconference team at home for the first time since 2002, a winning streak that had reached 26 games.
Collins ran for 212 yards, including an 84-yard touchdown burst up the middle with 10:56 remaining to put Arkansas ahead by the final score. The sophomore became the first Arkansas break to pass the 200-yard mark since McFadden ran for 206 yards in a 50-48 triple-overtime victory at No. 1 LSU on Nov. 23, 2007.
Arkansas became the first SEC team to rush for 400-plus yards in back-to-back games since at least 2000, based on the data base compiled by sports-reference.com.
"I thought all game long we were the more physical team and we proved it," said Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen, who was 6 of 12 passing for 61 yards.
Arkansas, leading 28-21 at halftime, had two passing plays in the second half and ran 40 times for 286 yards after intermission.
"The second half we didn't have an answer," Texas Tech Coach Kliff Kingsbury said. "They lined up and pounded us."
"We came into this game knowing once we got them behind us, we could break their will," Arkansas defensive lineman Trey Flowers said. "We got a couple of touchdowns ahead, and it was foot to the pedal from there on."
Arkansas doubled Tech exactly in the second half with 42 plays for 298 yards against the Red Raiders' 21 plays for 149 yards.
Arkansas' last 30 plays were on the ground, leading to Allen's 5-yard scramble for a touchdown, Williams' 7-yard score and Collins' long-distance touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The Razorbacks kept the ball for the final 9:10, pushing to 504 yards total offense before a few kneel-downs left them with 499 yards.
"Towards the end, that last drive, those last couple of drives, everyone knew what was going to happen," Arkansas tackle Brey Cook said.
Arkansas turned both of its first-half takeaways -- a strip by linebacker Brooks Ellis that was recovered by Taiwan Johnson at the Texas Tech 13, and a 30-yard interception return by Martrell Spaight to the Red Raiders' 12 -- into touchdowns.
Spaight's interception -- when the Hogs began reversing the course of the game with their linebackers dropped back into coverage -- came three plays after Arkansas attempted a reverse from the Tech 11 and Collins' errant pitch for Keon Hatcher was recovered by the Red Raiders.
"They did a great job," said Webb, who completed 27 of 45 passes for 252 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. "Arkansas' team, give them all the credit in the world. They had a great game plan for us. They dropped back pretty deep and took away the middle of the field.
"That was a huge emphasis we were trying to hit this week. ... We weren't good enough today."
Spaight's interception led to Williams' third score, a 12-yard run with 1:30 left in the half, to put Arkansas ahead 28-21 and trigger a key sequence. The Razorbacks forced a Texas Tech punt to end the half and got the ball first in the third quarter.
When the Razorbacks took the opening possession of the second half 75 yards on 13 plays, eating up 7:03 and scoring on Allen's busted-play 5-yard touchdown, they had their first two-touchdown lead and control of the game.
"That's just huge going into the half and then coming out of the half," Ellis said. "That was just huge for our momentum."
Texas Tech's three second-half possessions resulted in a 79-yard touchdown drive, a punt and an interception by freshman cornerback Henre' Toliver in his first start and took 6:05 of game time. Arkansas had 23:55 possession time in the second half.
Sports on 09/14/2014