Opener no sweat for Hogs

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

More than a victory, Arkansas neatly and patiently put together a blowout, shutout and big turnout of reserve players in a 38-0 victory over Southwest Missouri State on Saturday night.
Sophomore quarterback Robby Hampton, making his first start, threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns and three tailbacks scored before 53,946 fans at steamy War Memorial Stadium.
It was the second consecutive year that Arkansas opened the season with a shutout, beating SMU 26-0 last year. This one came against an NCAA Division I-AA program.
Arkansas has outscored SMS 197-6 in the four-game series that had been dormant since 1924. The Bears have not scored against the Razorbacks since 1918 in a 12-6 loss during the Woodrow Wilson administration.
"It's always precious to win," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. "I'm excited to win. Any time your defense pitches a shutout you always want to give them credit.
"Offensively, there were spurts there that we had some problems moving the football. But when you score 38 points and have some youth on the field and have a quarterback who's never started ... overall I was real pleased."
Arkansas held the Bears (0-1) to 98 total yards, 47 rushing and 51 passing, and collected two turnovers without giving up one.
Senior walk-on Matt Swartz also made his first start and responded by kicking a 49-yard field goal and converting five extra points.
Almost lost in the opener was sophomore tailback Cedric Cobbs, who is expected to be the centerpiece of the offense this season. Cobbs carried on the first six plays and 15 times in the first half, but finished with 57 yards on 18 carries, a 3.2-yard average. He averaged 5.8 as a freshman last season.
With the Bears paying extra attention to Cobbs, Hampton completed his first nine passes for 116 yards. Hampton played three quarters and finished 17 of 22, including a 79-yard touchdown pass to Boo Williams.
Freshman tailback Fred Talley led the team with 72 yards rushing and one touchdown. Junior Alvin Ray also scored a rushing touchdown.
The Razorbacks committed eight penalties for 88 yards. Among them was a personal foul on cornerback D'Andre Berry for swinging at an SMS player.
"The most disappointing thing is the penalties ... but that's youth," Nutt said.
Arkansas, which does not play this week, is idle until meeting Boise State on Sept. 16, and it might need the time to allow a few players to heal.
Cornerback Harold Harris broke his left wrist in the third quarter and did not return.
Receiver Michael Snowden strained his neck and sprained a toe, and tight end Nathan Ball strained a shoulder.
With the temperature hovering in the 90s well into the evening, Arkansas rolled in waves of reserves in the second half after keeping the Bears' defense on the field for 21 minutes of the first half.
Kickoff was delayed two hours to 8 p.m., a decision that Athletic Director Frank Broyles made Thursday so the game would be played almost entirely after sundown.
It took awhile for Arkansas' offense to heat up, though.
It was a methodical performance until Hampton threw the 79-yard pass to Williams late in the third quarter.
Hampton appeared to change the play before the Bears brought an eight-man rush, leaving the 6-4 Williams 1-on-1 against 5-9 cornerback Dante King. Williams caught the ball at the UA 48-yard line and then outran King. The Hogs led 31-0 with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Before Williams' touchdown, Arkansas had chipped away at the Bears with runs and short passes that produced a 24-0 lead. SMS's secondary played soft zone coverage, opening up the short-passing game. Hampton only threw deep twice in his first 20 passes.
After Hampton left the game, junior Jared McBride took over and led a 66-yard touchdown drive. Talley blew through a wide hole for 44 yards to the 1-yard line and scored the touchdown two plays later with 12:45 to play. The Hogs led 38-0.
Arkansas didn't use its full defensive package but created enough havoc with a straight pass rush and linebacker blitzes to hold the Bears scoreless in the first half.
SMS didn't cross midfield until six minutes remained in the first half and quarterback Austin Moherman didn't complete his first pass until a minute later. Linebacker Quinton Caver and bandit Jeremiah Harper diffused a second-quarter series by each batting down a pass while blitzing.
A Ken Hamlin interception and a Carlos Hall fumble recovery set up the first and third scores of the first half.
Hamlin, a redshirt freshman safety starting his first game, intercepted a Moherman pass at the UA 22-yard line that eventually led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Cobbs and a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter. A 31-yard screen pass to Richard Smith that converted a third-and-8 keyed the drive.
Hall, a junior defensive end, recovered a fumbled handoff exchange at the SMS 17-yard line. That led to Swartz's 49-yard field goal and a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
It was Arkansas' longest field goal since Todd Wright kicked a 50-yarder in 1992 against LSU.
Between those scores, Hampton threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Marcellus Poydras for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. Cobbs' 26-yard run set up the score.
The only appreciable ground Arkansas gave up in the first half came on the Bears' final possession when they moved 44 yards to the UA 20 before being turned back. A Jermaine Petty sack ended the drive.

RECORDS Arkansas 1-0. Southwest Missouri State 0-1.
STARS Arkansas QB Robby Hampton (17-22-0, 227 yards, 2 TDs), TB Fred Talley (10 rushes, 72 yards, 1 TD), FS Ken Hamlin (interception), DE Carlos Hall (fumble recovery).
TURNING POINT With Arkansas leading just 17-0 in the third quarter, two SMS penalties for 30 yards set up an 11-yard TD run by Alvin Ray.
KEY STAT Time of possession Arkansas 37:18 to SMS 22:42.
UP NEXT Boise State, 6 p.m. Sept. 16, Little Rock -- Scott Cain

This article was published on Sunday, September 3, 2000

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