ATLANTA — Florida entered Saturday night’s SEC Championship Game having not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 17 games. Now, it’s 18 and counting.

Arkansas tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones figured to challenge that mark more than anyone the Gators had faced this season, but both came up short Saturday night. McFadden rushed for 73 yards on 21 carries, while Jones added 13 carries for 57 yards.

McFadden injured his right ankle with 11: 50 remaining in the second quarter on an 8-yard pass from Casey Dick. McFadden left the game to get his ankle taped and returned, but he said it affected his performance.

“I felt it hurt me a whole lot,” McFadden said. “I couldn’t get up to speed like I wanted to and things like that. My ankle just got caught up under me and rolled around.”

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McFadden did complete 1 of 3 passes for 2 yards and a touchdown to Jones. Arkansas faced second-and-goal from the Florida 2 when it went to the Wildcat package with McFadden at quarterback and Jones at wide receiver.

McFadden’s touchdown pass came with 12: 06 remaining in the third quarter and pulled Arkansas within 17-14.

“It was originally a run play for me to run it,” McFadden said. “Then when he was out there and no one was on him, I threw the ball to him.”

McFadden gave credit to Florida’s defense, though he stopped short of calling it the best Arkansas has faced this season.

“They had a real good defense,” McFadden said. “There’s a lot of real good defenses in the SEC. We might not have had one of our best games running the ball, but you can’t take anything from them.

“ They did pretty much what we expected them to do, but they might have had a few twists in there.”

In addition to his touchdown reception from McFadden, Jones also caught a 29-yard pass from wide receiver Cedric Washington for a touchdown with 12: 29 remaining in the game that cut Florida’s lead to 31-28.

“They were well-prepared,” Jones said. “We just came out here to try and do our best. We had a good game plan for them, but that defense came out and played hard.”

Arkansas finished with 179 passing yards and only 132 rushing.

“We had to go to other things,” Jones said. “We practiced on a whole lot of other things. We can pass the ball if we need to. That defense was well-prepared, and we just couldn’t move the ball like we wanted to.

“ There’s a whole lot of good defenses in the SEC. I wouldn’t count them as the best, but they’re pretty good. They were a lot faster, too, with their safeties and the defensive line.”

Arkansas trailed 17-0 with 4: 02 remaining in the first half, and it appeared the Gators might be ready to blow out the Razorbacks, but Arkansas scored a late touchdown just before halftime and eventually took the lead in the third quarter.

“We have a lot of heart,” Jones said. “We came in with a plan. I love our seniors. They worked hard this year. I wanted them to go out with an SEC Championship.

“ We have just got to forget about this and move on. This is one loss. We don’t like it, but we have got to use this as a steppingstone to keep going.”