FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas looked like a different team for most of the day Saturday.

The end result was a 38-7 loss to No. 12 Florida before an announced crowd of 70, 072 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, but the Razorbacks stayed engaged until a dismal fourth quarter when the Gators finally unleashed their pack of offensive sprinters.

After noncompetitive losses to heavy-hitting Alabama and Texas the past two weeks, Arkansas (2-3, 0-2 SEC ) played with a spark against the Gators.

“I think we turned a corner today,” Arkansas defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard said.

“It’s a tough loss because of the fact that our players did a nice job of handling the Texas loss and did a nice job of getting their emotions back and going to practice and working hard,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said.

Florida (4-1, 2-1 ) rebounded from its shocking home loss to Mississippi, but the Gators aren’t likely to boomerang back into the national championship discussion with this ragged performance. Florida hurt its cause with 12 penalties for 110 yards, including some holding calls and illegal blocks, one of which nullified Brandon James’ 89-yard return of the second-half kickoff for a touchdown. Arkansas, which managed 361 yards despite playing without three key offensive linemen, fell to 0-7 against Florida since joining the SEC. The Hogs have only one bowl victory to show for eight meetings against the Gators. Michael Smith had another strong outing for the Razorbacks with 133 rushing yards, but his fumble on a second-quarter punt gave Florida a short field, and Jeff Demps’ 36-yard touchdown run off left tackle put the Gators ahead 14-0 at halftime.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, completed 17 of 26 passes for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns and generated 249 total yards for an offense that didn’t hit its stride until the final quarter.

“Did we execute all day ? No,” Tebow said. “But when we needed to, we did. You see when we’re on the same page what we can do. It’s a pretty explosive offense.”

Florida led just 17-7 after Smith charged off right tackle for a 6-yard touchdown run with 5: 50 left in the third quarter.

“I don’t think that everybody in the stands thought we’d be able to hang around that long,” Smith said. “We should have made it a lot closer than what it was.”

Arkansas sensed an opening for the upset moments later when Tebow was intercepted by linebacker Jerry Franklin with 23 seconds left in the quarter. The turnover ended Tebow’s run of 203 consecutive passes without an interception, the third-longest streak in SEC history.

Arkansas couldn’t capitalize on the takeaway. After outgaining Florida in total offense (297 to 268 ) through three quarters, the Razorbacks couldn’t convert a first down after Franklin’s interception, and the Gators unloaded three fast-break touchdowns in the final quarter to drive in the stake.

“We are far from a finished product,” Florida Coach Urban Meyer said. “I think we showed a lot of resolve.”

Tebow connected with Percy Harvin on a 21-yard post pattern touchdown, speedster tailbacks Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps shook free for touchdown runs of 75 and 48 yards, and Ahmad Black blocked an Arkansas field-goal attempt in Florida’s dominating fourthquarter performance.

“We still have to get better on third down and not allow big plays in the fourth quarter,” Petrino said.

Florida piled up 236 total yards in the final quarter to outgain the Hogs 514-361 and skew what had been a statistically competitive game.

Arkansas offensive linemen Ray Dominguez and DeMarcus Love didn’t play because of a sickness in the Dominguez family and Love’s ankle injury. Dominguez’s replacement, Michael Aguirre, went down with an apparent ankle injury on the first snap of the game.

Arkansas showed it hasn’t completely jelled into the Petrino system by scoring only one time on the six series it took inside the Florida 40-yard line. The Razorbacks remained scoreless in the first quarter this season but brought their first two series inside the Florida 35 before being turned back on fourthdown plays.

Petrino passed up field-goal opportunites of 49 and 45 yards on those series, he said, because of swirling winds in the north end zone.

“I really felt we had to get inside the 25 to get a field goal,” Petrino said.

The Razorbacks trimmed back their game planning, especially on defense, in an effort to play faster, and the result was a much more competitive effort. Arkansas worked crossing routes to London Crawford and Joe Adams effectively and kept Smith churning with his 182 all-purpose yards.

“They have a very good runner and a very good scheme,” Meyer said of the Razorbacks. “They’re well-coached, but they’re young. The disappointing thing was they hit those crossing routes over and over, but we tightened up when we had to.”

Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick rebounded from a couple of shaky outings with a solid game of checking the Razorbacks into good looks at the line of scrimmage. Dick completed 24 of 38 passes for 220 yards but had a critical interception at the Florida goal line late in the first half.

“We had a lot of long drives again, the kids were executing the plan well, and we were getting to a lot of the checks we wanted to,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “We just didn’t come away with enough points, and that’s really frustrating.... With the exception of one drive in the fourth quarter, I think they were out there competing their butts off.”

For the first time in a month, the Razorbacks generated some secondhalf momentum with the Smith touchdown, which capped a seven-play, 53-yard drive following Dennis Johnson’s 33-yard kickoff return, and Franklin’s interception and 13-yard return from the Arkansas 26.

“We came out in the third quarter and gave the same effort and got in a position, when we scored the touchdown, when we had our opportunity,” Bobby Petrino said. “Then we couldn’t take advantage of the turnover.... Not being able to go get points off of that was real disappointing.”

Arkansas limited the Gators to 181 total yards in the first half, but Florida cranked out 333 yards, 199 of them on the ground, after halftime.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson agreed the Hogs’ defensive effort was much better, but he took a bottom-line approach to the day.

“You still can’t come out in the second half and give up 200 yards of rushing on missed tackles and poor execution,” Robinson said. “We’ve got to learn how to finish. We’ve got to learn how to win.”