FAYETTEVILLE — Alabama gave the Arkansas defense a case of heartache with a game-winning drive in the closing minutes of last week’s game.

Kentucky’s fourth-quarter steamrolling of Arkansas at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday night left defensive coordinator Reggie Herring and his crew dealing with a different emotion: bitterness.

“What happened was we got our tail kicked,” Herring said after Kentucky scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to rally for a 42-29 victory. “It started with the opening drive and we never recovered from there.

“ You can’t come out there and play lights-out like we did in the first half and then come out there and totally faint in the second half.”

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Arkansas kept Kentucky’s high-powered offense in check in the first half, limiting the Wildcats to 131 yards of total offense and one touchdown.

The second half was a different story.

The Wildcats opened the third quarter by mounting an 80-yard touchdown drive to take a 21-20 lead, but it was not just quarterback Andre ’ Woodson passing for chunks of yardage. The drive included seven running plays that gained 40 yards.

Similar scenarios unfolded in the fourth quarter, when the Wildcats erased a 29-21 deficit with touchdown drives of 80 and 68 yards. Kentucky rushed a combined nine times for 45 yards on those two drives, enough to keep Arkansas’ aggressive, attack-first defense off balance.

“I was shocked that Kentucky was able to move the ball on us as well as they did,” senior linebacker Weston Dacus said.

Herring seemed more disgusted than shocked at Kentucky’s ability to run effectively.

“That, to me, is a reflection of guts and want-to, and you saw it, we got our tails kicked,” Herring said. “I never thought there would be anybody on our schedule that could run the ball like they did on us.... The only time we were able to recover from our run defense was when they threw the ball.”

Arkansas also was hurt by two Ryan Powers penalties that kept alive the drive that allowed Kentucky to get within 29-27. The first was a 15-yard penalty for a late hit after Tony Dixon gained 2 yards on a second-and-4 play. Powers later roughed kicker Lones Seiber on a 38-yard fieldgoal try, and Kentucky scored a touchdown two plays later.

After Arkansas’ offense went three plays and out on its ensuing series, Kentucky mounted what proved to be the game-winning drive. The Wildcats ran on 4 of 6 plays, picking up 31 yards, before Woodson threw a 32-yard scoring strike to Keenan Burton.

Senior safety Matt Hewitt was visibly upset in the Arkansas locker room and said the worst part of the fourth-quarter meltdown was the elementary nature of some of the Razorbacks’ mistakes.

“It’s so frustrating, especially when it’s easy things that break down and you just give them an easy six points,” Hewitt said. “You just can’t give up on plays. That just can’t happen.”

Herring said Arkansas is in for a long season if those kinds of mistakes continue. Herring said the Razorbacks have no choice but to “go back to the drawing board... and see where we’re at as a football team and what we want to be, because the inconsistency has got to stop.”

Herring also accepted blame for his players’ effort, which resulted in widespread booing among the Arkansas fans who stayed in their seats until the end.

“I’m the coach, and if anybody wants to boo or cut a throat, cut mine,” Herring said. “I’m in charge, and it’s very disappointing.”