OFFENSE: A+

Yesterday’s offensive performance for the Arkansas Razorbacks is about as perfect as you can get for Bret Bielema’s team. They accumulated 438 rushing yards on 68 attempts and dominated the time of possession all game (40:39 to 19:21).

Running backs Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams could not be stopped, along with a Hogs’ offensive line that had its way against a beleaguered Texas Tech front seven. It became so easy that Arkansas basically abandoned the passing game altogether and ran the football, ending the game with 29 consecutive running plays. They actually had more rushing attempts (68) than passing yards (61) at the end of the game.

The way Arkansas’ offense performed basically gave Texas Tech no chance at making comeback. It was total smash-mouth football all the way for the Hogs and that’s just the way Bielema likes it.

DEFENSE: B+

It was kind of an up-and-down afternoon for the Hogs’ defense. On the one hand, Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb had success for much of the first half. The Red Raiders’ up-tempo offense kept Arkansas’ defense on their heels as he connected with 10 different receivers for completions and threw for three touchdowns in the first half. For a while, it just looked like both teams would continue to trade scores throughout the game.

All in all, the pass coverage wasn’t all too terrible against Texas Tech’s Air Raid offense. The defensive line was able to get enough pressure on Webb to force some key mistakes, which the Hogs took full advantage of. They recorded 10 pass breakups in coverage yesterday, surpassing their season-total mark of just six pass breakups over the course of two games combined. Cornerback Tevin Mitchel’s return from injury was big boost for a young, inexperienced secondary as well.

In the end, the Hogs’ defense made plays when they needed to, but their best defense was arguably their offense, which kept the Texas Tech offense off the field for virtually two-thirds of the game.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B

The special teams unit was tough to grade, not because they didn’t play well, but because there really isn’t much to talk about. The Hogs kicked zero field goals in the game and Sam Irwin-Hill booted just one punt. On the return side of things, there wasn’t anything spectacular out of DJ Dean or Korliss Marshal. So it was pretty ho-hum day overall for this group.

COACHING: A

It was a near-perfect day for the Arkansas coaching staff, especially on offense. Bielema and his staff strategized perfectly on keeping the Red Raiders’ Air Raid offense off the field Saturday by dominating the time of possession battle. What’s better is that they executed it about as well as they could have ever hoped. It was virtually impossible to walk away from that game thinking anything other than the Hogs steamrolled Texas Tech on their home field in some grown-man football.

OVERALL: A

With the exception of some loose defense in the first half, Arkansas’ performance against Texas Tech Saturday was about as great as you could expect in a road performance. Their power running game sucked the life out of Jones AT&T Stadium as the Hogs virtually imposed their will on the Red Raiders for nearly 60 minutes.

While it’ll be tough for Bielema and his team to match this kind of performance week in and week out, the bar has certainly been set for an Arkansas team that is looking to take a big step forward in 2014. When they’re playing at their best, I doubt many SEC teams could stop them.