LITTLE ROCK — With a 21-17 deficit in the fourth quarter against FCS opponent Samford, Arkansas kept running the football.
The Razorbacks recorded 21 rushing attempts for 163 yards and two touchdowns in the final quarter to defeat the Bulldogs 31-21 Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. Arkansas had combined for just 170 yards rushing in the first three quarters.
"You can tell the maturity level has risen from last year, the way everyone looked on the sidelines," Arkansas running back Jonathan Williams said. "Nobody was panicking and everybody was trying to get everybody together to get out on the field and get the win.
"The fourth quarter started and we knew we had to pound the football and that's what we did. We just had to come out and execute, which was something we didn't really do in the first three quarters. But we came out in the fourth quarter and ran the ball well."
Arkansas did not attempt a pass in the final quarter either, relying completely on its running backs to take the lead back. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Alex Collins busted a 21-yard run to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Williams.
On the Razorbacks' next possession, Collins broke free for a 55-yard run that set up his own 2-yard touchdown run, which marked the first score of his career.
"It's exciting," Williams said about the Razorbacks' fourth-quarter ground attack. "They put the game on your shoulders, kind of, and you have to show what you can do. They put it on mine and Alex's back and we came out with a victory."
The Arkansas defense then prevented Samford from picking up a first down and Arkansas held the ball for the final 7 minutes, 35 seconds. The Razorbacks moved the ball 63 yards on 13 rushes for the final drive of the game.
Williams converted a 3rd-and-4 with a 13-yard carry and Arkansas fullback Kiero Small converted a 4th-and-2 with a 4-yard run to seal Bret Bielema's first win in Little Rock.
"It's great, especially at the end of the game, when there's about eight minutes left and we were able to just run the ball the rest of the way out, control that clock and not have to rely on our defense to make another stop," Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen said. "We controlled the ball and controlled the game."
Collins became the first freshman in school history to rush for 100 yards in the first two games of his collegiate career. Additionally, he and Williams became the first duo to both rush for at least 100 yards in each of the first two games of the season.
Collins led the team with 172 rushing yards and a touchdown on 24 carries and Williams added 126 yards and a touchdown on 17 attempts. Small, the Razorbacks' senior fullback, also carried the ball five times for 25 yards.
"They complement each other so well," Arkansas center Travis Swanson said of Collins and Williams. "And when you throw Kiero into that mix, all three of them kind of complement each other and our offense. When we use them in so many ways, it helps us."