Pinkel era ends (most likely) on a miserable afternoon at Arkansas

By foxsports
Published

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Alex Collins ran for 130 yards and three touchdowns as Arkansas secured its first winning record in the Southeastern Conference since 2011 with a 28-3 win over Missouri on Friday.

The win is the fifth in the last six games for the Razorbacks (7-5, 5-3 SEC), who finish the regular season with a winning SEC record for only the eighth time since joining the league in 1992.

Collins had touchdown runs of 4, 7 and 25 yards, and he topped 100-yard rushing mark for the ninth time this season.

The game was the final one at Missouri (5-7, 1-7) for coach Gary Pinkel, who announced earlier this month he was resigning after the season following a diagnosis of lymphoma in May.

Pinkel finishes his 25 seasons as a head coach at both Toledo and Missouri with an overall record of 191-110-3, and he's the all-time winningest coach for the Tigers -- finishing 117-70 in 15 seasons at Missouri.

Drew Lock was 9-of-27 passing for 83 yards for the Tigers, who failed to score in double digits for the sixth time this season. Missouri failed to score a touchdown for the fourth time in eight SEC games this season, and it finished with 171 yards of total offense, compared with 310 for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas had a four-game winning streak snapped in a 51-50 loss to Mississippi State a week ago, the fourth time in the last five games it had scored 50 or more points.

The Arkansas offense didn't match its recent production on a rainy day against the Tigers, but it didn't need to.

Collins put Arkansas up 14-0 early in the second quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run, and he extended the lead to 21-3 with a weaving 25-yard score with 31 seconds left before halftime.

The touchdown was the 17th rushing score of the season for the junior, who is now tied for second in school history behind Bill Burnett's 19 rushing touchdowns in 1969, and he finished with a career-high 30 carries in the win.

A week after throwing for a school-record seven touchdowns, Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen finished 11 of 17 for 102 yards. The start was the 33rd straight of Allen's career with the Razorbacks, the longest active streak in the SEC.

Missouri's only points came on a 35-yard field goal by Andrew Baggett in the second quarter.