On the other hand, the Aggies didn't do quite enough to save their bacon.

Sophomore tailback Darren McFadden rushed for 184 yards and two touchdown as Arkansas spoiled an improved effort by Utah State with a 20-0 victory.

One week after a confidence-shaking effort in its opener at Wyoming, Utah State never let Arkansas get comfortable.

In fact, the Razorbacks needed a 72-yard touchdown run by McFadden in the third quarter to make it a three-score game and finally Hog-tie the Aggies.

"A loss is a loss," said Utah State coach Brent Guy. "But we're a better football team than we were a week ago. At least we got something done."

Said quarterback Leon Jackson III: "We played valiantly, but it was 20-0. That's the bottom line."

The Razorbacks, coming off a 50-14 loss to Southern California and starting true freshman Mitch Mustain at quarterback, also found some satisfaction with their effort.

"Anytime you can pitch a shutout, you get excited," said coach Houston Nutt.

Utah State, which dropped to 1-10 against Southeastern Conference teams and 1-12 in its last 13 road games, might have pulled off a shocking upset if McFadden hadn't run wild.

Although he missed most of the preseason and played only sparingly against USC because of a toe injury, he scored on a 9-yard run in the second quarter to make it 7-0. Then, with Utah State still hanging around, he sprinted 72 yards for the decisive score with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter.

"Big plays got us," Guy said.

"Man, it was good to have the old Darren back," said Nutt.

On his second touchdown, McFadden broke the line of scrimmage, angled toward the sideline, eluded Utah State safety Terrance Washington and sprinted down the sideline.

"We had a stunt on," Guy said, "and they caught us with a good play."

Said McFadden: "I almost lost my feet but I regained my balance and took it to the house."

Trailing 7-0, Utah State had a chance to tie the game at halftime. But a drive into Arkansas territory stalled at the 40, and when Jackson's punt dribbled into the end zone, Arkansas took over with 1:21 remaining.

It turned out to be too much time.

Mustain's 46-yard pass to Michael Grant put the Razorbacks into scoring position, and his 13-yarder to Marcus Monk in the corner of the end zone gave Arkansas a 14-0 lead with 22 seconds left.

Said Mustain: "That touchdown was important because it gave us a little more room for error and let us try a few different things" in the second half.

"I was really frustrated with it," said Utah linebacker Jake Hutton. "They hit was with that deep ball - that's just unacceptable. There's no way they should hit us with a big play like that" so late in the half.

Utah State forced Arkansas to punt on its first two possessions of the second half, but midway though the third quarter, McFadden's long touchdown run broke the game open.

In the fourth quarter, Utah State got its best scoring chance. The Aggies drove to the Arkansas 7, and on fourth down, Guy disdained the field goal for an attempt at a touchdown. But Jackson's pass fell incomplete, extending the Aggies' string of consecutive quarters without an offensive touchdown to 10 1/2 , going back to last year.