Blue Hogs? Hurt QB? Take a pass on this one

FAYETTEVILLE — There was no cloak of secrecy.

There was no “he said, he said,” and there was no shredding.

Although, Arkansas might want to consider shredding the tape of the Razorbacks’ game against Southern Miss on Saturday.

It was just a game of football, some tailgating and a minor celebration after escaping an average to not-sogood football team.

It simply was not a pretty game. That was obvious to everyone who watched it, especially those in central Arkansas who apparently had to endure a blue hue during part of the telecast that made everything — from the teams’ uniforms to Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and those in attendance — look blue.

The Arkansas Razorbacks, who move closer to primetime football this weekend when they travel to Rutgers, struggled to get in an offensive groove after starting quarterback Brandon Allen left the game with an injury.

Southern Miss quickly figured out that AJ Derby, the backup quarterback, was going to call the number of Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams a lot, and the Eagles stacked the line with as many as six defenders in the box.

It was too close — 10-3 — almost midway through the third quarter, when there was more action in the student section than on the field and the Razorbacks were starting a drive at their own 32. Collins picked up 8 yards, lost 1, and on 3rd-and-3 Derby fired a perfect strike to Julian Horton for 10 yards and a first down.

Everyone, especially the Eagles, was expecting another run on first down, probably between the tackles, but the call shocked Southern Miss as Derby made a perfect play-action pass to Kiero Small for 6 yards.

That put the Eagles on their heels, and Williams picked up a block on the left side, slipped through, hit the left sideline running, faked out a defensive back and went 45 yards to make it 17-3 with 7:29 to play.

The Arkansas defense would have rather eaten a dirty glass than give up two touchdowns to Southern Miss, which has scored only three touchdowns this season. So the defense did what it was supposed to do and the Hogs notched a victory, albeit not a pretty one.

Arkansas can now expect to see, at times, five and six defenders when it lines up to run plays, and at this point it has as much to do with moving the chains as it does with Bielema’s offensive philosophy.

Through three nonconference games, Collins and Williams have proven to be a durable duo who can get tough yards and touchdowns.

Saturday, though, a lot of the credit goes to Jim Chaney, Arkansas’ offensive coordinator, who was creative enough without his starting quarterback to get just enough yards through the air to keep the Eagles defense off balance at key times.

Chaney recognized what Southern Miss was trying to do, and when he got Derby to slow down — he quit calling much out of the Shotgun formation because Derby struggled with it — he kept the chains moving, eating up clock and putting just enough points on the board to make it an almost respectable victory.

It helps to have Collins and Williams, of course, and Collins became the first freshman in SEC history to rush for more than 100 yards in each of his first three games.

The Razorbacks have not made great strides offensively through the air over the first three games, but they have no choice now with their first real road game staring them in the face.

Those holes for Collins and Williams are going to become more difficult to come by, and Allen or Derby can expect more pressure as the talent level catches up with the Hogs.

Of course, so far the Razorbacks have found ways to win, and that’s a vast improvement from a year ago.