TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Arkansas safeties Josh Liddell and Santos Ramirez showed off some good hands in the second quarter Saturday night against Alabama when each had his first interception as a Razorback.
Alabama faced second and 5 at its 39 when Liddell, a sophomore from Pine Bluff, jumped in front of tight end O.J. Howard to intercept a Jake Coker pass at the Arkansas 31.
Razorbacks freshman defensive tackle Armon Watts got pressure up the middle on Coker and was credited with a quarterback hurry.
Ramirez, a redshirt freshman from Shreveport, grabbed a tipped pass at the Alabama 42 on a first-and-10 play from the 25 and had an 18-yard return to the Tide 24, setting up a touchdown pass from Brandon Allen to Drew Morgan that gave the Razorbacks a 7-3 halftime lead.
Another fake
Arkansas tried a fake in the kicking game for the second consecutive game.
Neither has worked.
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Razorbacks punter Toby Baker was tackled by Shawn Burgess-Becker for a 2-yard gain on a fourth-and-5 play from the Arkansas 41, giving the Tide possession at the 43.
Last week at Tennessee, Arkansas place-kicker Adam McFain was stopped short of the first down on a fake field goal.
For starters
Arkansas junior defensive end JaMichael Winston was back in the starting lineup.
Winston, a team captain from Pritchard, Ala., started in place of sophomore Tevin Beanum, who started the previous two games after Winston started the first three.
Arkansas sophomore Dwayne Eugene made his first career start. He started in place of junior Josh Williams, who suffered a broken leg at Tennessee last week.
Upon further view
It appeared Alabama had caught a huge break with 13:04 left in the third quarter when Arkansas tight end Jeremy Sprinkle was called for a roughing punter JK Scott.
The referee was marking off the 15-yard penalty that would have given Alabama first down at the Arkansas 33, but it was announced the play was under further view by replay officials.
The review showed Sprinkle had tipped the ball, which negated the penalty and gave Arkansas possession at its 22.
Tide won't jump
Arkansas faced fourth and 1 at the Alabama 46 with 8:25 left in the third quarter, and the Razorbacks lined up as if they were going for the first down.
Instead the Razorbacks were trying to get the Tide to jump offsides, but it didn't work.
Alabama stayed disciplined, and Arkansas was called for delay of game. Arkansas received a 5-yard penalty, and Toby Baker had a 35-yard punt that was fair caught by Cyrus Jones at the Tide 16.
No backs
Arkansas is known for its running game, but the Razorbacks went with an empty backfield for their first offensive snap.
Tailback Alex Collins was among five receivers in the formation.
Brandon Allen passed to Jojo Robinson for a 15-yard gain on the play.
Captain Tretola
Arkansas senior guard Sebastian Tretola served as a captain Saturday night and went to field for the pregame coin toss along with elected captains Brandon Allen, Brooks Elis and JaMichael Winston. Tretola took the spot of injured captain Jonathan Williams.
First time
Arkansas had a halftime lead, 7-3, for the first time in 12 visits to Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The closest the Razorbacks had been at halftime previously was a 10-10 tie in 2003, when they won 34-31 in double overtime.
Alabama was 3-8 under Coach Nick Saban when trailing at halftime before Saturday's victory.
The Tide's three victories when they trailed at the half were 34-24 over Virginia Tech in the 2009 season opener at Atlanta, 24-15 over LSU in 2009 and 24-20 at Arkansas in 2010.
Score another for Tide
Alabama extended its scoring streak to 189 games, the longest in program history.
The Tide's last shutout was a 9-0 loss to Auburn on Nov. 18, 2000.
Flag bearers
Senior deep snapper Drew Gorton carried the Arkansas flag and senior backup offensive lineman Austin Beck carried the United States flag when Arkansas ran onto the field before kickoff.
Long road
Saturday marked the end of three consecutive games away from home for the Razorbacks.
Their game against Texas A&M two weeks ago technically was an Arkansas home game, but it was played at a neutral site at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Last week the Razorbacks played their first true road game at Tennessee.
Arkansas is the only SEC team to twice play back-to-back conference road games this season. The Razorbacks' next back-to-back stretch will be at Ole Miss on Nov. 7 and at LSU on Nov. 14.
Fruit kabobs
Houston Nutt, who coached Arkansas from 1998-2007, said this week that Alabama Coach Nick Saban invited him to Tuscaloosa for a practice after he was let go from his Ole Miss job after the 2011 season.
"They have so much, you know," said Nutt, who is now an analyst for CBS Sports Network. "Everything's gotten better since Nick got there.
"Whenever you hold up the crystal ball and you win the national championship not once or twice but three times, you're recruiting and everything gets better. ... Everybody wants to come play for a winner."
Nutt recalled seeing a nutritionist handing out what he called "fruit kabobs" to Alabama players after practice so they already had productive calories before their evening meal.
"To me, that's ahead of the game in every aspect of it," he said. "No money was being held back for anything except how good they could make the football program."
Sports on 10/11/2015