Arkansas' recent slide in Little Rock came to an end Saturday.
Austin Allen threw three touchdown passes and No. 20 Arkansas unleashed a big-play attack to smack Alcorn State 52-10 before a crowd of 46,988 at War Memorial Stadium.
Arkansas (4-1) ended a three-game losing streak in Little Rock by starting fast and pushing through a sluggish second quarter to win its first game against a SWAC opponent.
Game sketch
RECORDS Alcorn State 1-3, Arkansas 4-1
STARS Henre Toliver returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown; Devwah Whaley (9-135, 1 touchdown) and Rawleigh Williams (13-126) each rushed for more than 100 yards.
TURNING POINT Trailing 24-7 just before halftime with the ball at the Arkansas 1, the Braves had a malfunction on a Shotgun snap and De’Andre Coley recovered for the Razorbacks. KEY STATS Arkansas won the takeaway battle 4-1 and outrushed Alcorn State 353-155.
UP NEXT Arkansas hosts No. 1 Alabama at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be televised by ESPN.
Rawleigh Williams and Devwah Whaley ran for more than 100 yards each and receiver Jared Cornelius had his second consecutive 100-yard game with four catches for 106 yards, including scoring grabs of 29 and 35 yards as part of the Razorbacks' 24-point first-quarter onslaught.
The victory improved Arkansas' record at War Memorial Stadium to 150-60-4.
"It was great ending our losing streak in Little Rock," Cornelius said. "The fans deserved the win. They've been deserving of it, and I'm glad we could do it for them."
The Razorbacks' final nonconference game was filled with flashy plays, especially during a 24-0 first-quarter blitz. But it also included a sloppy second quarter and Arkansas allowed the FCS-level Braves (1-3) a handful of big gains and 313 total yards.
"We talked about starting fast and we did that," said Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema, who is 2-3 in Little Rock. "We hit a little lull in the second quarter when we got stopped on a fourth-down play. We responded coming out of the second half."
Five of the Razorbacks' seven touchdowns came from 25 yards or longer, including Whaley's first career score on a 75-yard breakaway up the middle and Cody Hollister's 26-yard end around.
Other highlights for Arkansas included Henre Toliver's 70-yard interception return for a touchdown, the Razorbacks' third such play in four games, and Dan Skipper's seventh career blocked field goal, which is two shy of the FBS record.
"The way we played in the second half was really encouraging," said Allen, who went a fourth consecutive game without throwing an interception.
Allen's streak of passes without an interception is 120, the sixth-longest ever by an Arkansas quarterback.
Arkansas went 4-0 in nonconference play for the second time in four years under Bielema and set up a big SEC showdown with the top-ranked Crimson Tide.
"This win gives us great momentum heading into the Alabama week," said defensive lineman McTelvin Agim, who had back-to-back tackles for loss in the second quarter. "There's no celebration. We turn our heads straight to Alabama."
Freshman Noah Johnson completed 13 of 19 passes for 158 yards with 2 interceptions while going all the way at quarterback for Alcorn. Johnson ran for 55 yards and a touchdown as part of the Braves' 155-yard rushing attack.
"My plan this game was everybody staying healthy and not getting anybody hurt and it carrying on to next week, because they fought their butts off today," Alcorn State Coach Fred McNair said.
The Braves didn't collapse after falling behind 24-0 in the first 15 minutes.
Alcorn State's second quarter included 130 total yards, stopping Arkansas' Kody Walker on a fourth and 1, and a two-minute drill that reached the Arkansas 1 on Jalen Walker's diving 39-yard catch with nine seconds left.
But the Braves' Shotgun snap ricocheted off a player in motion and bounced around on the grass before Arkansas safety De'Andre Coley recovered it.
"I wish we could get that one back," McNair said. "That was a big swing. You go in and score that one and you're up to 14 points and you're only down 10. It was just a breakdown in what we did."
Whaley was one of three Arkansas players to score their first touchdowns as Razorbacks. The other two were scored by LaMichael Pettway and T.J. Hammonds in the fourth quarter.
Pettway, who recovered an Alcorn State onside kick to open the game, caught a 10-yard touchdown pass and Hammonds completed the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run.
Arkansas racked up 353 rushing yards, its most since ripping Texas Tech for 438 yards in a 49-28 road victory in 2014.
Williams posted his third 100-yard game in four games, rushing for 126 yards on 13 carries. Whaley averaged 15 yards per carry, totaling 135 yards on his nine attempts. He spurted through the right side of the line on Arkansas' eighth offensive snap and raced 75 yards to give the Razorbacks a 17-0 lead.
"It was an inside zone," Whaley said. "I just cut it back, saw a lot of green and took it in."
Arkansas won the turnover battle 4-1 and turned its takeaways into 14 points, including Toliver's 70-yard interception return when the Braves were driving early in the third quarter.
Allen completed 13 of 18 passes for 206 yards and 3 touchdowns to become the first Arkansas quarterback with two or more touchdown passes in the first five games of a season since the Razorbacks joined the SEC.
Arkansas' only turnover came when quarterback Ty Storey lost the grip on a play fake on third down late in the fourth quarter.
Defensive end Randy Ramsey returned the favor on the next snap, stripping the ball free from running back Silas Spearman and recovering it.
Arkansas outgained Alcorn 559-313 and kept Allen's jersey clean. Not only was Allen not sacked, he didn't take any hits, a stark departure from last week when Texas A&M put him on his back repeatedly.
"They were a tough team," McNair said. "That was probably one of the toughest-minded teams you will ever face. They did some great things on offense and they have a lot of speed on defense."
The Hogs got off to a hot start after McNair called for an onside kick to open the game and Pettway recovered at the Braves' 43.
Arkansas settled for Cole Hedlund's 25-yard field goal after bogging down at the Alcorn 7.
The Razorbacks scored touchdowns on each of their next two snaps.
Offensive coordinator Dan Enos dialed up a play-action pass on the first snap after Drew Morgan's 33-yard punt return to the Alcorn 29,
Allen pulled off the play fake, then delivered an on-time strike for a 29-yard touchdown to Cornelius on a skinny post.
Moments later, Whaley burst through a huge hole up the middle and outran the secondary for a his 75-yard touchdown.
Arkansas completed its first quarter romp with Allen's play-action pass to Cornelius on a post route for a 35-yard touchdown and a 24-0 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the period.
Josh Liddell posted Arkansas' second interception of the third quarter, while Deatrich Wise and Bijhon Jackson had the Hogs' two sacks.
Sports on 10/02/2016