FAYETTEVILLE -- Few defenses have stymied Coach Nick Saban's Alabama teams the way Arkansas did in losing to the Crimson Tide 14-13 Saturday night at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The Razorbacks became the third team to hold Alabama to 14 or fewer points since 2008, including the Tide's 12-10 victory over Tennessee in 2008 and their 9-6 overtime loss to LSU in 2011.
It was the first time the Razorbacks held a team to 14 or fewer points and lost since Auburn beat the Razorbacks 9-7 Oct. 13, 2007.
"Our defense was flying around and knocking them down," Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. "They were playing awesome football.
"I just wish we could've done a little more on our side of the ball to get a few more points on the board and we were just unable to do that. So that's the disappointment from my standpoint."
The Razorbacks held seventh-ranked Alabama to 227 yards in total offense on 53 plays, including 66 rushing yards on 32 attempts. The Tide came into the game averaging 554.6 yards -- they had 672 yards in a 42-21 victory over Florida -- and 37.0 points.
"I thought our guys, No. 1, played with great effort," Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith said. "I thought we ran around pretty good, swarmed to the football, and were able to tackle pretty well at times.
"We've got to continue on that trend and keep getting better in order to get where we want to go."
Alabama, in victory, had fewer yards against Arkansas than Nicholls State (242) in a 73-7 loss to the Razorbacks earlier this season.
"Football's a crazy game sometimes," Smith said. "I thought it was a great environment. Our guys were really into it.
"I thought we had a really good week of preparation. Our guys practiced hard, and when you can put a good Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday together, it usually carries forward on to Saturday."
Linebacker Martrell Spaight led the Razorbacks with 10 tackles. End Trey Flowers had 8 tackles, including 3 for losses of 12 yards; linebacker Brooks Ellis had 8 tackles; and tackle Darius Philon had 6 tackles with 2 for losses for 18 yards.
"Their quickness up front really affected us," Saban said. "We missed some blocking assignments throughout the night and couldn't finish blocks the way we wanted."
Linebacker Braylon Mitchell saw his most extensive playing time of the season and had 5 tackles, including helping Philon stop Blake Sims on a quarterback sneak for no gain on a fourth-and-1 at the Arkansas 43 with 9:37 left with the Tide leading 14-13.
"This was kind of Braylon's game," Smith said, referring to Alabama's physical running offense. "He made a great play on that sneak and came behind it and helped pull the quarterback back.
"He was just a solid performer for us all day long."
Smith said cornerbacks Henre' Toliver on the perimeter and Tevin Mitchel in the slot deserve credit for helping the Razorbacks hold down Alabama receiver Amari Cooper, who averaged 10.4 catches for 149.2 yards the previous five games, but had 2 for 22 Saturday night.
"I thought both those guys did a great job of minimizing and taking him away as a target," Smith said.
Flowers said the defense played well, but didn't do enough to beat the Tide.
"As a defense, we left some plays out there on the field," Flowers said. "They made more plays than us, and the results are a win for them."
Two plays Arkansas left on the field came when Mitchel and safety Alan Turner couldn't hang onto the ball for interceptions.
Turner's drop came in the end zone on a first-and-10 play from the Arkansas 23 in the second quarter. Two plays later, Sims threw a touchdown pass to T.J. Yeldon.
"If I had been able to make the interception, it would have been different," Turner said. "It would have taken seven points off the board.
"My eyes got on the ball at the last minute, and it hit my hands and fell to the ground. It was tough to drop that."
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said he wasn't able to get the officials' attention for a timeout before Sims' threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to DeAndrew White that put the Tide ahead 14-13 with 12:36 left.
"They subbed and we subbed, and we just didn't like the look we were in," Smith said. "So we wanted to bang a timeout, and it just didn't go our way with that one."
Flowers said he didn't realize Bielema was trying to call a timeout until after the touchdown.
"That just shows how precious the game is," Flowers said. "Just one play like that."
Sports on 10/13/2014