When Arkansas left Bryant-Denny their stat line was nearly opposite giving up 38 points and only managing two touchdowns.

Alabama’s offensive line bullied the Razorbacks down the field on the first drive that ended with a fourth down conversion pass from AJ McCarron that was laid beautifully into the hands of Mike Williams. Arkansas however, came right back knocking the Tide blow for blow on their second drive ending in a Wilson to Johnson touchdown. From that point on, Crimson Tide really buckled down and squeezed the life out of the Razorbacks.

Dre Kirkpatrick was the defensive star of the game, playing corner, he shut down the likes of Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs while delivering punishing hits on anyone who caught the ball in his zone.

You cannot overlook what the defense was able to do. They held the high octane offense of Arkansas to under 230 yards of offense when they have averaged just over 500 yards per game. The defense was able to get to Wilson and get to him often. Tyler Wilson was knocked down nine times and showed tremendous heart getting up after every gut wrenching hit. Wilson’s only mistake was costly as DeQuan Menzie intercepted a pass and took it 25 yards for a pick six.

Alabama followed the expected game plan by completely shutting down Arkansas’ run game. The only carry of more than twenty yards was negated by a holding penalty. Prior to this game, Arkansas was averaging 180 yards on the ground – when the clock hit zero on Saturday, they had only managed 17 rushing yards.

Arkansas’ major concern heading in to the game was their defensive line and the loss of their stud defensive end Jake Bequette. This concern was taken advantage of as they were pushed all over the field with the stud running back duo of Richardson and Lacy.

When Arkansas was able to pressure McCarron, he dumped the ball off to Richardson who torched Arkansas on a 61 yard touchdown catch and added two more catches for an additional 25 yards.

Arkansas really had no answer for this Alabama team, offensively or defensively. The Crimson Tide scored in every facet of the game by scoring on offense, defense, special teams and a fake field goal.

Neither team held anything back but in the end Alabama’s combination of strength and speed was too much for Arkansas.