Arkansas entered Saturday’s game against Kent State looking to fine-tune its offense after a lopsided opening win against Western Carolina.

The neat off-the-field storyline of this game was that Arkansas coach Sam Pittman recruited Kent State coach Kenni Burns when Burns was in high school in Springfield, Illinois. Pittman was offensive line coach at Northern Illinois from 2003 to 2006.

This time, Arkansas prevailed 28-6.

It’s Arkansas’ first 2-0 start in consecutive seasons since the 1998-2000 seasons.

Here are our takeaways:

Arkansas first-half struggles

The Razorbacks had a rough first half with just 105 total yards, including 57 rushing yards. The Golden Flashes had the ball for 20:04 of the first half, but Antonio Grier’s pick-6 is the big difference for the Razorbacks. Grier, a transfer from South Florida, certainly made an impression in his first play as a Razorback.

By the 3rd quarter, Arkansas put a renewed emphasis on running the ball, and on one drive, Arkansas got a much much-needed 12-play, 91-yard TD drive capped by Rashod Dubinion’s 1-yard scoring run. There was a heavy dose of KJ Jefferson.

Replacing Rocket

One of the questions entering the game was how Arkansas would deal with the absence of Rocket Sanders. To start the game, Arkansas had 57 yards rushing with 53 of those coming on a 8 carries by AJ Green. Green then collected 82 yards on 15 carries. Dubinion added 10 carries for 34 yards.

Calm KJ

KJ Jefferson had a memorable play in the first half, as he turned a near disaster into a touchdown. The quarterback recovered from a fumbled snap and found Andrew Armstrong at the back of the end zone for the score.

He also had 13 carries for 48 yards in the win.

Jefferson has also now thrown for at least 2 touchdowns in each of his last 6 games under center.