FAYETTEVILLE — Aside from one busted play, Arkansas completely shut down Georgia Southern’s option offense Saturday afternoon.

Even with Justin Tomlin’s 76-yard touchdown run, the Eagles managed only 233 total yards in their 45-10 blowout loss to the No. 20 Razorbacks.

Georgia Southern went three-and-out on six of its first 11 drives and moved the chains on two others only because of penalties on Arkansas.

“I thought we played well against the option,” head coach Sam Pittman said. “Really proud of our defense, we were swarming to the ball. Loved the defensive game plan that we had.”

Preparing for the Eagles actually started during fall camp, as the Razorbacks spent a few periods in two or three practices to get an early look at their unique offense.

The coaches knew the normal prep time of one week probably wouldn’t be enough and safety Jalen Catalon said that decision was a key to Arkansas limiting Georgia Southern to just 3.7 yards per play - a number inflated by the long Tomlin run. Take that out and the Eagles averaged only 2.5 yards per play.

“The scout team gave a great look, so I was ready for the option,” Catalon said. “To see and play an offense like that, you have to be assignment sound. They can’t lull us to sleep, so I think we did a good job.”

After switching to a three-man front against Texas, Arkansas was back in its base four-man front Saturday. In addition to racking up six tackles for loss - including two sacks - the Razorbacks also 10 other tackles on plays that resulted in no gain or just a 1-yard gain.

Following the game, not only did Pittman praise the game plan, but so did the players, with defensive coordinator Barry Odom being on the receiving end of numerous compliments.

“For me and…for us as a whole, he does a great job,” defensive end Tre Williams said. “I never went into a game not feeling prepared. I never went into a game not seeing something that we haven't gone over already.”

The only time Arkansas’ defense ran into any problems was in the second quarter, when it gave up 10 points, and Odom took ownership of the breakdown.

Facing a third-and-11 and yet another three-and-out, Tomlin dropped back to pass before being pursued by linebacker Bumper Pool. The senior couldn’t quite catch him, though, and then the field opened up in front of him, resulting in a touchdown.

“Odom came in at halftime and kind of said that was a bad call he made,” Catalon said. “But we’re a defense where if he makes a bad call, we’ve still got to do our job and make it right.”

The Eagles had one sustained drive in the first half and it was actually a two-minute drill. However, they stalled out in the red zone and had to settle for a field goal as time expired.

Their only other trip into Arkansas territory came late in the third quarter, as they converted a fourth down midfield before turning the ball over on downs at the 34.

On its lone fourth-quarter possession, Georgia Southern managed to complete a third-down pass to move the chains, but the Razorbacks’ defense - filled mostly with second-team players at that point - stiffened and forced yet another punt.

“The guys on the sideline, once we put the twos in there, they wanted that shutout in the second half,” Pittman said. “The guys went in there and did a really good job and shut them out.”

Through three games, Arkansas is allowing just 16.0 points and 265.7 yards per game, with opponents averaging only 4.0 yards per play.

The 48 points they’ve given up to Rice, Texas and Georgia Southern are the fewest through the Razorbacks first three games since giving up just 38 to Louisiana, Samford and Southern Miss in 2013.

However, the Eagles’ long touchdown run followed by the two-minute drill field goal provided plenty Arkansas can continue to work on moving forward.

“We can't start off the first quarter great and then slack off the second quarter,” Catalon said. “We have to keep going and every drive have the same mentality. I think we lost that for a second, but I'm glad we did because it showed us that it doesn't matter who we play, if we don't play to our standard, our flaws and our mentality can be shown.”

It will face perhaps its biggest challenge of the season next weekend, as Arkansas plays No. 7 Texas A&M inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on CBS.