The University of Arkansas showed off a big-play offense at Florida on Saturday night.
Trelon Smith had an 83-yard touchdown run and Feleipe Franks hit Mike Woods for touchdown passes of 82 and 47 yards as the Razorbacks had their season-high for points in a 63-35 loss to the No. 6 Gators.
It was the fifth time the Razorbacks had two touchdowns of 80 or more yards and third time in an SEC game.
The other times were:
• A 73-7 victory over Nicholls State in 2014 when Jonathan Williams had a 90-yard run and Keon Hatcher an 80-yard run.
• A 31-23 victory over LSU in 2010 that clinched a spot in the Sugar Bowl when Ryan Mallett and Cobi Hamilton connected on touchdown passes of 85 and 80 yards.
• Danny Ford’s final game as coach in 1997 in a 31-21 loss at LSU when Clint Stoerner had 80-yard touchdown passes to Anthony Eubanks and Anthony Lucas.
• A 20-6 victory over Baylor in 1932 when Ralph LaForge had touchdown runs of 86 and 80 yards.
Franks has four completions of 47 or more yards the last two games, including a 59-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks against Tennessee and a 56-yard play to Woods that set up a touchdown against the Vols.
“I don’t know enough about critiquing quarterback play, but [Franks] has gotten so much better,” said Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who was the interim head coach for the Razorbacks at Florida. “The deep ball is something that he’s worked so hard on and we’ve got receivers with speed.”
Interceptions lead
Safety Jalen Catalon’s interception of a pass by Florida freshman backup quarterback Anthony Richardson with 2:05 left in the game put the Razorbacks back in the national lead.
Arkansas has 13 interceptions, including three by Catalon, three by cornerback Hudson Clark and two each by nickel back Greg Brooks and safety Joe Foucha.
The Razorbacks broke a three-way tie for the national lead with Cincinnati and Wake Forest, which had tied them with 12 interceptions going into the Arkansas-Florida game.
Cincinnati had three interceptions in a 55-17 victory over East Carolina on Friday night to give the Bearcats 12, and Wake Forest had one interception in a 59-53 loss to North Carolina to give the Demon Deacons 12.
Arkansas, Cincinnati and Wake Forest all have played seven games.
Warren injured
Arkansas receiver De’Vion Warren suffered an apparent left leg injury on a kickoff return in the fourth quarter when he had to be helped off the field. There has been no announcement from Arkansas on the extent of Warren’s injury.
In the 60s
Florida became the fifth Arkansas SEC opponent — and fourth in regulation — to score more than 60 points since the Razorbacks joined the conference for the 1992 season.
In the other games:
• Auburn beat Arkansas 65-43 in 2010
• Alabama beat Arkansas 65-31 in 2018
• Tennessee beat Arkansas 63-20 in 2000
• Arkansas beat Kentucky 71-63 in seven overtimes in 2003.
It was the first time Florida had scored 60 or more points against an SEC opponent since the Gators beat Kentucky 63-5 in 2008.
Florida’s previous high for points against Arkansas was in a 56-7 victory in 1997 in Gainesville, Fla.
Plenty of flags
Arkansas went into the Florida game leading the SEC in being penalized the fewest yards per game (34.9) and its opponents being penalized the most (58.3).
The Razorbacks now rank fifth in fewest penalty yards (40.6) and third in opponents being penalized (55.0) after a tough night in the Swamp.
Arkansas was penalized nine times for a season-high 79 yards, while Florida was flagged three times for 35 yards.
The Razorbacks were penalized a season-high 10 times in the season opener against Georgia for 53 yards, which had been their season high for yards prior to the Florida game.
SEC Network for LSU
The Arkansas-LSU game at 11 a.m. Saturday in Fayetteville will be televised on the SEC Network.
Arkansas (3-4) is listed as 1 1/2-point favorites over the defending national champion Tigers (2-3), who were off last week after their game against Alabama was postponed because of cover-19 roster issues.
It’s the first time this season Razorbacks have been favored by oddsmakers. They beat the spread six times before the Florida game.
Keep scoring
Florida outscored Arkansas 28-21 in the second half after holding a 35-14 halftime lead.
It was in contrast to the Gators’ 44-28 victory over Georgia the previous week, when Florida led 38-21 at halftime and had a more conservative game plan in the second half when the Bulldogs had a 7-6 edge.
“I think every game is very different,” Florida Coach Dan Mullen said. “I know you guys [in the media] look at things and say, ‘OK, well why didn’t we score more points in the second half?’ Or, ‘Why do we do this?’”
In the Razorbacks’ 24-13 victory over Tennessee the previous week, they outscored the Vols 24-0 in the third quarter.
“These guys are a super up-tempo, great second-half team that has come back and won a lot of games,” Mullen said. “So we knew that we needed to score in the second half, not just control the tempo.
“You know, they hit a bunch of explosive plays and can score in a hurry … We needed to keep scoring offensively. There’s other games where we’ve really kind of changed the tempo of the game and maybe slowed it down with a big lead and play to look at the field position.
“But a lot of things depend on who your opponent is and what they’re doing.”
TD for KJ
Arkansas redshirt freshman quarterback KJ Jefferson had his first rushing touchdown of the season and third of his career when he scored on a 12-yard run with 40 seconds left.
Jefferson, who preserved his redshirt last season by playing in three games, had rushing touchdowns of 5 yards against Mississippi State and 2 yards against Western Kentucky in 2019.
Smith tops 100
Arkansas sophomore running back Trelon Smith had a career-high 118 yards on 8 carries for an average of 14.8 yards per attempt.
Smith had an 83-yard touchdown run, but he averaged 5.0 yards on his other seven carries.
On the season Smith has team-highs of 78 carries for 441 yards.
Kern’s catches
Senior tight end Blake Kern continues to be productive in the passing game. He had a team-high four catches at Florida for 31 yards.
Kern has 15 receptions for 163 yards after not having a catch coming into the season.
Vs. Gators
Arkansas fell to 2-10 against Florida, including 1-10 since joining the SEC.
The teams first met in the 1982 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, where Arkansas won 28-24.
Arkansas’ lone SEC victory over Florida was 31-10 in Fayetteville in 2016.
Florida has a 5-0 lead in Gainesville and is 2-0 against Arkansas in SEC Championship Game matchups.
Fumble return
Zachary Carter’s 35-yard touchdown return on a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter was the first for Florida since Jonathan Greenard’s 80-yarder against Vanderbilt last season.
Players of the game
Offense: WR Mike Woods
Woods, a junior, made his two receptions go a long way — a career-high 129 yards and into the end zone both times. He now has 1,042 career receiving yards.
Defense: LB Grant Morgan
Morgan, a senior team captain, had a team-high 15 tackles with 7 solo stops and 8 assists. He leads the SEC in total tackles with 85 and in tackles per game at 12.1.