Ground and Pound: Old School Ball Is Back In Fayetteville

Physical domination is the best way to describe what took place inside Razorback Stadium on Saturday night. The Hogs punched the Horns in the mouth from the word go. The positive takeaways from Saturday night outweigh the negatives and set up an exciting stretch of upcoming games for the No. 20 Razorbacks. Perhaps the most exciting takeaway was the resurgence of the Arkansas run game and the physicality of the offensive line.

Let’s take a look at the stats:

Trelon Smith – 12 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown.

KJ Jefferson – 10 carries for 73 yards.

AJ Green – 7 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown.

Rocket Sanders – 8 carries for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Dominique Johnson – 6 carries for 44 yards and a touchdown.

Malik Hornsby and Josh Oglesby each received a carry in the final minutes to pad the stats. As a unit, the Arkansas ball carriers rushed for 333 yards and averaged 7.1 yards per rush. We all knew the potential of Trelon Smith coming into the season, but the college football world is now on high alert. Freshmen AJ Green and Rocket Sanders flashed speed and strength in their long touchdown runs while Dominique Johnson flexed his physicality with every rush on Saturday. Jefferson and Smith carried the backfield, but the entire group is sure to cause preparation issues for teams in the coming weeks.

The Razorback backfield did not accomplish their best performance since 2016 alone. The Arkansas offensive line showed the domination we all expected from a Sam Pittman-coached unit. The quick turnaround, however, is the best part. Additionally, the unit recorded no holding penalties and allowed no sacks. I think the Razorback offense creates many problems for defenses as we inch closer to conference play. There is a lot of football left to be played, but the physicality showed by the Hogs is encouraging for Arkansas fans everywhere.