COLUMN: Opening act gives UA fans cause to cheer

Forgotten players under a former coach helped make Chad Morris’ Arkansas debut successful, keeping Razorback fans from working themselves into a frenzy on Labor Day weekend.

A 55-20 victory, though resulting in a push on the 35-point betting line, showed Arkansas could handle a carefully selected opponent without much stress. Eastern Illinois went down considerably easier than did Western Illinois (28-24) against Arkansas on the same field in 2008, marking Bobby Petrino’s Razorback debut. Frank Broyles remains the last Arkansas coach to lose in such a setting (Baylor in 1958), although Ken Hatfield’s first team

(1984) tied Ole Miss. Eastern Illinois is one of the six or seven wins penciled in by most fans for Morris’ first team. Optimistically, some see the Razorbacks starting 3-0, beating Colorado State on the road and North Texas at home, though I suspect that neither game will be easy — followed by a Southeastern Conference gauntlet of Auburn, Texas A&M and Alabama. If we learned anything during the John L. Smith and Bret Bielema misadventures, Arkansas should not look past any opponent.

At least, Morris should have settled on a Week 2 quarterback, in this case the team’s former No.

2 quarterback. Ty Storey, passing for 214 yards and three touchdowns in the second quarter alone, jump-started the Razorbacks against Eastern Illinois. In naming the opening-game starter on Monday of game week, Morris said Cole Kelley wasn’t getting a lifetime contract and that reaching the end zone would be key to his remaining No. 1.

It was a good day, especially offensively, for three Bielema recruits who wondered if the sun would ever shine on them as Razorbacks. Storey and Smackover’s Jordan Jones, who caught five passes for 132 yards, played against each other in a 2014 Class

3A state championship game. Someone asked on social media if it was the best Razorback game for a former Charleston Tiger since Steve Cox led the nation in punting for teams coached by Lou Holtz before eight years in the NFL. Cox, now of Jonesboro, was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in March to the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees.

During the 2015 offseason, Bielema made a recruiting visit to Nashville in behalf of La’Michael Pettway, who until Saturday had only seven career catches for 102 yards and one touchdown. After a big spring game and trimmed down to 219 pounds, Pettway had five catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns against Eastern Illinois. Nashville is one of the few Arkansas outposts that football reaches a “Friday Night Lights” passion like that commonly seen and famously written about (by H.G. Bissinger) in Texas. Another is Junction City, where Razorback defensive end Jamario Bell played for standout teams coached by the since-retired David Carpenter.

“He and Pettway … consistency is the key,” Morris said. “Where are you? It’s time. You’ve been here long enough; now let’s go. Let’s put some work in and let’s make some progress.”

Eastern Illinois unwittingly made stars of Storey, Jones and Pettway in a game that the Panthers sold out against the run and lost by 35. Arkansas won’t win many games with 80 yards on the ground but, seeing an opportunity, Morris went to the air without hesitation.

“I want to run the football, but at the same sense I also know that, look, when the numbers present themselves you’ve got to take your shots over the top,” he said. “At that point, I instructed [offensive coordinator Joe Craddock], ‘If they’re going to drop these safeties down [in the box] … let’s just don’t keep beating our head against the wall; let’s try to take some shots.”

That happened mostly with one of those forgotten Razorbacks in a starring role. Eastern Illinois coach Kim Dameron, an overachiever for Holtz’ only Southwest Conference championship team at Arkansas (1979), saw the same game as you and me. “Storey was the story,” he said.

Not to dismiss Kelley so quickly, the starter able to leave

the field on a high note after a fourth-down touchdown pass to tight end Austin Cantrell — one of nine Razorback receivers with at least one catch.

“Cole was our starter and he was our finisher,” Morris said, “… but the name of the game is putting the ball in the end zone, and that’s really the key.”

So is winning, something Arkansas achieved while ushering in its fourth head coach of the decade. Now, let’s see if the Hogs can do it on the road.