Jim Harris: Razorbacks vs Southern Miss Golden Eagles Live Blog

3:38 p.m. 24-3 Hogs, final — Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said it was good for A.J. Derby to settle in after he was a bit “rattled” when he first entered the game, as the backup quarterback helped lead the Razorbacks to their third win of the year. Arkansas’ Alex Collins became the first freshman in SEC history to rush for 100 or more yards in his first three games. Imagine the players in league history who went on to greatness (or in the case of such stars as Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker, won the Heisman Trophy) who didn’t accomplish that. Now, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and start mentioning Collins and Heisman in the same breath. Collins, in the post-game interviews, credited his offensive line for giving him the chance to top 100 yards in each of his three games so far. His fellow tailback, sophomore Jonathan Williams, also cracked the 100-yard mark for the third game and had his third breakaway TD run in three games as well, this one of 45 yards that gave Arkansas some breathing room at 17-3 in the third quarter. Jarrett Lake, the senior linebacker who had to sit out last week’s game for a team violation apparently incurred under the previous staff, looked like he was trying to get two games’ worth of tackles in one. He said he set his goal for 15 tackles but finished two short of that. Lake did sniff out USM’s fake field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter; Lake said he noticed two Golden Eagles on his side whispering in a way that clued him in to a possible fake, and USM’s shovel pass attempt only gained 2 of the necessary 7 yards to get a first down. Defensive end Chris Smith had three sacks, and Bielema said he was the player of the game. His opposite bookend, Trey Flowers, returned from injury to deflect and then intercept a pass early in the game. See you next week when Arkansas travels to Rutgers for a nationally televised game (ABC or ESPN’s networks) that kicks off at 2:30 Arkansas time. Meanwhile, catch me Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. as the KTHV, Channel 11 “Hog Zone Super Saturday” team breaks down this game. And look on this site for the Two-Minute Drill as we highlight various highs and lows in Saturday’s game.

2:25 p.m. 24-3 — We’re just about done here as Williams keeps piling up rushing yardage. We’ll check back in after the trip to the post-game interviews. Hogs improve to 3-0. Southern Miss’ losing streak will grow to 15 straight, 0-3 under Todd Monken.

2:23 p.m. — Hogs keep running the clock with another first down. Which gives me a chance to remind you that I’ll be on KTHV Channel 11’s Hog Zone Super Saturday with Michael Smith up here and Mark Edwards, Anthony Lucas and J.J. Meadors in Little Rock at 6:30 p.m. and again at 10:30 p.m. Check us out.

2:20 p.m. 24-3 Hogs — Attendance today is 63,067. The actual crowd on hand isn’t far off from what we saw on opening day against Louisiana-Lafayette. There were more people in the east and west upper decks, but fewer in the cheap seats atop the south end zone complex. Half the crowd has hauled out of here now, though. Beautiful day. Wish they all could be like this.

2:13 p.m. 24-3 Hogs — Alex Collins is the first freshman in Arkansas history to rush for 100 or more yards in his first three games. Both Collins and Jonathan Williams at this point have 106 yards rushing. Collins is also the first freshman in all of Division I since Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma to rush for 100 yards in his first three games.