Arkansas Wins In Third OT
Last updated Friday, November 23, 2007 9:40 PM CST in Columns
By Harry King
THE MORNING NEWS
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Baton Rouge-bound, I didn't think anything that happened on the field could supplant the question about Houston Nutt's job status.
Even at 21-21, I kept thinking about the ramifications of the outcome -- an LSU victory that would send Nutt packing or an unlikely Arkansas victory that would cloud the issue.
Somewhere late in the third quarter, the grand theater of two teams that refused to give in pushed aside the Nutt stuff with a dismissive asterisk that it will be worked out soon.
Arkansas has beaten No. 1s before, but it was always Texas and twice under Frank Broyles the Razorbacks were ranked in the top 10. Even when Lou Holtz's team did it to the Longhorns in 1981, Arkansas was 4-1.
The Arkansas team that beat No. 1 on Friday was 0-3 in the Southeastern Conference in mid-October. Faced with adversity and criticism from many sides, Nutt kept this team together.
Arkansas 50, LSU 48 ended in the third overtime when Matterral Richardson intercepted Matt Flynn's pass on a tying two-point conversion attempt and kept going across the end zone before making a right turn toward the Arkansas bench. Razorbacks were running everywhere. Jermaine Love sprinted for the end zone at the opposite end of the field, flopped onto his back and did the snow-angel thing with the purple grass to his back.
Second-guessing play-calling is a sport and Arkansas was wide open to a "should've" when they lined up for a two-point conversion try with Darren McFadden on the bench. I'm not sure what LSU was looking for, but the Tigers could not stop Felix Jones on a sweep to the right and it was 50-42.
Talking about strange play calling. Trailing 28-21 late in the fourth quarter, LSU had fourth-and-1 at its own 46 when Flynn threw a long lateral to Keiland Williams for 2 yards. Huh?
Like all overtime games, the first 60 minutes tends to get short-shrift and that's a shame.
Fanciers of field position will freak at this from the first half: LSU managed only a field goal after taking over at the Arkansas 25, the 50, and the LSU 44 and the Razorbacks got a touchdown from a possession that began at their 3.
Flynn was a little off in the first half making a total of 95 yards and he was fortunate he didn't get burned by an interception or two.
For the game, the Razorbacks broke up an amazing dozen passes. Michael Grant was credited with four and missed a fifth by inches in the end zone.
McFadden deserves any accolades that come his way, including the proper reads on some option plays, but Casey Dick's performance is also kudo-worthy. His numbers were not as good as they were against Mississippi State, but he delivered some must-make throws.
Dick was 10-of-18 for 94 yards, but these are noteworthy:
* A 13-yarder to Peyton Hillis on fourth-and-12 in the first overtime and a 10-yarder to Hillis for the 35-35 tie.
* An 8-yarder to Andrew Davie on third-and-7 on a fourth-quarter drive and a 16-yarder to Lucas Miller on the same possession.
* A 12-yarder to D.J. Williams for an important first down late in the third quarter when a miscue would have meant punting into a stiff wind.
Two plays after the pass to Williams, McFadden read the option and Hillis was as long gone as Barry Foster against Miami in 1988.
It was also Dick who flattened a reaching Chad Jones on McFadden's 73-yard that made it 14-6.
McFadden is still likely to come up short in the Heisman Trophy balloting, but his exclamation point to the regular season was 206 yards rushing against a defense that had not permitted anybody to make 100 all year. Nobody should complain about his 32 carries -- that's what great backs do.
As far as Nutt is concerned, huggers will point to the victory and say "see that" while haters will say the Razorbacks should have been playing that way all year.
Nutt and Chancellor John White are likely to meet during the weekend and the man making the decision must weigh one of the most remarkable victories in Razorbacks history against months and months of discontent.
Whether it's a wholehearted endorsement or a parting of the ways, the decision should be made quickly.
Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
About this columnist
The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He's covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.
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sigpooie wrote on Nov 24, 2007 8:23 AM: