QB’s bro steps in for relief
FAYETTEVILLE — Brandon Allen’s status as Arkansas’ starting quarterback for the regularseason finale at Missouri on Friday is uncertain after the redshirt junior suffered a hip injury Saturday and missed the second half of the Razorbacks’ 30-0 victory over Ole Miss.
Redshirt freshman Austin Allen — Brandon’s brother — played quarterback the rest of the game after Brandon was injured with about nine minutes left in the second quarter.
“B.A. took a shot on the back side of his hip, which stretched some of the stuff on the front side,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. “I think he’ll be back probably sooner than later. But if not, Austin will be the guy.”
Austin Allen, playing in an SEC game for the first time, took over with Arkansas leading Ole Miss 17-0. He completed 3 of 5 passes for 65 yards and lost a fumble, although Bielema said that was more due to a bad snap.
Brandon Allen completed 5 of 10 passes for 87 yards and 1 touchdown before his injury.
Arkansas senior tight end A.J. Derby, who caught one pass for 12 yards, sat out the second half with a bruised knee that Bielema said “is not going to cause any problem.”
Defensive end Deatrich Wise didn’t dress out because of an ankle injury, Bielema said.
Marshall out
Sophomore running back Korliss Marshall was suspended for the Ole Miss game and his Arkansas career may be over.
Coach Bret Bielema said Marshall was indefinitely suspended from the team Friday.
“I don’t want to say anything official, but the chances of him being back with this football are pretty slim,” Bielema said. “We’ll go through the final processes with him.”
Marshall played in Arkansas’ 17-0 victory over LSU last Saturday night after serving a threegame university imposed disciplinary suspension and missing the Georgia, Alabama-Birmingham and Mississippi State games.
Marshall has rushed 42 times for 265 yards and 1 touchdown, had 28 kickoff returns for 693 yards and 1 touchdown and had 6 receptions for 37 yards in 14 games.
Over 1,000
Junior tailback Jonathan Williams became the 12th Razorback to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season when he rushed 20 times for 80 yards Saturday. Williams has 175 carries for 1,013 yards this season after rushing for 900 yards last season.
Shutouts
There was plenty of shutout history to look up in Arkansas’ media guide after the Razorbacks beat Ole Miss 30-0 a week after beating LSU 17-0. It was Arkansas’ first: Back-to-back shutouts since 2002 when the Razorbacks beat Troy State and South Carolina each by scores of 23-0.
Back-to-back shutouts in conference play since 1965, when the Razorbacks were in the Southwest Conference and beat Texas A&M and Rice each by 31-0 scores.
Shutouts of two conference opponents in the same season since beating Texas Tech 24-0 and Texas A&M 28-0 five games apart in 1984
Shutout of Ole Miss since 1998, when the Razorbacks beat the Rebels 34-0
Arkansas also became the first team with backto-back SEC shutouts since 2002, when Tennessee beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky by identical 24-0 scores.
It was the first time Ole Miss had been shut out since a 25-0 loss at Alabama last season.
Fast starts
Brandon Allen’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Keon Hatcher with 12:05 left in the first quarter marked the fifth consecutive game the Razorbacks scored on their first possession.
Arkansas has scored on its opening drive in seven games this season.
Blanking Ole Miss
Saturday was the eighth time Arkansas has shut out Ole Miss in the teams’ 61 meetings.
The other shutout victories for the Razorbacks were 33-0 in 1908 —in the teams’ first game — along with 20-0 in 1924, 19-9 in 1945, 28-0 in 1953, 14-0 in 1956, 21-0 in 1986 and 34-0 in 1998.
Half-dozen will do
Arkansas’ defense forced six Ole Miss turnovers, the most for the Razorbacks since they had five at Auburn in a 24-7 victory two years ago.
Good impression
Ole Miss had outscored its first 10 opponents 83-10 in the first quarter going into Saturday’s game, but the Razorbacks turned that around on the Rebels by holding a 17-0 edge in the first quarter.
For starters
True freshman strong safety Josh Liddell made his first start. He started in place of junior Rohan Gaines, who under NCAA rules had to sit out the first half after being ejected for a targeting penalty in the third quarter of last week’s game against LSU.
Old story
Ole Miss became the seventh nationally-ranked opponent for the Razorbacks in seven SEC games.
The Rebels came into the game ranked No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings as well as The Associated Press poll.
Other SEC opponents’ AP poll rankings at the time they played Arkansas was No. 6 Auburn, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Alabama, No. 10 Georgia, No. 1 Mississippi State and No. 20 LSU.
Missouri, the Razorbacks’ final SEC opponent next Friday in Columbia, Mo., is ranked No. 20 in the playoff poll and No. 19 in the AP poll. The Tigers (9-2) will likely remain in both polls after beating Tennessee 29-21 Saturday night in Knoxville.
All-red uniforms
Maybe Arkansas needs to start wearing all-red uniforms at all of its home games. The Razorbacks have won back-to-back SEC games — after losing 17 in a row — over LSU and Ole Miss wearing all red.
75 and counting
Conrad Longfellow, an Arkansas engineering graduate who has attended every Razorbacks home game for the past 65 years, was honored before the game by walking through the “A” formed by the Razorback Marching Band.
Longfellow, 87, grew up in Siloam Springs and started attending Arkansas games when he was 12. He now lives in Greenville, Miss.
Two-minute drill
Arkansas has back-to-back victories over nationally ranked teams for the first time since 2011, when the Razorbacks beat No. 14 Texas A&M 42-38 in Arlington, Texas, and beat No. 10 South Carolina 44-28 in Fayetteville.
Arkansas is 1-9-1 against No. 8 teams.
Arkansas is 13-10 against Ole Miss since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992.
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace had 218 yards in total offense to surpass Eli Manning and become the Rebels’ career leader with 10,090 yards.