Arkansas smashes Troy

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The large gap between a middle-of-the-pack Southeastern Conference team and the Sun Belt’s best was evident Saturday night.

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns as the Razorbacks gained bowl eligibility with a 56-20 win over Troy, which saw its seven-game win streak snapped.

The Razorbacks (6-4) rolled up 592 yards of total offense. Troy (7-3) had a respectable 455, but it turned the ball over four times.

Troy had won seven straight, but six came against Sun Belt schools and one against UAB, a member of Conference USA, a team from a conference that doesn’t have an automatic BCS berth.

But head coach Larry Blakeney said the SEC stood strong as the best in the country, and he was right.

“There’s obviously a gap in personnel,” Blakeney said. “Even though I think the Sun Belt’s improving and we’re improving and the league’s getting better, that gap between the SEC and a lot of leagues is there.

“The SEC, that’s a cat’s meow. You’re going to play against the best in the world. We gave it our best shot, and we weren’t good enough. Spilt milk, and we’ve got to go. We’ve got no time to talk about and fool with it.”

With a win next week against Florida Atlantic, Troy would wrap up at least a share of the Sun Belt title and would win all tiebreakers, but the Trojans did have a chance to knock off the highest-scoring SEC team.

Troy was down 35-20 midway through the third quarter, and quarterback Levi Brown hit Cornelius Williams for a gain of 29 to the Arkansas 32.

But on the next play, wideout Jerrel Jernigan took a snap at quarterback and went right. He pitched it to Shawn Southward, but the pitch was bad and the play went for a loss of seven.

It got worse. Brown was sacked on second-and-17 for a loss of six, and after a false start, Troy lost a yard on third-and-29, forcing a punt.

After a punt, Arkansas went 80 yards in just seven plays to take a 42-20 lead and blow the game open.

“That was all my fault,” Jernigan said of the pitch. “It was me just trying to make something happen. I faked it the first time, but he didn’t go for the fake, and I shouldn’t have pitched it. That stopped that drive, brought us back. It was third-and-long after that, and it really hurt us.”

Troy quarterback Levi Brown threw three interceptions in the first half. The Trojans had to settle for two short field goals, missed another field goal and lost a fumble late in the game. Meanwhile, Arkansas was rolling on all cylinders, except when quarterback Ryan Mallett threw an interception to Troy cornerback Bryan Willis late in the first half.

Mallett hit Joe Adams for a 23-yard score and threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Jeremy Childs, 28 to D.J. Williams, 9 to Jarius Wright and 83 to Ronnie Wingo, Jr. The final touchdown came on a screen pass.

On a third-and-24, Mallett hit Adams for a 25-yard gain that set up Arkansas’ second score, a 1-yard run by Broderick Green early in the second quarter.

“If you give up third-and-24, you’re not going to win ball games,” linebacker Bear Woods said. “He slung it down there like it was nothing. We were getting to him and hitting him, but he did a good job and was really accurate.”

Troy struggled with the Arkansas playaction passes, as the Razorbacks had several wide open receivers at times. Other times, Troy struggled with missed tackles.

“That was them making plays and us not,” Woods said. “I know I had some missed tackles, and I’m sure others did, too. That’s not the way we play football.

“That playaction, they’re a pro-style offense and they do a good job of hiding the backs. You think they have the ball, and they roll out the misdirection boot and have guys wide open. In our conference, we don’t see that type of football and those plays, so maybe that’s inexperience on our part.”

Troy’s Brown threw for 321 yards on 29-of-50 passes, but he threw three interceptions — though one bounced off the hand of a Troy receiver and the other was on a hail mary into the end zone at the end of the first half.

Brown threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jason Bruce to cut the lead to 14-7. The only other touchdown came when wide receiver Jonathan Chandler threw a 17-yard pass on a trick play to Andrew Davis. Michael Taylor kicked field goals of 30 and 20 yards.

Jernigan had five catches for 43 yards, and Williams had 73 yards on four catches. Troy’s game next Saturday against FAU, the home finale, is at 3:15 p.m.

First quarter
10:35 Ark 7, Troy 0: Joe Adams 23 pass from Ryan Mallett (Alex Tejada PAT). 10 plays, 80 yards, 4:25. Key play: Smith’s 10-yard run to the Troy 24.

Second quarter
13:55 Ark 14, Troy 0: Broderick Green 1 run (Tejada PAT). 11 plays, 55 yards, 6:13. Key play: A 25-yard pass to Joe Adams on 3rd and 24 to the 3.

5:49 Ark 14, Troy 7: Jason Bruce 3 pass from Levi Brown (Michael Taylor PAT). 10 plays, 69 yards, 3:45. Key play: A 16-yard pass to Cornelius Williams to the Arkansas 20 after a hold wiped out a 29-yard Shawn Southward TD run.

3:42 Ark 21, Troy 7: Ronnie Wingo 16 run (Tejada PAT). 4 plays, 58 yards, 2:07. Key play: A 22-yard pass to a wide-open D.J. Williams at the Troy 16.

1:26 Ark 28, Troy 7: Greg Childs 13 pass from Mallett (Tejada PAT). 4 plays, 50 yards, 1:30. Key play: TeBiarus Gill dropped an INT that Arkansas’ Jerry Franklin caught at midfield.

0:37 Ark 28, Troy 10: Taylor 31-yard FG. 7 plays, 52 yards, 0:49. Key play: DuJuan Harris took a screen pass 22 yards to the 13.

Third quarter
12:44 Ark 28, Troy 13: Taylor 20 FG. 8 plays, 70 yards, 2:16. Key play: A 22-yard pass to Cornelius Williams to the Hogs 21.

10:26 Ark 35, Troy 13: D.J. Williams 28 pass from Mallett. 5 plays, 80 yards, 2:18. Key play: A 3rd down pass to Jarius Wright gained 36 to the Troy 38.

8:21 Ark 35, Troy 20: Andrew Davis 17 pass from Jonathan Chandler (Taylor PAT). 7 plays, 79 yards, 2:05. Key play: Jernigan’s 18-yard run to the Troy 17.

0:33 Ark 42, Troy 20: Wright 9 pass from Mallett (Tejada PAT). 6 plays, 80 yards, 3:06. Key play: Dennis Johnson broke numerous tackles on a 46-yard run to the Troy 34.

Fourth quarter
13:10 Ark 49, Troy 20: Wingo 83 pass from Mallett (Tejada PAT). 1 plays, 83 yards, 0:15. Key play: The touchdown, which came on a screen pass after a fumble by TeBiarus Gill.

6:12 Ark 56, Troy 20: Knile Davis 9 run (Tejada PAT). 7 plays, 73 yards, 3:36. Key play: A 15-yard late hit out of bounds penalty put the ball on the Troy 27.