Jim Harris: Razorbacks vs Ragin Cajuns Live Game Blog

5:25 p.m. 34-14 Arkansas — These Razorbacks just continue to answer. This time, after the defense surrendered a fast ULL drive to cut the lead to 13, the offense stepped up. Jonathan Williams, who may have suffered a stinger on the shoulder in the first half, turned a short gain going to the right, reversed his field and then outraced ULL’s defense for 75 yards and the score. There was a good block the finish it; it appears it was Nathan Holmes (22) at the left sideline on the trailing safety. One play, 75 yards. John Henson kicked the PAT and will now kick off. Hocker may be done. As mentioned earlier, he has some sort of a groin issue but has handled his duties up to now. Henson’s kickoff doesn’t result in a touchback, but rather into the kickoff team stopping the returner at his 18, or 7 yards worse than the Cajuns would have started if the ball had been a touchback. See, there are positives in nearly everything if you look.

5:20 p.m. 27-14 — Not sure if Arkansas’ defense took an in-game breather on the field or not after getting a 20-point lead, but that wasn’t a good series for the Hogs while it was a must-series for ULL that the Cajuns turned into 7 points. ULL covered 75 yards in eight plays and converted a fourth-down pass from the Arkansas 24 to keep the march alive. Again, LB coverage was a problem; Braylon Mitchell couldn’t keep up with the tight end on the fourth down play, and ULL also picked on his zone on two passes before that. Five of the eight plays were passes, capped by Broadway’s 11-yard strike to Jacob Maxwell over the middle with two Hogs in the vicinity.

5:11 p.m. 27-7 Arkansas — OK, I’m not ready to change any season predictions, but I think what I’m about to describe is the mark of a pretty good team that is together, as everybody has said about the Hogs. Sure, sometimes you wonder if that’s typical preseason lip-service, but this is telling. Hunter Henry caught a Brandon Allen pass and was scissored by tacklers at the ULL 44, losing possession (it required a bad call and an overturn by the replay official to get it right). So, ULL, after a bad first possession of the second half, had a possible momentum changer with the ball near midfield. Arkansas’ defense answered on its next two snaps. First, a nice play on Terrance’s Broadway’s zone read gave up just a yard. Then, DE Trey Flowers blew up Broadway with a quick rush, separating the football in the process with a smashing hit. The ball bounced forward (and how many times the past year or two have you seen those balls recovered by the opponent against Arkansas) and linebacker Austin Jones finally corralled the pigskin at the Ragin Cajuns’ 49. The Hogs covered that distance in six plays, mostly behind some tough running by freshman Alex Collins through the right side (sometimes with center Travis Swanson pulling). The scoring play, though, went to Kiero Small as he took Brandon Allen’s short toss and rambled down the right sideline 10 yards to the pylon.

5:03 p.m. 20-7 UA — “The ruling on the field is the pass was incomplete.” Sorry, but that’s a bad call. Arkansas nearly got the next play snapped before the officials stop play. Hunter Henry made the catch and turned up field and lost it after being sandwiched at the ULL 45.

Seems like all was not roses, ice cream and back-slapping in the UA defense’s locker room at halftime. Defense came out roaring to start the second half, recording a double-DE sack by Chris Smith and Trey Flowers on second down, then a sack coming from the interior by Deatrich Wise and LB Jarrett on ULL quarterback Terrance Broadway. Hogs take over possession at their 42 following the punt.