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UPDATE: Bielema stated after the game that Brandon Allen suffered a bruised shoulder and that it's not believed to be serious. At this point he expects Allen to be good to go for the Rutgers game next week.
Let's start of with the obvious. We don't know exactly what happened to Brandon Allen, but clearly, the gap between him and the backups is wiiiiiiiide.
Allen went down in the first quarter on the dive into the end zone you see pictured. After that, AJ Derby attempted 6 passes. 6. And completed 4. And those four receptions garnered 36 yards.
It's great that Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams are good enough to carry Arkansas to victory even when the quarterback situation is what it is. Both ran for over 100 yards again even though the Southern Miss defense keyed in on the run game and dared Arkansas to pass. But this is the last opponent that will work against.
The defense was great at times and questionable at others. Only giving up 3 points is obviously great. The Hogs were fortunate that Southern Miss missed a field goal, failed to convert a fake field goal, and a long touchdown run was called back for a holding penalty. But still, three points.
And it was needed. Because when only six passes are completed, you need a little fortune.
It's worth wondering, if there is so little faith in Derby's passing ability, and with highly rated quarterbacks committed in the class of 2014 and 2015, how long will the coaches wait to burn a redshirt? Perhaps Derby was simply unprepared and will be better prepared in the future. Maybe this is all for naught because Allen could be ready to go next week and won't ever get injured again?
Other notes: Grady Ollison was hurt, Jared Collins fainted and was down for a little while before walking to the locker room with the trainers, and the KATV feed made everything blue for a good while around halftime:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>SMURF BERT <a href="http://t.co/jxZ0uio3m6">pic.twitter.com/jxZ0uio3m6</a></p>— Doc Harper (@doc_harper) <a href="https://twitter.com/doc_harper/statuses/378940955279126529">September 14, 2013</a></blockquote>
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