FAYETTEVILLE — Brent Dearmon looked at the assemblage of Arkansas reporters gathered after Arkansas' 31-14 win over North Alabama and cracked a joke.

"I read a few of y'all's articles this week," Dearmon said, winking. "Didn't give us much of a chance."

Even as Arkansas' offense struggled on Saturday and the Lions punched in a couple of scores in the second half, it never felt like there was much of a chance that Arkansas was in danger of suffering a shocking loss to an FCS program at home.

But to North Alabama's credit, it fought. Before Max Gilbert knocked through a 33-yard field goal with three minutes to go, UNA, led by the former Arkansas Tech offensive coordinator and Gus Mahlzahn mentee, was still within 14 and, theoretically, still had a shot to make it a game.

"I have a ton of respect for Coach Silverfield and what he's going to do here," Dearmon said.

Just as it did a week ago against Samford, Dearmon's squad did an excellent job stopping the run. Arkansas ran the ball for 147 yards, but did so on 49 carries, averaging only three yards per run.

"I think we've got one of the best defensive coordinators in college football," Dearmon said, referencing UNA DC Clint Bowen. "I think we had a couple d-linemen who had a little extra in this game being Memphis guys, and they didn't play much at Memphis. So they probably showed up more fired up. That probbably went into it a little bit, as well. It was a group effort."

Dearmon, who is coming off of a 2-10 season in 2025 and is only 8-28 as UNA's head coach, said he believes the team is making progress.

"We're not celebrating this," he said, "But we're going to learn from this and carry it into FCS play."

The biggest bright spot for Arkansas on Saturday afternoon was its defense, which didn't allow UNA to score until the third quarter and gave up only 153 total yards on the day.

Dearmon was complimentary of Ron Roberts' unit, especially in regard to their play in the first half.

North Alabama quarterback Destin Wade completed only 12 of 23 passes for just 113 yards, with 59 of those yards coming on a pass to a wide open Xavier Johnson that allowed Wade to scamper into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown.

"Arkansas did a great job," Dearmon said. "When you got a D-line that you're not used to seeing, 6-5, 6-6 across the board, hands are up in lanes. We're trying to hit a 5-6 tailback up the seam. It's easier said than done.

“They did a good job triggering on some downscreens and causing us some problems in the backfield while we trying to get Destin in rhythm earlier. They made good tackles. We had a couple RPOs.. that the first guy made the tackle. We've got to do a better job of creating yards after contact."

Arkansas' defense was far and away the best unit UNA will see for the rest of the season, and if the second half was any indication, the Lions should have a solid offense throughout FCS play.

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