FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas snapped a 10-game losing streak Saturday, beating Nicholls State 73-7 at Razorback Stadium.
The Razorbacks dominated the Colonels, scoring touchdowns on the first play of five separate drives before halftime and holding Nicholls State out of the end zone until the third quarter. Arkansas took the lead when receiver Keon Hatcher ran 82 yards for a score on the Razorbacks' first offensive play.
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Alex Collins had three first half touchdown runs of 32, 2 and 13 yards, and Jonathan Williams ran for a 90-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Collins finished the game with 131 yards on 13 carries and Williams had 143 yards on four attempts.
Brandon Allen threw touchdown passes to Drew Morgan, Cody Hollister and Hatcher in the first half as Arkansas (1-1) built a 56-0 halftime lead.
Allen added a fourth touchdown pass to Jared Cornelius early in the third quarter to extend the Razorbacks' lead to 63-0. Allen finished the game completing 4 of 5 passes for 117 yards.
Arkansas finished the game with 684 yards of total offense, including 495 yards rushing. The Razorbacks averaged 12.7 yards per play.
Defensively, Arkansas held Nicholls State - a member of the Southland Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision - to 242 yards of total offense. The Razorbacks recorded six sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Both teams committed one turnover.
Nicholls State (0-2) scored its only touchdown when Kale Henderson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Canty with 9:15 left in the third quarter.
Backup quarterback Austin Allen played the majority of the second half for the Razorbacks. Arkansas twice got within the opposing 10-yard line in the third quarter, but Allen was intercepted once and the Razorbacks settled for a 22-yard John Henson field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Austin Allen capped the Razorbacks' final scoring drive in the fourth quarter with a 5-yard run on third down. He finished his first college game completing 4 of 9 passes for 72 yards.
The 73 points were the most scored by Arkansas since scoring the same amount in a 1928 game against what is now Rhodes College, and the most ever scored in a game at Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas will travel to Texas Tech next Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. game. It will be the first game between the teams since they were both members of the Southwest Conference in 1991.