FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said at his introductory news conference in December that the Razorbacks have made it a priority to recruit fast players on every level of the offense and defense.
If you don't have speed then you're chasing speed, Morris said that day.
The Razorbacks found out exactly what that meant in Saturday's 65-31 loss to the No. 1 Crimson Tide.
Alabama receiver Jerry Jeudy looked like the fastest player on the field as he caught 4 passes for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Jeudy beat man and zone schemes, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was on the money with almost all of his passes --deep, intermediate and short.
"I knew their team speed was really good," said Morris, adding it became real when "you get them out on the field and see them in person and create the separation they can create and they get the ball in their hands and do things with it.
"Now again, Tua did a fantastic job. I mean, wow, he's very effective and had time to throw the football and was very effective."
Jeudy got half a step on Ryan Pulley on a crossing route, caught a pass in stride, shook Pulley's tackle attempt and outran safety Santos Ramirez around the corner on a 60-yard touchdown that effectively sealed the outcome with 1:38 left in the first half.
Tight end Irv Smith caught a short drag in front of linebacker De'Jon Harris on the game's first snap, beat him to the right edge and took advantage of some glue-like blocking from Alabama receivers to score a 76-yard touchdown.
Alabama defenders -- including end Isaiah Buggs and big linebacker like Dylan Moses, as well as Deionte Thompson, Trevon Diggs and Xavier McKinney in the secondary -- closed out on Arkansas ball carriers and made tackles on the flanks on several plays that looked promising for the Hogs.
Third downs
Arkansas converted 6 of 12 third-down plays against Alabama, its best percentage of the year. The Razorbacks entered the game converting 29.3 percent of its third-down plays to rank No. 124 among FBS teams.
After making 7 of 15 third-down conversions in their season-opening victory against FCS Eastern Illinois, the Razorbacks had gone 15 of 60 (.250) against its next four opponents, including 6 of 29 (.207) in losses to Auburn and Texas A&M.
Alabama was 0 for 2 on third downs against Arkansas through three quarters before going 3 for 4 in the fourth and finishing 3 of 6.
Yards aplenty
Alabama's 639 total yards were the fourth highest total posted against Arkansas and a season high for the Crimson Tide, eclipsing the 608 gained yards in the previous week's 56-14 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.
The previous high total offense against Arkansas this season had been the 429 yards compiled by Colorado State on Sept. 8.
Alabama hit opponent highs against the Razorbacks with 246 rushing yards (beating Texas A&M's 176) and 393 passing yards (389 by Colorado State).
The Crimson Tide also averaged 10.8 yards per offensive snap, crushing the previous high by an Arkansas opponent of 5.9 by Colorado State.
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa bolstered his credentials in the Heisman Trophy race by averaging 33.4 yards per completion and 25.7 yards per attempt.
Tagovailoa completed his first three passes, two for touchdowns, before Kamren Curl made a diving breakup in the end zone on a pass intended for Irv Smith. His other incomplete throws came when end Randy Ramsey hit his arm on a delivery late in the second quarter and a throwaway out of bounds for DaVonta Smith early in the third.
Early deficits
Arkansas has fallen behind by a touchdown within the first six minutes in each of its past four games, including a game-opening 100-yard kickoff return by Texas A&M and a 76-yard touchdown pass by Alabama on the first snap in the past two games.
The Razorbacks broke a streak of not scoring in the first quarter on Cheyenne O'Grady's 8-yard touchdown catch from Ty Storey with 24 seconds remaining in the opening period against Alabama.
The Razorbacks have allowed a total of 72 points before scoring in the past four weeks, with deficits of 17-0 against North Texas, Auburn and Texas A&M, and 21-0 against Alabama.
Warren wows
De'Vion Warren had called fair catch or taken a touchback on 10 consecutive kickoffs and had not caught a pass on Saturday until the final nine minutes.
Then the sophomore caught fire. He made a sliding catch on Ty Storey's rollout pass for a 17-yard touchdown with 8:58 left in the game.
A few minutes later he got his first chance on a kickoff return and took advantage of a huge crease to the right. Warren ran 78 yards on the return, making kicker Joseph Bulovas miss before Nigel Knott ran him out of bounds at the Crimson Tide 22.
Fumble flips
Alabama was the beneficiary of two fumbles near the north end zone in a span of 13 minutes in the first half. On the first, Arkansas cornerback Ryan Pulley stripped tight end Irv Smith after a 47-yard gain to the 12. The ball popped free and bounced forward, and trailing Alabama receiver Henry Riggs picked it up as he rolled into the end zone for a touchdown. The 59-yard gain was ruled a 12-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Ruggs as a continuation pass play, rather than a fumble recovery touchdown as the NCAA statistics manual used to dictate.
Early in the second quarter, Arkansas quarterback Ty Storey took a 4-yard gain to the 1 before linebacker Dylan Moses put a helmet on the ball and safety Deionte Thompson recovered as Arkansas was trying to pull within 21-14.
0 for replay
The Razorbacks came up on the wrong end of all the reviewed plays against Alabama.
The officiating crew headed by referee John McDaid determined Santos Ramirez had forced and recovered a Najee Harris fumble at the Arkansas 42 early in the second quarter. However, the replay command center determined Harris' right elbow was down before the fumble occurred.
The officials threw a penalty flag on Deionte Thompson for leading with his helmet at the end of a Ty Storey scramble early in the third quarter on which they also had given Storey the necessary 7 yards needed for a first down. Replay overturned both the penalty and the spot, marking Storey short of the line to gain. The Crimson Tide stopped Rakeem Boyd for a 1-yard loss on fourth down on the next snap.
The replay booth also overturned the ruling on the field that Damien Harris had not broken the plane of the end zone on a fourth-down leap at the end of Alabama's first series of the second half. The replay showed Harris had reached the ball across the plane.
Quick scores
Alabama increased its national lead in touchdown drives of less than two minutes by adding four scores fitting that description against the Razorbacks.
The Crimson Tide now have 16 of those drives this year. Irv Smith scored on a 76-yard catch and run that took 21 seconds on Alabama's first snap. The Tide used double that number to score on a 59-yard fumble play touchdown in 50 seconds on their second series.
Alabama had two touchdown drives lasting less than 30 seconds, including Jerry Jeudy's 60-yard reception in 12 seconds late in the first half. The Crimson Tide have seven such drives.
Sports on 10/08/2018