Coach Bobby Petrino summed up Arkansas’ defensive performance against Louisiana-Monroe in one succinct sentence.

“We did some good things and we did some not-so-good things,” Petrino said after another close shave for Arkansas, a 28-27 victory Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium.

The good news was Arkansas largely corrected the problems that allowed Western Illinois to pound away with a relentless running game and push the Razorbacks to the brink of an upset in last week’s season-opener. After allowing Western Illinois to pile up 157 yards on the ground, Arkansas limited Louisiana-Monroe to 71 yards on 26 rushes.

The bad news was Arkansas ’ commitment to stopping the run opened the way for Louisiana-Monroe quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster to complete 23 of 39 passes for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception.

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“He’s had some games where he’s been hot and cold, but tonight he was hot all night long,” Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said of Lancaster. “Even the ones that were incomplete were drops.”

Lancaster was particularly effective on the Warhawks’ first two series of the second half, when Robinson decided to stick with a game plan of stopping the run first. Robinson said that proved to be a bad guess.

“The whole third quarter I wish I had to do over again,” Robinson said. “I felt like everything they had done historywise was play it close to the vest, and as our staff talked [at halftime ], we said, ‘You know what ? Let’s go ahead and continue to stop the run and see if he takes a shot.’ Unfortunately he did.”

Lancaster’s first shot was perfectly executed, a 33-yard scoring strike to Anthony McCall. Arkansas sophomore cornerback Isaac Madison was in coverage, but had no chance to make a play.

The result was a touchdown that gave Louisiana-Monroe a 17-6 lead on the first series of the third quarter.

“To be honest with you, that first touchdown throw was a great throw and a great catch,” Petrino said. “It wouldn’t have mattered what position our corner was in because that was one of those balls that was perfect, and the receiver made a great play. Those ones you live with.”

Lancaster and McCall struck again on the Warhawks’ next possession, connecting for a 33-yard gain on a similar pattern against backup cornerback Ramon Broadway. Petrino credited Mc-Call for getting a good release at the line of scrimmage, and Robinson said he was aided by the fact that Broadway was stuck in press, man-to-man coverage as Arkansas loaded up to stop the run.

McCall’s catch gave the Warhawks first-and-goal at the Arkansas 7, and Gary Frazier’s 1-yard touchdown run gave them a 24-6 lead three plays later.

“I put the whole third quarter on me,” Robinson said. “It was the play-calling. I got out of sync a little bit, and unfortunately we didn’t play as well the first couple of drives as we did the first half.

“ I’ll put that on me, and I wouldn’t be saying anything different if this thing had gone the other way.”

Instead, Arkansas’ defense — one that started four true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen — regrouped and slowed Louisiana-Monroe just enough in the fourth quarter to allow for a Razorbacks comeback.

Robinson was especially proud of his unit for forcing a Louisiana-Monroe punt on the series after an Arkansas touchdown that cut its deficit to 27-21. The Razorbacks then mounted the game-winning drive.

“That next drive was probably the most critical drive of the game... and our kids came out and stopped them,” Robinson said of Arkansas’ stop.

Robinson and Co. still had to survive a 42-yard drive that ended in a missed 45-yard field-goal attempt in the closing seconds of the game, but Robinson said he saw enough good among the not-so-good to remain optimistic about his defense’s potential.

“There’s always going to be ebb and flow as long as we’re this youthful,” Robinson said. “The bottom line is until we start doing the little things, we’re going to have that kind of structure. But I can’t wait until that happens, because then we’ll start clicking.”