RB Collins just keeps moving up

FAYETTEVILLE -- Alex Collins jumped to No. 4 in career rushing yardage at Arkansas with his 173-yard game in the Razorbacks' 63-28 victory over Tennessee-Martin.

Collins surpassed Felix Jones (2,956) and Cedric Cobbs (3,018) on Saturday to reach 3,086 career rushing yards.

Collins had short-yardage touchdown runs of 2, 6, 5 and 3 yards in the first half, then broke off a 63-yard scoring run in the third quarter to wrap up his night.

"I remember following my fullback and then it was just like a wall and I was just riding a wall," Collins said of his longest touchdown run since an 84-yard run at Texas Tech last year. "Then it just opened up, and I kind of smiled because I knew what was going to happen."

Collins was asked if someone was helping him keep track of his touchdowns against the Skyhawks

"Well, I was counting myself," Collins said, leading to laughter from reporters. "As a running back, it's just exciting once you have one or two and you still have opportunities to get more. Now, I'm like, let's see how many I can get."

Collins, a junior, ranks No. 16 nationally with 120 rushing yards per game. Collins, who is fourth in the SEC behind LSU's Leonard Fournette (193.1), Alabama's Derrick Henry (130.5) and Georgia's Nick Chubb (124.5), needs 40 rushing yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark for the third consecutive year.

Collins' five rushing touchdowns, the most for Arkansas since Madre Hill ran for a school-record six against South Carolina in 1995, helped him move into a tie for No. 11 in the country in touchdown scoring.

Collins has 12 rushing touchdowns for the season and 28 for his Arkansas career, putting him fifth behind Bill Burnett (46), Darren McFadden (41), James Rouse (38) and Ben Cowins (30).

Big numbers

Arkansas has scored 117 points in its past two games, its highest two-game total since throwing up 122 points early last season in routs of Nicholls State (73-7) and at Texas Tech (49-28).

The Razorbacks, who scored 143 points in their first six games for an average of 23.8 points per game, have increased their per-game scoring average to 32.5 points per game, No. 51 in the country, with the two-game surge.

Turnover takeaway

Arkansas won the turnover battle 3-0 -- on interceptions by Rohan Gaines and Brooks Ellis and Hjalte Froholdt's recovery of a fumble forced by Dre Greenlaw -- and improved to a tie for No. 29 nationally in turnover margin (plus-0.5 per game).

Over the top

Brandon Allen completed big-play touchdown passes of 49 yards to Damon Mitchell and 71 yards to Dominique Reed.

Mitchell's score in the second quarter was the first of the ex-quarterback's career.

"It was like a postcorner route, I saw the safety bite on Hunter Henry, I went over the top and B.A. threw a perfect ball," Mitchell said. "First touchdown since high school, so it felt really good."

Allen stood in the pocket and took a shot on the deep throw to Reed in the third quarter.

"It was really good composure by B.A," Coach Bret Bielema said. "He had to take a little bit of time and he stepped up in the pocket and launched it. They had been really good in practice. You ask B.A., he's probably been more impressed with Dominique over the last three or four weeks."

Reed has scored one touchdown in each of the past four games, all of them from 11 yards or longer.

Flip side

The Razorbacks understand their next two games, at No. 8 Ole Miss and at No. 17 LSU, are against teams that will have payback as a motive.

Arkansas beat LSU 17-0 and Ole Miss 30-0 in consecutive weeks last year in Fayetteville.

"Yeah, they'll be fired up and we'll be fired up," safety Rohan Gaines said. "So it's going to be a good game."

Said linebacker Brooks Ellis, "They're going to be ready for us to come in there and try to beat up on us, but we're going to be ready too. We're going to be prepared to play really well, but we know we've got a challenge ahead of us."

Jared got it

Sophomore Jared Cornelius had a 33-yard punt return in the second quarter to set up a touchdown and improve his average to 22.0 yards per return.

Cornelius, who missed four games while rehabbing a broken left arm, doesn't have enough returns to qualify for the national rankings. But his 22.0-yard average is right behind FBS leader Christian Kirk of Texas A&M (22.7).

Allen's aim

Brandon Allen is No. 14 nationally in passing efficiency after he completed 14 of 19 passes for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Passing efficiency takes into account touchdown and interception rates, along with yards per pass. Allen's rating of 157.6 leads the SEC. The top three quarterbacks in passing efficiency are all in the Big 12 -- Baylor's Seth Russell (189.7), Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield (185.2) and TCU's Trevone Boykin (177.2).

Red success

Arkansas went 5 of 5 in scoring touchdowns on drives that made it inside the Tennessee-Martin 20. That improves Arkansas to 75 percent in red zone scoring, up to No. 111 in the country.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

RB Alex Collins

The junior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., playing with an injured big toe, rushed for 173 yards and a career-high 5 touchdowns on 16 carries, an average of 10.8 yards per carry.

LB Brooks Ellis

Ellis, from Fayetteville, posted 8 tackles and had a 28-yard interception return that led to Alex Collins' second touchdown. Ellis also recorded a quarterback hurry and a pass breakup.

Sports on 11/02/2015