FAYETTEVILLE — Eastern Illinois head coach Kim Dameron knew that for his Panthers to hang close Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, they could not make mistakes.
That didn’t happen as Football Championship Subdivision EIU fumbled six times, five of which Arkansas recovered en route to a 55-20 win before an announced crowd of 63,342.
“We haven’t done that all fall camp, even in two scrimmages we never turned it over much,” said Dameron, an Arkansas receiver and defensive back from 1979-82. “But I think a lot of it early was the speed of the game, the contact, the size and the speed of the players that were hitting us.
“We had like four contact fumbles in the first half. Now one of them was a quarterback trying to throw the ball out of the end zone, which is not something that we need to be doing. We just didn’t take care of the football. I really feel like though had we done that and not turned the ball over that it would have been a much closer ballgame.”
Despite the score, Arkansas only had a 433-357 advantage total offensive yards, with part of that being a late 55-yard drive for a score.
The Razorbacks rushed 37 times for just 80 yards during the contest and only had eight yards on their first eight carries.
The offense did open up when backup quarterback Ty Storey replaced starter Cole Kelley and led four scoring drives in the second quarter, including touchdown passes of 14 and 48 yards to La'Michael Pettway and 57 yards to Jordan Jones.
“I was really proud of our defense, the way they rose up against the run,” said Dameron, who was a Rogers High standout before walking on for the Razorbacks. “That was our game plan coming in - don’t let them run it and make them throw it and we did, and they made some plays down the field throwing the football.
“That was something we said coming in we were going to make them try to do because we were going to pack the box and try to stop the run, which basically what we do anyway, especially against these guys.”
Dameron was impressed with Storey, who completed 12 of 17 passes for 261 yards.
“Storey was the story,” Dameron said. “He came in and he hit us on the big plays down the field. He was one that is a little bit more athletic as far as the run game and we we're concerned about it. I just thought the way he handled the passing game was impressive.
“They hit us with some play action routes, some boots and some nakeds where our eyes were really bad and let them go and he found them. That was to his credit.”
Dameron walked away from the contest proud of his team’s effort.
“I thought they fought hard for four quarters," he said. "That was one big goal was for us was don’t look at the scoreboard, just play and I thought they did that. I am proud of them for a lot of reasons. We can get a lot of good out of this game and we also got to correct the bad.”
Dameron has been an assistant coach in the SEC and seen first hand the defenses headed by Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis.
“He did basically what he does,” Dameron said. “I thought they would play a lot more press man stuff, which they did some, but I was probably worried about that the most coming in - that they would take away our receivers just by pressing them up and they've got good corners and all that.
“They do what they do and Coach Chavis is a legend in the SEC for his defensive game plans and the things that he has done with some good players and he has got some good players here, and they will come around. Their two inside backers are good, the safeties are good, the corners are good.
“I think that once they get their front kind of settled in and all that they are going to be much better.”
Dameron was impressed with renovated Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Saturday's game was the first in Fayetteville since the completion of a $160 million renovation to the north end zone.
“The north end zone is not exactly the Frank Broyles Center anymore," Dameron said. "That thing is impressive. I went through it yesterday; I snuck in there. The whole stadium is really impressive. It is a great place to play and I was really fired up about being able to come back here and bring my team here. I am really glad we did it.
“I would have liked for us to play much better, especially offensively and just not turning the ball over. We put up some rushing yards (127), we put up some passing yards (230), some points late when we could get out of our way.”