FAYETTEVILLE -- Freshman center Frank Ragnow played 42 snaps in his Arkansas debut last week against Nicholls State.
Junior starter Mitch Smothers got just 12 snaps in the Razorbacks' 73-7 victory, but there is no doubt he is still the first-team center going into Saturday's game at Texas Tech, offensive line coach Sam Pittman said.
"I think we have two centers that we can play," Pittman said. "But Mitch is definitely the starting center."
Ragnow played offensive tackle in high school, but the coaches are pleased with his progress at center and how he played in his first game.
"He didn't have a lot of mistakes," Pittman said. "He locked onto people and did a nice job with that. I was pleased with his first time out."
Quarterback Brandon Allen said it was good for Ragnow to get some experience with the starters.
"Frank's a talented player," Allen said. "He's going to be a good one."
Splitting carries
Tailback Jonathan Williams is averaging 16.1 yards per carry this season with 178 yards on 11 attempts. Even taking away his 90-yard run against Nicholls State, he's averaging 8.8 yards on his other 10 carries.
"You've got to be happy," Williams said when asked about sharing the ball. "I'm not the coach. I don't tell who gets to play, so you just have to go with it."
Long talk
Athletic Director Jeff Long will address the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club meeting at noon today at Mermaids on College Avenue.
Long, chairman of the inaugural College Football Playoff selection committee, is finishing his seventh year at Arkansas after replacing Frank Broyles.
Not the best
Offensive line coach Sam Pittman said he wished the Razorbacks had practiced better Tuesday.
"I didn't think we finished our blocks like we should have," he said. "With a game as big as this one is coming up, I felt like our intensity should have been better up front.
"They know it, so I'm assuming it will be better tomorrow."
Sweet home
Arkansas will attempt to become the first nonconference team in 12 years to beat Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Texas Tech Coach Kliff Kingsbury was the Red Raiders' quarterback the last time they lost a nonconference home game.
The Red Raiders have beaten 26 consecutive nonconference opponents at home since No. 17 North Carolina State and quarterback Phillip Rivers beat them 51-48 in overtime Sept. 21, 2002.
The Red Raiders' nonconference home winning streak doesn't include any games against nationally ranked opponents. They have beaten SMU four times, New Mexico three times and TCU, Rice and Nevada once each.
Texas Tech opened this season at home by beating Central Arkansas 42-35.
The week before the Red Raiders lost to North Carolina State in 2002, they beat Ole Miss and quarterback Eli Manning 42-28 at home.
Arkansas is the first SEC team to play at Texas Tech since Ole Miss.
On scholarship
Bret Bielema announced senior fullback Patrick Arinze and sophomore wide receiver Scotty Thurman Jr. are now on scholarship.
Thurman, whose father was a basketball player for the Razorbacks and is director of student-athlete development, played in his first game against Nicholls State.
"I got a chance to give him some reps on Saturday, and he has just done so well academically and on the field," Bielema said. "Gives us everything he's got every day at practice, and I thought it would be cool to reward him."
Making them count
Brandon Allen threw just five passes against Nicholls State, which he said felt a little bit weird.
"But we put up enough points that it's fine with me," he said.
All four of Allen's completions went for touchdowns.
Bret vs Kliff
Arkansas' Bret Bielema and Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury are meeting for the first time as head coaches Saturday, but they were on opposite sidelines in the 2001 Alama Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
Bielema was Iowa's linebackers coach and Kingsbury Texas Tech's quarterback. Kingsbury completed 29 of 49 passes for 309 yards and 1 touchdown but threw 3 interceptions as Iowa won 19-16.
After the game, Bielema left Iowa to become Kansas State's defensive coordinator.
Crazy clock
Arkansas scored so quickly and so frequently in its 73-7 victory over Nicholls State that the Razorbacks, who would like to control the clock, wound up with a time of possession deficit of 34:10 to 25:50 in the game.
For the year, Arkansas is ranked No. 110 nationally and No. 13 in the SEC with an average time of possession of 26:33.
Sacks denied
Bret Bielema picked out a couple of teaching moments last Saturday, would-be sacks from freshmen Tevin Beanum and Dwayne Eugene, who crashed into the backfield but simply applied a big hit instead of wrapping up the quarterback.
"Young players did the double-shove or push. You know Tevin Beanum could've had a sack," Bielema said. "I won't tell you what Dwayne Eugene said when he missed his sack.
"He was nervous, I think, because he knew he was going to get his first sack. All he had to do was what we teach you. We talk about biting the ball, we talk about wrapping and rolling and we talk about sweeping the ankles on defense. ... So really good teaching moments from that film."
Good call
Arkansas' offensive coaches had high expectations for the Razorbacks' first snap against Nicholls State when Keon Hatcher ran 82 yards for a touchdown an end-around.
"Our whole offensive staff said we're going to score on it," offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. "I said, 'Well, it's either going to be feast or famine.'
"We called it as fast as we could and we weren't going to check the play, so if they'd have had a blitz coming off the weak side we'd have looked pretty poor. But they didn't and we won, so it was a good deal."
Sports on 09/10/2014