No. 23 Missouri rides Roberts' 138 yards, four takeaways past Arkansas 34-10
Jamal Roberts ran for 138 yards and a touchdown and Missouri's defense forced four Arkansas turnovers as the No. 23 Tigers beat the Razorbacks 34-10 in Fayetteville.
No. 23 Missouri leaned on Jamal Roberts and a turnover-hungry defense to beat Arkansas 34-10 on Saturday at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Roberts carried 23 times for 138 yards and a touchdown, and the Tigers turned four Arkansas giveaways into a comfortable SEC road win. Missouri finished with 211 rushing yards at 6.0 per carry while holding the Razorbacks to 59 yards on the ground at 1.6 per attempt.
Austin Simmons managed the game efficiently for the Tigers, completing 20 of 31 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Cayden Lee was his top target with six catches for 78 yards. Nicholas Rodriguez and Santana Banner each had nine tackles for Missouri, and Donta Simpson contributed a sack.
Missouri led 10-0 after the first quarter, on Blake Craig's 31-yard field goal and Darris Smith's fumble return for a touchdown, and took a 13-7 advantage into halftime. The game swung in the third, when the Tigers outscored Arkansas 14-0 to pull away. Missouri added seven more in the fourth while the Razorbacks managed only a field goal.
Arkansas moved the ball through the air but could not finish drives. KJ Jackson completed 20 of 34 passes for 229 yards with one interception, and Antonio Jordan caught seven passes for 106 yards. Cam Settles was the Razorbacks' leading rusher with 38 yards on 12 carries. Bradley Shaw made nine tackles for Arkansas.
The difference came in takeaways and the run game. Arkansas lost three fumbles and threw one interception, finishing with four turnovers to Missouri's one. The Razorbacks were also hurt by 85 penalty yards on seven flags, while Missouri was penalized nine times for 80 yards. Arkansas converted 8 of 17 third downs but gained just 288 total yards.
Missouri improved to 6-2 with the win. Arkansas fell to 3-5.