No. 13 Arkansas 44, Louisiana-Monroe 10

10/28/2006 10:33 PM

By NOAH TRISTER
AP Sports Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -For the first time in over a month, Arkansas was losing. The Razorbacks had allowed an early touchdown, and they looked sluggish against Louisiana-Monroe.

Then a few big plays on special teams helped Arkansas get started - and the rout was on.

Darren McFadden accounted for two touchdowns and No. 13 Arkansas capitalized on a pair of botched punt snaps, then pinned Louisiana-Monroe deep in its own territory with two punts of its own in a 44-10 victory Saturday night.

The win was Houston Nutt's 100th coaching victory.

``I think they won the game,'' Nutt said of the special teams. ``If you look at their mistakes and look how we downed the ball inside their 1-yard line.''

McFadden ran for 129 yards and a touchdown - and also threw for a score. Felix Jones rushed for 141 yards and a touchdown for the Razorbacks (7-1), who had two 100-yard rushers for the third time in four games.

Louisiana-Monroe (1-7) led 7-0 early after Kinsmon Lancaster found LaGregory Sapp for a 17-yard touchdown. It was the first time Arkansas had trailed since a Sept. 23 win over Alabama, but the deficit was short lived.

The Warhawks' Cody Bauman snapped the ball over his punter's head twice. The first bad snap went for a 50-yard loss and gave Arkansas the ball at the 10, leading to Jones' 7-yard touchdown run. The second resulted in a 35-yard loss and gave the Razorbacks possession at the 14, and Mitch Mustain's 12-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Monk made it 14-7.

Later in the first half, Arkansas downed two of Jacob Skinner's punts inside the 3. After the second, the Razorbacks went ahead 16-7 when Matt Hewitt tackled Calvin Dawson for a safety.

McFadden then lobbed a 9-yard scoring pass to Wes Murphy, and the Razorbacks weren't threatened again.

``It was fun to throw a touchdown,'' said McFadden, a star running back at Arkansas but an occasional quarterback in high school. ``It brought back a lot of memories.''

McFadden entered as the Southeastern Conference's leading rusher, but the Razorbacks have used him at quarterback every now and then as a recent wrinkle on offense. He usually hands off or keeps the ball himself from that formation - he handed to Jones on his touchdown.

But in the second quarter, McFadden rolled out to his left and apparently checked off to a secondary option.

``I was supposed to throw the ball to Peyton (Hillis), but he was covered up,'' McFadden said. ``I was going to just keep it and run it, then I looked across the back of the end zone. I see Wes Murphy run across the back of the end zone wide open.''

McFadden added an 18-yard scoring run in the third quarter, and Mustain made it 37-7 with another 12-yard scoring pass to Monk. Michael Smith added a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth.

The Razorbacks haven't lost since falling 50-14 to Southern California in their season opener. Arkansas' seven-game winning streak is its longest since starting 8-0 in 1998, Nutt's first season at the helm.

Nutt is 100-63 in 13 1/2 seasons with Murray State, Boise State and the Razorbacks.

Mustain went 7-of-18 for 71 yards with two early interceptions, but the freshman improved to 7-0 as a starter. Casey Dick entered in the second quarter and split time with Mustain at quarterback.

``I think sometimes when a quarterback makes a couple mistakes, it's good to just kind of sit on the sideline and watch and kind of get a feel for things - but we're going to need both of them,'' Nutt said.

The Warhawks lost their seventh straight and were held without a rushing touchdown for the first time in 17 games, although Dawson ran for a career-high 128 yards. Lancaster went 14-of-25 for 147 yards with five interceptions - three by the Razorbacks' Michael Grant.

The teams combined for nine turnovers - six by the Warhawks.

``When you give them that many gifts you're going to get your tail kicked,'' Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie said. ``I'd love to play them again without turning it over.''

Louisiana-Monroe was considered the home team and counted the attendance of 55,420 toward its average, but the crowd was predominantly pro-Arkansas. The Razorbacks are 20-1 at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium under Nutt.