FAYETTEVILLE -- The Northern Illinois Huskies won the toss and deferred to defeat, ending at 17 their NCAA-leading road winning streak.
Korliss Marshall, Arkansas' sophomore kick returner/running back from Osceola, took that Northern Illinois-opted opening kickoff from the 3-yard line and, off a great block from fellow return man Keon Hatcher among others, returned a 97-yard touchdown romping the Razorbacks to a 21-0 first quarter and eventual 52-14 victory before 67,024 Saturday night at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Marshall began and ended the scoring, reeling off a 27-yard run as a running back with 3:33 left in the game.
"Rory Segrest (Arkansas' special teams coach) has been talking about that play all week and thought we had a great chance to hit it when they kicked into the wind," Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said postgame. "Korliss obviously did a great job and hit it full throttle and he's as quick as a hiccup, but those guys all got a hat on a hat."
Marshall took his hat off to the hats-on-hats blockers.
"Anybody who got the ball could have scored on that play," Marshall said. "The kickoff return team staying latched on to their blocks and doing exactly what the coaches asked them to do. I just executed and continued to finish it out. The hole opened up, and I told myself I just have to score."
A respected team off successive 12-2 seasons, coach Rod Carey's Huskies were only 14-point underdogs but became the third consecutive nonconference opponent routed by the Razorbacks since Arkansas' season-opening 45-21 Southeastern Conference loss at fifth-ranked Auburn.
"Give credit to Northern Illinois, those guys won 17 straight road games," Bielema said. "I have a lot of respect for Rod and his staff. That's a team that could go on and do some really good things."
Carey certainly complimented Arkansas.
"Give Arkansas a ton of credit," Carey said. "They are a fine football team. They played disciplined football, made plays in the kicking game and didn't turn it over. You can sum up the game with their ability to do that and not us."
Saturday's success ups the Razorbacks to 3-1 going into Saturday afternoon's neutral-site SEC game against the sixth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Northern Illinois of the Mid-American Conference falls to 3-1.
Arkansas took a 14-0 lead without an offensive score before Razorbacks junior starting quarterback Brandon Allen picked Northern Illinois apart. Allen completed 15 of 22 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover, lending balance to an offense that had relied on the run to trounce Texas Tech 49-28 the previous Saturday in Lubbock, Texas.
After 438 yards rushing and 61 passing against Texas Tech, the Razorbacks vs. Northern Illinois nearly matched running and passing with 212 on the ground and 215 by air, including six to Hatcher for 107 yards with a 44-yard touchdown.
"Somewhere between 210 and 220 (rushing and passing or vice-versa), you really balance things out," Bielema said. "I thought Brandon Allen showed great patience. There were a couple of plays he went to his third read. As plays developed, he had great protection. It was great for our guys to hit on all cylinders going into conference play at A&M.
Arkansas netted three rushing touchdowns, first by running back Jonathan Williams, then by Allen and finally by Marshall.
At 8:07 of the first quarter, Northern Illinois quarterback Drew Hare was jarred with a fumble-causing sack by sophomore defensive tackle Darius Philon and senior defensive end Trey Flowers. Philon alertly scooped the fumble and scored a 14-yard touchdown.
"Don't panic, don't rush, just get the ball and score," Philon said he thought as the ball lay before him.
The Huskies ranked seventh nationally in rushing offense but netted only 123 yards rushing on Arkansas.
"The defense is really beginning to grow up," Bielema said. "The offense has been there since the start of camp, but I think defensively we are getting better all week and that's a big feather in their cap."
An offensively conventional 69-yard scoring drive put Arkansas up 21-0 with 21 seconds left in the first quarter. Williams (15 carries for 69 yards) broke three tackles on his 15-yard touchdown.
Sophomore running back Alex Collins led Arkansas' rushers, 15 carries for 79 yards.
Allen hit two key third-down passes to receiver Cody Hollister, the second abetted by a Northern Illinois facemask penalty, and ran 7 for a first down when Northern Illinois had his receivers covered on third down.
Allen accounted for Arkansas' second-quarter touchdown just 49 seconds before half. Appearing about to roll out right out out of bounds with his receivers covered and nowhere to go, Allen found freshman Jared Cornelius for a 10-yard TD capping a 71-yard drive.
"I thought the turning point was the 2-minute drive right before half," Bielema said.
Allen netted a rushing touchdown rolling out after faking a handoff for a 2-yard score in third quarter.
John Henson, wide on a 42-yard attempt earlier, kicked a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Most of Northern Illinois' limited first-half offensive success occurred off screen passes, including its second-quarter touchdown, an 11-yard receiver screen from Hare to Aregero Turner completing an 8-play, 74-yard drive with 3:29 before intermission.
Running back Joel Bouagnon's 25-yard run up the middle was integral to Northern Illinois's first-half scoring.
Arkansas answered with its 10-play, 71-yard drive that left the Huskies only 49 seconds before intermission.
Bouganon tallied Northern Illinois' fourth-quarter touchdown off Hare's 15-yard pass.
Northern Illinois's fourth-quarter touchdown was immediately answered by an Allen-to-Hatcher play-action 44-yard touchdown bomb following Northern Illinois' onside kick squibbing out of bounds.
Redshirt freshman Austin Allen, the backup quarterback and Brandon Allen's brother, quarterbacked the drive capped by Marshall's touchdown.
Now the Texas A&M Aggies, bursting into national prominence routing 52-28 SEC East favorite South Carolina in the season opener then routing Rice, Lamar and SMU nonconference since, and the Razorbacks await their CBS-televised SEC West clash at Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' football mecca.
"We have been getting better since that Auburn performance and I am really excited to go play in Jerry World at AT&T Stadium and have the opportunity to be on that big stage," Bielema said.
Sports on 09/22/2014