Florida's grip on SEC East loosens after 31-10 loss to Arkansas

Florida’s hold on the SEC East became a little shaky Saturday after Arkansas upset the No. 10 Gators 31-10.

It was the Razorbacks first-ever SEC win against Florida, which had won the nine previous conference meetings. The last time Arkansas had beaten Florida was in the 1982 Bluebonnet Bowl.

Arkansas got the scoring going early with a 24-yard pick-six by Santos Ramirez off Florida quarterback Luke Del Rio less than three minutes into the game. The Razorbacks added another touchdown later in the first quarter when running back Rawleigh Williams pushed the ball in from six yards for the first of his two touchdown runs on the day.

Florida got on the board late in that quarter when Duke Dawson picked off Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen and ran the ball back 37 yards for a touchdown. But that was the Gators’ best offense. Florida only had one offensive drive end in points and that was a 50-yard field goal. On all the other drives, the Gators either turned the ball over or managed just five or fewer plays against an Arkansas defense that came into the game ranked 87^th nationally. The Razorbacks were allowing 428 yards and 31.4 points per game. The Gators managed just 241 yards.

The Arkansas offense had little trouble against one of the nation’s best defensive teams. Quarterback Austin Allen completed 15 of 26 passes for 243 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and Williams rushed for 148 yards in addition to his two scores.

The loss puts Florida in a vulnerable position as it drops into a first-place tie with Kentucky, which hosts Georgia on Saturday evening. Also lurking is Tennessee, which is currently fourth in the East with a 2-3 record, but already has a win against Florida and has three winnable games against Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt remaining. If the Vols were to win out and Florida were to fall to either South Carolina or LSU, the Vols would have the head-to-head tiebreaker.

That’s not to say winning the East and playing in the SEC title game is some sort of prize. So far this season, the SEC West is 8-1 against teams from the East.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday