FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Chad Morris said he was a bit surprised Vanderbilt ran the ball with a great deal of success on Saturday.
Looking at the Razorbacks' run defense figures in Southeastern Conference play, it is hardly stunning Arkansas allowed 5.1 yards per carry and 250 rushing yards to the Commodores in a 45-31 loss in Razorback Stadium.
Vanderbilt redshirt junior Ke'Shawn Vaughn, who did not play in his team's loss at Kentucky last week, ran for a game-high 172 yards and three touchdowns as the Commodores earned their first conference win and erased any hope Arkansas had of making a bowl appearance this winter.
Six of Vaughn's 26 carries went for 10-plus yards, and on his third touch he ran 63 yards down the Vanderbilt sideline for a touchdown to answer Arkansas running back Rakeem Boyd's 5-yard score on the Razorbacks' opening possession. Vaughn, who transferred from Illinois had 172 yards on the ground, a career-high in his time at Vanderbilt.
In fact, he had totaled just 170 yards rushing in three SEC games against South Carolina, Georgia and Florida entering Saturday.
"They wanted to run the football, and they executed very well," Morris said in a frustrated tone following his team's seventh loss of the season. "Obviously getting Ke’Shawn Vaughn back, he’s as dynamic a back as we’ve seen. We didn’t play well enough. Bottom line: we didn’t play well enough. We couldn’t stop the run, and we didn’t play well enough defensively to win."
Vaughn became the first Commodores player to finish with three touchdowns in a game since Ralph Webb rushed for three against Ole Miss in November 2016. Vaughn also joined Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams, Alabama's Damien Harris and Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta'amu as 100-yard rushers against the Razorbacks in the last four league games.
Arkansas is allowing 197.4 yards per game on the ground since giving up 91 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-3 loss at Auburn to open conference play Sept. 22. Opponents have totaled at least two rushing scores against Arkansas in each SEC game. Alabama and Vanderbilt each tallied four, while Auburn and Ole Miss finished with three apiece.
Vanderbilt's four rushing scores is a season-high, and Vaughn did his fair share of damage with fresh legs.
“I felt good after taking that week off," he said. “I just take advantage of when I get the ball. Over my college career, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve grown a lot, I’ve matured a lot. I know I’ve got to control what I can control. Whenever I get the ball, I’ve got to make a play.”
Vanderbilt tight end Jared Pinkney, who hauled in five passes for 93 yards and two scores from quarterback Kyle Shurmur, said Vaughn's yards would come with more carries. Arkansas linebacker De'Jon Harris said patience was the key for the Commodores running backs on Saturday.
"First off, No. 5, he’s a pretty good running back," Harris said of Vaughn. "They’ve got a lot of pretty good running backs in their backfield rotation. ... They’re aggressive up front and they found some holes in our defense and executed today."
Three of Vanderbilt's four rushing scores came in the final 11:31. Arkansas allowed 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The Razorbacks ranked 119th in the nation in fourth quarter points allowed (10.1) prior to Saturday.
"We talked all week long about being the most physical football team in the stadium," Morris said. "That was our message all week long and I don’t think that we were today."