FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas offense added a new line in the Razorbacks' record book during Saturday's 58-42 victory over Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.
The Razorbacks, for the first time, had a quarterback pass for 300-plus yards and a running back gain 200-plus yards in the same game.
Austin Allen completed 18 of 25 passes for 303 yards and 2 touchdowns, his third 300-yard game of the year but his first since passing for 400 yards in a 49-30 loss to Alabama on Oct. 8.
Rawleigh Williams rushed for 205 yards and 4 touchdowns and averaged 12.8 yards per carry. Williams, a two-time SEC offensive player of the week who could nab a third honor today, is the first nonquarterback in the FBS with four rushing touchdowns and one touchdown pass in a game this year, according to ESPN Stats.
"Man, the holes were huge," Williams said. "I didn't doubt our offensive line one bit this game. I just felt like I was running straight, so I didn't have to do too much."
Allen was not sacked for the first time since Oct. 1 in a 52-10 victory over Alcorn State.
"You know, he had time," said senior receiver Keon Hatcher, who had two touchdowns among his 4 catches for 65 yards. "He had time to do his thing and that's exactly what he did. I'm proud of my man."
Can't stop
Arkansas scored on nine of its first 10 possessions, with the only nonscoring series coming when Adam McFain's missed 40-yard field goal in the first quarter.
"Everything we were running outside was working," senior tackle Dan Skipper said. "It was just one of those days where everything was rolling. It's always fun when you can go out there and do what you wish and don't get stopped. I think that was the first time in my life it's ever happened, where we didn't really get stopped. That was a fun experience."
3rd down thunder
Critical conversions by a road team can suck the life out of a crowd and change the complexion of games. Arkansas did it over and over again on Saturday, converting 7 of 11 third-down plays and 2 of 2 on fourth-down plays.
After the other two failed third-down conversions, the Razorbacks got a 34-yard field goal from Adam McFain and a missed 40-yard field goal by McFain.
"Our goal is to score every single time we get the ball, especially today," Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen said. "We felt like we should score every time. The guys got open, caught the ball.
"Protection, I couldn't say enough about how well our O-line played today."
Harris rising
Freshman linebacker De'Jon Harris led the Razorbacks with a season-high 10 tackles. Harris didn't start the game, but he ended up playing more snaps than junior Dwayne Eugene, who started in the linebacking corps with senior Brooks Ellis and sophomore Randy Ramsey.
Harris had a team-high four unassisted tackles and had six assists. He also thwarted a second-quarter pass intended for Aeris Williams on a wheel route with tight coverage that forced quarterback Nick Fitzgerald's throw into the boundary. Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen had made good use of that play in recent games against the Razorbacks.
Hug for Whaley
Devwah Whaley had 24 rushing yards on Arkansas' final possession to give the Razorbacks two 100-yard rushers for the second game this season. Whaley finished with 112 yards.
"Devwah had a great game," said Rawleigh Williams, who added a career-high 205 rushing yards. "We got in the locker room and he was like, 'Man, how many yards did I have? We looked it up and he had 112. I gave him a big hug. He works hard, so I'm glad he got over 100. He deserves it."
Slot machines?
Arkansas practiced all week with loud crowd noise that Coach Bret Bielema said team personnel downloaded from a video game that was supported to simulate crowd noise at a Mississippi State game.
"We had cowbell express going on all week," Bielema said. "JaMicahel Winston said, 'Coach, are those cowbells or slot machines?' I said, 'I know slot machines. Those are cowbells.'
"We ran those during stretch, flex, there was music going all the time. And then we blared the music as loud as we could. We flipped our offensive formation and got it as close to the speakers as we could. But again, those guys locked into it."
Just a flag
Arkansas drew a season-low one penalty for 10 yards. The infraction was a defensive holding call against cornerback Ryan Pulley in the second quarter on a deep ball for Donald Gray.
Bad fits
Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen didn't speak in specifics about how Arkansas gashed the Bulldogs for 357 rushing yards.
"I think we missed tackles and had some poor fits and didn't do a good job of setting the edge of our defense," Mullen said. "It wasn't one thing, it was several different things."
Call the league
Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen took issue with the decision by replay officials to overturn the ruling by the field crew to award the Bulldogs possession of an onside kick by Brad Wall at the 11:12 mark of the fourth quarter.
Mullen elected to try for onside kick with the Bulldogs trailing 52-36, perhaps because the Bulldogs had not stopped Arkansas all game, after quarterback Nick Fitzgerald's 1-yard keeper for a touchdown and his 2-point conversion pass to Fred Ross.
Wall caught the bouncing kick and sprinted down the right sideline into Arkansas territory to send the Bulldogs' bell-ringing crowd into euphoria. The officiating crew ruled that Wall could not advance the recovery, but they did give Mississippi State possession. However, the replay officials determined Wall touched the ball after traveling about 9½ yards, just shy of the 10-yard requisite.
"I don't know, unless y'all had a different angle, I don't know how it was overturned, I guess," Mullen said. "The angle they showed on the jumbotron looked like it stands. I guess maybe y'all had a different angle. If not, I'll call the league office. You know what I mean. I'll call them and ask them that question, how it didn't stand."
Up and down
Arkansas has played only three games this season that were decided by a touchdown or less -- the 21-20 victory over Louisiana Tech in the opener, the 41-38 double overtime victory at No. 15 TCU and the 34-30 victory over No. 12 Ole Miss.
The Razorbacks' seven victories have come by an average winning margin of 18 points and their four losses are by an average margin of 30.3 points.
Players of the week
Offense
RB Rawleigh Williams
• Williams, a sophomore from Dallas, rushed for a season-high 205 yards and 4 TDs and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Austin Cantrell. Williams averaged 12.8 yards per carry. He scored all of his touchdowns in the first half.
Defense
DE JaMichael Winston and DL McTelvin Agim
• Winston, a senior from Prichard, Ala., had 7 tackles, including 2 unassisted. Agim, a freshman from Texarkana, Texas, via Hope, also had seven tackles, including a tackle for 3 lost yards. All of Agim's tackles were assists.
Sports on 11/21/2016