Saturday was not a good day for Southland Conference teams to be testing teams from the SEC.
Texas A&M beat Lamar 73-3, LSU shut out Sam Houston State 56-0 and, of course, the Arkansas Razorbacks walked over Nicholls State 73-7.
That's a combined score of 202-10.
In all honesty, the SEC was mostly a Stinky Eastern Conference this past weekend as it outscored all opponents, and this includes Ole Miss' 41-3 victory over Vanderbilt in the only conference game of the day, 591-129.
No wonder the SEC Network is wanting the schools to upgrade their schedules.
The only really decent games were Tennessee over Arkansas State, Missouri over Toledo, Mississippi State over Alabama-Birmingham and South Carolina over East Carolina.
Some people think Bret Bielema ran it up on Nicholls State, but the truth is the Razorbacks could have matched their first half of 56 points in the second half. Instead, Bielema played almost everyone in uniform. At least one Razorback who is listed as a receiver got some carries, but as far down the depth chart as he is, right now he has probably practiced at running back.
The Hogs threw 14 passes and nine of those were to give backup quarterback Austin Allen some game experience.
The 73-7 score was without Korliss Marshall, who was withheld to give his injured arm more time to heal.
Basically, it was a boring game of men against boys.
Arkansas averaged a point every eight seconds in the first quarter and the 56-0 halftime lead came on 20 plays.
Give most of the fans credit for staying for most of the game, but it was all but over when Keon Hatcher went 82 yards on an end around on the Hogs' first offensive play, and tight end A.J. Derby didn't block anyone because there was no one to block.
It was slightly better than a controlled scrimmage, but it was exactly what the Razorbacks needed when snapping a 10-game losing streak.
Football was fun again for the kids and coaches.
Austin Allen, Jared Cornelius, Cody Hollister and Drew Morgan all scored their first Arkansas touchdowns, but it won't be their last.
Nicholls State was so overmatched it was almost hard not to feel sorry for them. But the Colonels never quit, and they deserve a lot of credit for that.
If asking for a mercy rule ever entered the minds of the Nicholls State coaching staff, it wasn't there long.
The Colonels came to play, and they played and stayed until the last miserable minute.
Nicholls State might not have too much fun this weekend when it hosts Henderson State, which is ranked No. 7 in the AFCA Division II coaches poll after opening the season with a 72-7 beatdown of Southern Nazarene.
Henderson will throw it. Quarterback Kevin Rodgers threw for 408 yards against Nazarene, and the Colonels had better double team receiver Darius Davis, who caught 10 passes for 217 yards and 5 touchdowns. It is the third time he has gone over 200 receiving yards in a game in his career.
Nicholls state also plays Central Arkansas, a Southland Conference opponent, later in the season, so the Colonels could finish last in the Arkansas college standings.
The Razorbacks made it look easy Saturday, but that's what they were supposed to do. Last season they beat Samford 31-21 and the year before that they lost to Louisiana-Monroe 34-31.
Razorbacks Nation has to be feeling better.
The best thing that happened was Bielema saw a chance to play the backups and get them some experience. They did score a few points along the way -- when the game was over -- but it wasn't running up the score because Nicholls State couldn't stop the second or third team.
Sports on 09/09/2014