Bret Bielema preached balance time and again over the last nine months to define his style of football.
Brandon Allen, Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins provided Arkansas with a textbook description of its new coach’s approach.
Allen was 15-of-22 passing for 230 yards and three touchdowns while Williams and Collins combined for 282 yards rushing to lead the Razorbacks (1-0) to a 34-14 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
Arkansas outgained the Ragin’ Cajuns (0-1) 522-272 in total yardage, jumping out to a 20-7 halftime lead and punishing one of the Sun Belt Conference’s best in the second half — a picture-perfect opening to the Bielema era.
“That’s kind of the definition of how I like to play games,” Bielema said. “That second half, to wear it down, get some turnovers. People just don’t want to play football for four quarters a lot of the time. I think our kids bought into it.”
It was Allen, taking over as the starting quarterback for the Razorbacks, who made sure his new head coach made a solid first impression in his first game since leaving Wisconsin last December. The sophomore threw a pair of first-half touchdown passes to Javontee Herndon, easing any lingering concerns about his ability and helping Bielema improve to 8-0 in his career in season openers.
Williams and Collins handled their fair share of the workload as well, leading the way for an Arkansas offense that gained 292 yards on the ground to go along with Allen’s 230 yards passing.
Louisiana-Lafayette entered Saturday full of confidence, coming off back-to-back 9-4 seasons that included a pair of wins in the New Orleans Bowl and a near upset of Florida last season.
However, quarterback Terrance Broadway was harassed throughout the second half — when he was sacked three times — and finished 15-of-28 passing for 171 yards.
Arkansas finished with 292 yard rushing, surpassing the team’s highest total on the ground from all of last season — a 167-yard effort in a loss to Mississippi.
— Kurt Voigt, Associated Press
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