FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas tailbacks Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins found themselves running in some fast company Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Williams, a sophomore, and Collins, a true freshman, became the first Razorbacks tandem to rush for at least 100 yards in the same game since All-Americans Darren Mc-Fadden and Felix Jones did it against South Carolina in 2007.
“That’s probably one of the most memorable times that Arkansas fans have, is when they had Darren and Felix,” Williams said. “Hopefully, we can kind of rekindle that flame.”
McFadden rushed for an SEC-record 321 yards in the South Carolina game six seasons ago, while Jones rushed for 163.
Williams and Collins didn’t put up numbers that big, but they combined for 282 of Arkansas’ 292 rushing yards to help the Razorbacks open with a 34-14 victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns. Williams had 18 carries for 151 yards, and Collins rushed 21 times for 131 yards.
“We were saying that every time we switch in and out, it’s another first down,” Williams said. “But we really didn’t know exactly how many yards we had.”
Collins said it was “really cool” he and Williams accomplished something that hadn’t been done at Arkansas since the days of McFadden and Jones.
“This is what we’ve been working on all this summer, this 1-2 punch, getting on the same page with our offensive linemen so everything would be successful when we play another team,” Collins said.To see it work out the way we wanted it to is really great.”
Arkansas showed the kind of power running game that marked Coach Bret Bielema’s Wisconsin teams the previous seven seasons.
“What you guys saw today is what I’ve been seeing all fall camp,” Bielema said. “J-Will, nobody takes it more serious than him. He’s a guy that’s very, very gifted and he’s going to flourish in our type of system.
“Alex, obviously, is a guy that can change the game in a single cut. But on the edges, there were some guys that were blocking very, very well.”
Louisiana-Lafayette’s defense had no answers for Williams and Collins.
“We’ve been calling them Thunder and Lightning allcamp, and I think that’s a pretty good analogy,” Ragin’ Cajuns Coach Mark Hudspeth said. “One [Collins] runs strong and and is hard to tackle. One [Williams] is really fast and can break it, which we saw, so I think that they’ve got a stable of backs.”
In the first half, Williams sustained what he called a shoulder “stinger” and left the game. Then he came back with a 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter after Louisiana-Lafayette had pulled within 27-14.
“Coach said we were going to have to face adversity, and they were able to drive down the field and get a touchdown,” Williams said. “He said it was going to be how we responded, and we responded well.”
Arkansas’ first three plays of the game were running plays where Williams gained 14, 13 and 6 yards. Then Collins came in and ran for 13 and 8 yards.
“They are just tough,” Razorbacks senior center Travis Swanson said. “They’re downhill runners, and they can shed blocks and make good cuts.
“To be able to have not one but two guys rush for 100 yards is going to help you in the weeks ahead, because if one goes down you’ve got one to lean on.”
Williams said he and Collins didn’t go into the game expecting that they would each rush for 100 yards.
“We were both ready for the game. We were pumped up,” Williams said. “We just feed off of each other.”
Sports, Pages 30 on 09/01/2013