Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

ALABAMA 52, ARKANSAS 0

OFFENSE – F
HIGHLIGHTS: Watching quarterback Tyler Wilson throw the ball in pregame warm-ups wasn’t half bad. Knile Davis showed a little more burst at the line on a few runs. Johnathan Williams made the most of his three carries, picking up 18 yards in garbage time. Tight ends Austin Tate and Chris Gragg combined for five catches for 54 yards.

Aw heck, who are we fooling here?  Let’s just get on with it ...

LOWLIGHTS: Sure, Wilson didn’t play. And we know Alabama is a good defense. But 137 yards of offense is an abomination. Arkansas averaged 2.2 yards per play. Brandon Allen threw two interceptions — including one that bounced out of Cobi Hamilton’s hands — and was sacked three times. Brandon Mitchell had a few nice plays running the option when he was at quarterback, but was 1 of 7 passing for 19 yards. Coaches continue to make confounding decisions with Dennis Johnson, who got only four carries as the running game netted 58 yards. Arkansas converted 3 of 14 third down opportunities. The team tallied five turnovers and fumbled eight times, though they “only” lost three.

DEFENSE – F
HIGHLIGHTS: Alabama didn’t go on an extended scoring drive until the 8:58 mark of the second quarter. So for nearly a quarter and a half, the Razorbacks showed some fight on defense. Safety Rohan Gaines had 11 tackles and linebacker Alonzo Highsmith finished with 10.

LOWLIGHTS: Alabama averaged 6.7 yards per play, which could have been worse had the Crimson Tide not had such a short field for two of its early touchdowns (6- and 1-yard runs). Arkansas surrendered 438 total yards, including touchdowns of 12 and 27 yards to players buried deep on the Alabama depth chart at running back.

SPECIAL TEAMS — F
HIGHLIGHTS: Dylan Breeding wasn’t bad in averaging 44.0 yards per punt with a long of 57. Of course when “wasn’t bad” and “punter” are the best you’ve got in the highlights you know it was an awful day ...

LOWLIGHTS: A bad snap from the backup snapper in the first quarter — something Coach John L. Smith wanted blame for in the postgame — set the tone. Arkansas was docked 31 yards from its offensive total for the bad play and Alabama then took advantage of the short field to go up 7-0. Another high snap — from the replacement snapper — resulted in a missed field goal.

OVERALL — F
WHAT WE LEARNED: As if the ULM loss wasn’t enough to convince the world, we now know this team has a sub-zero chance to compete for the SEC or BCS titles. Last year’s 24-point gap between the Razorbacks and Crimson Tide has only grown larger, something magnified by the absence of Wilson. Speaking of Wilson ... he’s more important to this team than anybody realized. Of course he’s not able to block for himself, run the football or play defense, so getting him back isn’t a cure-all. Next week's game against Rutgers is a must-win if the Razorbacks have any hopes of making it to a bowl game.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Maybe next week ...