Arkansas 38, SW Missouri St. 0

LITTLE ROCK<br>Robby Hampton had a nice tangible statistic to go along with all those intangibles that coach Houston Nutt expects from his Arkansas quarterback.<br><br>Hampton, a 24-year-old sophomore

Saturday, September 2nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LITTLE ROCK
Robby Hampton had a nice tangible statistic to go along with all those intangibles that coach Houston Nutt expects from his Arkansas quarterback.

Hampton, a 24-year-old sophomore making his first start, completed his first nine passes and wound up with 17-of-22 for 237 yards and two touchdowns as the Razorbacks opened the season with a 38-0 victory over Southwest Missouri State on Saturday night.

Hampton ended his night when he recognized single coverage on Boo Williams and lobbed a pass that Williams took in stride at the Arkansas 47 behind cornerback Donte King. The 79-yard play made it 31-0 with 1:36 left in the third quarter.

The Razorbacks' first touchdown drive started when Williams turned Hampton's toss into a 17-yard gain. Hampton then threw a long way to the left sideline, but the defense gave Sparky Hamilton a big cushion and the play gained 13.

A motion penalty on Cedric Cobbs wiped out a big gain and assistant coach Danny Nutt substituted Fred Talley for Cobbs. At that point, Cobbs had eight carries for 13 yards. He finished with 57 yards on 18 attempts.

On third-and-eight from the Bears' 36, Hampton dropped a couple of steps and flipped to Richard Smith moving across the field after a slight delay. Smith reached the 5 and a face mask penalty was worth a couple more yards. Cobbs scored on his third try.

Good kickoff coverage and the defense gave Arkansas' offense a short field to negotiate for its second touchdown.

Corey Warren stopped Maurice Flournoy at the Bears' 12 on the kickoff. Quinton Caver and Jeremiah Harper knocked down a pass each and the Razorbacks started from their 43 after a punt.

Hampton's ninth straight completion went to a wide-open Adam Daily in the left flat and was good for 8 yards to the Bears' 30. Hampton missed on his 10th try, but Cobbs made a nice cut on a draw play and hit a big hole over the right side for 26 yards. On first down, Hampton looked for Daily in the right flat, didn't force the pass and found tight end Marcellus Poydras alone in the end zone.

Senior Matt Swartz' first Arkansas field goal, a 49-yarder, made it 17-0 midway through the second quarter. Swartz, a transfer from Lehigh, redshirted in 1998 and watched Tony Dodson do the kicking in 1999.

Southwest Missouri reached the Arkansas 21 late in the first half, but Austin Moherman had trouble with a high snap in the shotgun and was swarmed for a 14-yard loss.

The Bears' defense was on the field more than 21 minutes in the first half when the heat index was in the 90s. Kickoff was pushed back two hours because of the record heat.

Arkansas upped the lead to 24-0 in the third quarter. Alvin Ray scored from the 11 after a pass interference penalty and a face mask penalty against the Bears.

The Bears got to the Arkansas 17 in the third quarter, but Brian Long missed a 34-yard field goal attempt.

Arkansas 0 17 14 7 - 38

SW Missouri St. 0 0 0 0- 0
Final

Scoring Summary
Arkansas Cedric Cobbs 1 yard TD run(Matt Swartz kick) 14:20 2nd qtr.
Arkansas Marcellus Poydras 4 yd TD run(Swartz kick) 9:36 2nd qtr.
Arkansas Swartz 48 yd FG 7:30 2nd qtr.
Arkansas Alvin Ray 11 yard TD run(Swartz kick) 9:18 3rd qtr.
Arkansas Boo Williams 79 yard TD pass from Hampton(Swartz kick) 1:50 3rd qtr.
Arkansas Fred Talley 1 yard TD run(Swartz Kick) 12:45 4th qtr.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_SW Missouri St., Tasby 9-23, Ringena 2-15, Gore 4-13, Hewitt 1-10, Smith 3-9, Moherman 3-0. Arkansas, Talley 10-72, Cobbs 18-57, Holmes 13-56, Ray 3-19, Hampton 5-(minus 21).
PASSING_SW Missouri St., Moherman 8-18-1-51, Anderson 0-2-0-0. Arkansas, Hampton 17-22-0-237, Clark 2-5-0 17, McBride 1-2-0-5.
RECEIVING_SW Missouri St., Adams 3-30, Flournoy 4-16, Hewitt 1-5. Arkansas, Williams 4-111, Smith 5-47, Cobbs 1-22, Hamilton 2-20, Glenn 2-17, Daily 1-8, Stinson 1-8, Snowden 2-7, Garcia 1-5, Poydras 1-4.