THE GOOD

Arkansas' Marquel Wade heads to the end zone on his 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown Saturday.

Return game

The Hogs got touchdowns from their special teams for the second week in a row. Last week, it was senior Joe Adams sprinting and weaving 61 and 69 yards for two punt return TDs in a 51-7 victory over Missouri State. This week, true freshman Marquel Wade got in on the fun, returning a kickoff 85 yards for a score and giving Arkansas a 14-3 lead with 4:42 left in the first quarter. Adams had told reporters that Wade was just as explosive. Wade definitely looked like a play-maker on that return, taking it up the middle, then cutting to the right side of the field at about the UA 40 and sprinting to the end zone. Adams wanted to run onto the field and celebrate with Wade, he said, but thought better of it. “I celebrated with him when he got to the sideline,” he said with a smile. Wade also had three punt returns for 21 yards. New Mexico only punted to Adams once, a high punt that he lost a yard returning.

Joe Adams
Speaking of Adams, he found a way to put on a show in his hometown, making six catches for 78 yards and rushing two times for 33 yards. He lined up at tailback twice in the first half, including the first play of the game when he took the pitch from Tyler Wilson and ran 15 yards to the Arkansas 45. He ran for 18 on his other carry, another pitch that he took down the right side of the field. Adams finished the game with 105 yards of offense, all in the first half, averaging 15.0 yards per touch. He’s caught a pass in every game as a Razorback. The 36-game streak is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation and the longest active streak in the SEC. He has 117 career receptions to rank 10th on the UA’s all-time list.

Brandon Mitchell
Razorback fans might be feeling a little better about depth at quarterback. Sophomore backup QB Brandon Mitchell played the entire second half Saturday after junior starter Tyler Wilson displayed concussion symptoms at halftime. Mitchell finished 8 of 13 passing for 114 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown to Cobi Hamilton, and ran five times for 59 yards and a TD. A week earlier, he was 10 of 11 for 104 yards and a TD. Coach Bobby Petrino said it was good for Mitchell to get so many snaps Saturday, and that he was happy with the way Mitchell played. “He operated, he really ran the offense, he did what he was coached to do, and you got to see his physical ability running the football. … I always felt like we’d never know how good Brandon is until it’s live and he gets out there and gets opportunities to run the ball," Petrino said.

THE BAD

Five-man front
The Razorbacks’ defense began the game in a five-man front and used it a lot in the first half. It didn’t bring the results the Hogs had likely hoped for against a New Mexico team that gave up nine sacks a week earlier. Lobos QB Tarean Austin was never sacked Saturday, even though the Hogs were going after him hard in the first half. Austin finished the game 15 of 28 passing for 162 yards and ran seven times for 31 yards. But keep in mind that New Mexico was 5 of 17 on third downs for the game, and was 1 of 7 on third downs in the first half, going into the break trailing 31-3. The Lobos never even reached the red zone. After the game, Petrino complimented his defense for doing “a nice job of changing the field position, getting the ball to the offense in good shape.” But he said he was a little surprised his defense couldn’t get a sack. “I was complaining to the D-line coaches all night long. I can guarantee you that,” Petrino said.

Injuries
Arkansas had three key players suffer injuries Saturday – Wilson (possible concussion), senior defensive end Jake Bequette (tweaked hamstring) and senior wide receiver Jarius Wright (strained knee). Wilson and Bequette did not play in the second half. We’re not sure if Wright ever made it in the game after halftime, but he didn’t have any catches in the second half. Petrino didn’t describe any of the injuries as serious, saying the players were “a little bit nicked up.” He said coaches noticed Wilson wasn’t acting normally at halftime when they were going through the script, “how we were going to start out, that he didn’t have the exact focus that you would like.” The trainer was notified and said Wilson had signs of a concussion. “I don’t know if he has a concussion or not, but he did have the symptoms,” Petrino said. “You know how we go about that nowadays. So he was held out the second half.” Wilson was only sacked once, but he had five carries for 46 yards, including a 7-yard TD run with 17 seconds left in the first half, and fumbled at the end of one run. Petrino said Wilson made the right decisions on his runs, and said his competitive spirt “allows your teammates to see you as a leader." But he hinted that he wanted Wilson to take fewer chances when he did take off. “You have to be smart enough to get the first down and keep yourself healthy,” Petrino said.

Erratic start
Arkansas drove 70 yards in four plays on its opening possession to take a 7-0 lead on Wilson's 12-yard pass to Wright. But the Razorbacks slowed down for a while after that. With a little more than two minutes to go in the first half, the Hogs were up only 17-3 against a New Mexico team picked to finish last in the Mountain West Conference. In the first quarter, the Hogs had only 10 more yards of total offense than New Mexico’s 101 and only one more first down, but led 14-3. Two touchdowns in the final 2:14 of the second quarter gave the Razorbacks their 31-3 halftime lead. Sandwiched around Wade's TD return was a drive that ended in a missed field-goal attempt from 48 yards out by Zach Hocker, and a drive that ended when one of Wilson's passes was tipped and intercepted.