FAYETTEVILLE — Just a couple of fundamentals separated the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Crimson Tide of Alabama.

Tackling and blocking.

Alabama did a better job on the most important parts of football, dominating the line of scrimmage and the game.

It really was that simple.

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By the half, trailing 35-7, it seemed reasonable to question whether the Razorbacks actually practice tackling.

Alabama had run only 20 plays by then and had 226 yards of total offense, which is an incredible average of more than 11 yards per play.

Obviously that was helped by Glen Coffee’s 87-yard touchdown run when he didn’t get close to being tackled.

It didn’t help matters that Casey Dick threw more Alabama touchdowns in the first half (two ) than Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson did the entire game.

The first time, the Razorbacks — who had a few decent drives, by the way — had driven to the Alabama 42, where on second-and-6 Dick hit wideopen cornerback Javier Arenas, who raced 63 yards for a touchdown.

Minutes later, the Hogs drove to the Bama 29, where on thirdand-10 it was Justin Woodall who was open and returned the interception 74 yards.

Although there was 6: 15 to play in the first half, the SEC opener was over.

Understand, though, Dick did not lose the game by himself. A lot of Razorbacks made mental and physical mistakes Saturday.

By the time the second quarter started, a few thousand of the loud crowd who came with high hopes of an upset were discussing their disappointment somewhere other than Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

By the start of the second half, the place was almost half-empty, but those who remained got to see a different Wilson throw a touchdown pass.

Bobby Petrino ripped the redshirt off true freshman Tyler Wilson at 2: 05 p. m. Saturday, and after an interception by Ramon Broadway — the Razorbacks ’ first forced turnover of the season — Wilson led the Hogs 34 yards for a touchdown that came on a 10-yard pass to Michael Smith on fourth-and-5.

There is not a quarterback controversy, but there will be a lot more competition at that spot in those closed practices.

Of course, Alabama answered with a 62-yard touchdown run by Roy Upchurch, when again no one came close to tackling him.

By this morning many will wonder if the Razorbacks will win another game.

There is not a breather on the schedule, and the three mostwinnable games — Kentucky, South Carolina and Mississippi State — are all on the road.

The answer, though, is a strong maybe — if they start tackling and pass protection improves.

For as one-sided as the score was, the kids were still trying hard at the end. Alabama is a very disciplined, well-coached team that returned 17 starters and is mixing in 15 true freshmen.

It remains to be seen if the Tide are really the No. 9 team in the country, but Alabama was good enough Saturday to dominate the game.

The 49 points were the most the Crimson Tide have scored since they beat Vanderbilt 59-28 in 1990. And keep in mind that Nick Saban called off the dogs in the second half, going to his bench early and pounding it out on the ground.

It was a rough welcome to the SEC for Petrino, who had a good game plan but suffered from a lack of execution on both sides of the ball.

He knew what he was getting when he accepted the job. The Hogs returned only nine starters, and three of those lost were Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis.

The past three seasons were built around those runners, and rightfully so, but they are now playing in the NFL.

When you have so few starters back and have to play 16 true freshmen, you are in rebuilding and reloading mode.

Saturday, the Razorbacks were schooled in some areas of the game, but the first lesson should be that it isn’t a tackle until the player is down.