No. 1 rings up another ‘W’ on UA

FAYETTEVILLE — Moving to the SEC has meant playing a lot of games against No. 1-ranked teams for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Saturday’s game against Alabama marked the 10th time in the past 12 seasons the University of Arkansas has played a No. 1 team from the SEC, including the past four seasons against the Crimson Tide.

Since joining the SEC for the 1992 season, Arkansas has played 14 games against No. 1 teams, including one in non-conference play at Southern California.

Alabama’s 65-31 victory Saturday dropped Arkansas to 4-20 all-time against No. 1 teams. The Razorbacks are 0-7 against No. 1 Tide teams.

It was the Razorbacks’ eighth consecutive loss to a No. 1 team since beating LSU 50-48 in triple overtime in 2007 at Tiger Stadium in Houston Nutt’s final game as Arkansas’ coach.

Since then, Arkansas has lost No. 1 matchups against Alabama five times, and one time each against Florida, LSU and Mississippi State.

Arkansas’ first game against a No. 1 team was in 1957 when Texas A&M beat the Razorbacks 7-6 in Fayetteville.

In addition to beating LSU, the Razorbacks have No. 1 victories over Texas in 1964, 1965 and 1981.

Under 50,000

Arkansas announced the number of tickets scanned — meaning fans who entered the stadium — was 49,723.

The tickets sold figure was announced at 64,974.

“First of all, I want to thank our fans. They came out today,” Razorbacks Coach Chad Morris said. “It was a great crowd, great atmosphere, and they were with us all the way to the end. Cheering at the end.

“The support that our fans continue to give these young men is impressive and inspiring.”

Upon further review

Officials on the field ruled Arkansas safety Santos Ramirez recovered a fumble by Alabama running back Najee Harris at the Razorbacks 42 with 10:27 left in the second quarter.

But instead of a momentum swing for the Razorbacks, replay officials overturned the call and determined Harris’ elbow touched the ground before he lost the ball.

On the next play, Tua Tagovailoa hit Jerry Jeudy with a 42-yard touchdown pass to give the Tide a 28-7 lead.

Replay officials also overturned a call on the field with 8:47 left in the third quarter and ruled Damien Harris scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down.

The initial ruling on the field was that Harris had been stopped for no gain and the Tide had turned over the ball on downs.

No miracle

Alabama Coach Nick Saban hasn’t lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks since the “Miracle on Markham” game at War Memorial Stadium 16 years ago.

Saban improved to 15-2 against Arkansas, including 12-0 at Alabama.

Arkansas was 2-3 against Saban’s LSU teams from 2000-2004, including 21-20 in 2002 when Matt Jones’ last-second touchdown pass to DeCori Birmingham and David Carlton’s 35-yard extra

point — after a celebration penalty — lifted the Razorbacks to the victory and sent them to the SEC Championship Game.

Alabama’s 12-year winning streak matches the longest consecutive season streak by an Arkansas opponent. Texas beat the Razorbacks 12 consecutive years from 1939-50.

The Longhorns have the longest winning streak ever against the Razorbacks at 13 games, but those were spread out from 1903 through 1932.

Camera issues

ESPN wasn’t able to use all of its normal camera shots for most of the first quarter of the Arkansas-Alabama game because of lightning in the area.

While the weather didn’t delay the game, per ESPN company safety policy, cameramen who normally would be shooting the game from certain angles were not allowed in those areas.

The result was that the telecast had some shots extremely far away from the field.

“For the safety of our employees, when a lightning strike is detected within 8 miles of our events, camera operators in exposed areas are required to take safe shelter,” wrote Derek Volner, a manager with ESPN Communications. “Once 30 [minutes have] passed without a lightning strike within 8 miles, they may return to their positions.”

The SEC has similar guidelines regarding lightning, but conference spokesman Chuck Dunlap said the lightning strike was not considered within the parameters for halting the game.

“The safety and well-being of our student-athletes and fans will always be the primary focus of any potential weather situation,” Dunlap wrote. “SEC stadiums are equipped with weather radar and trained professionals on site to gauge each potential weather situation. Today prior to the start of the Alabama versus Arkansas contest, weather developed near the edge of the established radius, and it was determined to be moving away from the venue.”

Kelley contributes

Sophomore quarterback Cole Kelley has lost the starting job to Ty Storey, but he’s contributing off the bench in a goal-line package.

Kelley threw a touchdown pass to tight end Cheyenne O’Grady on Saturday and rushed for a touchdown with 13 seconds left. He also had a rushing touchdown against Texas A&M last week.

Injury report

Arkansas junior running back Devwah Whaley missed his second consecutive game after suffering a concussion at Auburn.

Razorbacks starting senior offensive right tackle Brian Wallace sprained his right ankle with 12:01 left in the third quarter and didn’t return. Redshirt freshman Dalton Wagner replaced Wallace at right tackle.

Arkansas safety Santos Ramirez suffered a shoulder injury in the second half that Coach Chad Morris said was a stinger.

State champs

Alabama went 2-0 against the state of Arkansas’ two Football Bowl Subdivision teams, including a 57-7 victory over Arkansas State University on Sept. 8.

Another pick-six

Safety Shyheim Carter scored his second, and Alabama’s fourth, defensive touchdown this season when he returned an interception 44 yards to push the Tide’s lead to 58-17 with 12:15 left in the fourth quarter.

Carter also had an interception return for a touchdown against Louisville. The Tide’s other interceptions returned for touchdowns were by Saivion Smith against Arkansas State and Xavier McKinney against Ole Miss.

Nice start

Alabama led Arkansas 21-7 at the end of the first quarter to continue a dominating trend. The Tide have outscored their six opponents 124-21 in the first quarter.

Arkansas, Ole Miss and Texas A&M each scored seven points in the first quarter against the Tide.

Alabama outscored Louisville and Coach Bobby Petrino — the former Arkansas coach — 14-0 in the first quarter en route to beating the Cardinals 51-14 in the season opener.

For starters

Arkansas senior Kevin Richardson made his first start of the season after missing the first three games while recovering from foot surgery, and playing off the bench in the previous two games.

Richardson started at nickel back, replacing Derrick Munson. It was the 16th career start for Richardson.

D-Mac back

Former Arkansas All-American Darren McFadden — who won the Doak Walker Award in 2006 and 2007 as the nation’s best running back, and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up both seasons — was honored before the game.

McFadden is Arkansas’ SEC legend this year.

New England Hogs

Former Arkansas defensive linemen Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise, who both now play for the New England Patriots, attended the game.

The Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night.