Arkansas hasn't won enough football games in recent years to grade its latest victory on style points.
Just say that the Razorbacks withstood 117 yards in penalties, ejections of two 100-tackle linebackers and a shaky first half by the quarterback -- not to mention 90-degree heat -- to rough up Rice, 38-17.
It wasn't especially pretty at times but covered the Las Vegas betting line thanks to what the TV guys called an "impactful final touchdown" with seconds left. That completed a 21-point fourth quarter for the Razorbacks after Arkansas, down 10-7 at halftime, went 10 down to its former Southwest Conference opponent.
Not that it could have been scripted in the first quarter, but K.J. Jefferson played long, and well, enough to be Arkansas' offensive star of the game. Making only his third college start and first at home, Jefferson hurt Rice more with his feet than his arm. Despite a 4-for-11 first half for 21 yards and an interception, he started the scoring with a 34-yard burst down the left sideline. He sneaked five yards for the touchdown that pulled Arkansas within 17-14 and passed nine yards to Tyson Morris for a 31-17 lead and breathing room.
Arkansas will play stronger opponents than Rice and is sure to need more from Jefferson than 12 of 21 for 128 yards. But Sam Pittman pointed to Jefferson's pass to Morris, whose one-hand catch went for 31 yards, on the second Arkansas scoring drive as perhaps the game's biggest. Rather than acknowledge the boos and lift Jefferson, Pittman, in his second-season opener and first nonconference game at UA, placed his faith in the young quarterback and was rewarded.
Always wary of Treylon Burks catching passes, Rice had more than it could handle from Jefferson the runner, who had a 68-yard score negated by a holding call against a downfield blocker. Glimpsing the roster, one sees that the redshirt sophomore from Mississippi is 6-foot-3, 245 pounds and thinks of another Razorback quarterback remembered more as a runner than a passer. Chap named Matt Jones, even if his most famous play as a Razorback came on a pass (think "Miracle on Markham" against LSU in 2002).
For a defensive star of the game, Arkansas looked to a second player wearing No. 1 -- safety Jalon Catalon with two of the team's three interceptions (Montaric Brown with the other), all in the fourth quarter. Catalon reminds one of Steve Atwater, whose hard hits made receivers think twice about going over the middle in the Ken Hatfield era. Football has swung so much toward safety (not without reason) that Atwater and Cliff Harris, two 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees with Arkansas ties, might have to dial it back some to play today's game.
Critically, Arkansas got inside pressure and stopped a running play wide on fourth and one. A Rice field goal, for 20-14, might have slowed Arkansas' momentum.
Arkansas had almost as many yards in penalties as passing. Linebackers Grant Morgan, last year's NCAA tackle champion, and Bumper Pool were thumbed for targeting; Pool will miss the first half of the Texas game Saturday, as did another linebacker, Hayden Henry, in the first half against Rice on a call from last year's Alabama game. The officials were flag happy, if anything, taking the flow out of the game in as hot a Fayetteville opener (1 p.m. start) as I can remember.S
Lest the players look ahead to their first Texas Week as Razorbacks, Pittman and his aides should find enough to chew on in practice this week to keep everyone honest.
"We didn't play well at all. That's on me," Pittman said. "We expected adversity but didn't think it would all come in the first half."
Still, like guys who have shared many foxholes, Arkansas' confidence grew by the minute. Who can forget the Chad Morris years when the head coach changed quarterbacks as often as his socks and general confusion, once when defending a punt against North Texas, reigned. Pittman, who accepted a job that Arkansas seemingly couldn't give away, put an end to such thinking. Arkansas wasn't a great team last year, only 3-7, but played hard every game, lifting spirits, always as an underdog against a brutal all-SEC schedule.
And now comes Texas, which thumped a ranked Louisiana-Lafayette team 38-18 in coach Steve Sarkisian's Longhorns debut. Bijan Robinson, around whom Sarkisian may shape his offense along Earl Campbell lines, scored two touchdowns and Hudson Card threw two touchdown passes in his first career start.
Sarkisian comes off Nick Saban's staff and a national-championship season at Alabama, where he had two Heisman Trophy finalists (including winner DeVonta Smith) to work with last year. He replaces Tom Herman, who had four winning seasons and four bowl wins in Austin, but couldn't beat Oklahoma often enough.
Ken Hatfield felt similar wrath from Arkansas fans, mainly because he went 2-5 against Texas (both wins at Austin) when a sweep was possible. Dating to 1894, it's a one-sided series heavily in Texas' favor, 56-22, but not without high moments for people on this side of the Red River.
Texas was not motivated for their 2014 bowl matchup at Houston and capitulated, 31-7. The same final flashed in 1971 when, after four straight UT wins in the series, Arkansas earned "revenge at the Rock," 31-7, on a deluxe day for Joe Ferguson (14 of 24, 249 yards and 2 touchdowns). Lou Holtz won twice against UT, 17-14 at Little Rock in 1979, freshman Gary Anderson running for a touchdown, and 42-11 at Fayetteville in 1981 when the No. 1-ranked Longhorns became totally flustered.
Arkansas has won four of the last six from Texas but the Longhorns won the last in Fayetteville, 22-20 in 2004, an early safety against the Hogs looming large. James Street was there, like he is in the memory of anyone who relives Dec. 6, 1969.
ESPN, alas, did not think the Arkansas-Texas game worthy of "College GameDay" exposure. Iowa and Iowa State gets Lee Corso and friends -- the people who gave us Bishop Sycamore -- for the second time in three years. No word if they'll play in a cornfield.