Arkansas breaks through on road
Last updated Sunday, October 12, 2008 12:15 AM CDT in Columns
By Harry King
THE MORNING NEWS
AUBURN, Ala. -- One row below, three sponsors of the ARSN broadcast were hanging onto their credentials and contemplating stashing them in a special place.
Some day, Arkansas 25, Auburn 22, might be particularly significant in the Bobby Petrino era.
One member of the ARSN party got a text message from someone back home who said, “There are no words.”
Well said.
No way all those Arkansas mistakes add up to a victory over 20th-ranked Auburn. Do the math. Two pass interceptions, a lost fumble on a kickoff, a 97-yard kickoff return, a blocked extra point, a safety who lost track of a deep receiver in the closing minutes -- collectively, those should be an L.
Nosirrrreeee.
If you think the presidential campaign is overrun with negatives, check out Arkansas-Auburn.
Not all of Auburn’s offensive woes can be laid at the feet of coordinator Tony Franklin, who was fired at midweek. Auburn does not have many playmakers. Arkansas’ Michael Smith, who played high school ball in Florida six hours from Auburn, would be the No. 1 running back for the Tigers, but they were never interested in him. It was Smith’s 63-yard run that made it 25-20 and Casey Dick called that play at the line.
Kodi Burns, who left Fort Smith to play for Auburn, can create on the option, but two of his 18 passes were intercepted, including one at the end, and he missed some open receivers. One of his worst was on fourth down from the Arkansas 4 with 83 seconds to play when he popped up long enough to see Eric Smith behind everybody in the end zone and then threw it too far.
The quarterback favored by Franklin, Chris Todd, was 3-of-10 with an interception that led to Shay Haddock’s 44-yard field goal and narrowed the Auburn lead to 20-19. Todd’s passes have the zip of a pitcher who is way beyond the prescribed pitch count.
“We probably shouldn’t have had a chance the way we played,” said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.
Remember how opponents played defense when Houston Nutt was calling the plays? Crowd the line of scrimmage and dare the Razorbacks to accomplish with the pass. That’s what Arkansas did to Auburn and the Tigers made only 56 yards rushing.
With all the back and forth, it came down to Arkansas stopping Auburn on four downs from the Razorback 5. Twice, Burns tried for the back left corner of the end zone and failed. Then, he missed Smith.
Competitive for 45 minutes against Florida but never a threat to beat the Gators, there was a possibility Arkansas would regress against Auburn -- one step forward, two steps back. As The Desert Rose Band once put it, “Nobody gets too far like that.”
The basic football truths, the ones about avoiding turnovers and being solid in the kicking game, explained the numbers on the scoreboard late in the third quarter. With 11 minutes gone in the period, Arkansas led Auburn 324-75 in total offense and trailed 20-10 where it mattered.
Interspersed with the foulups was a nice collective of positives.
One surprise was the way Arkansas’ offensive line blocked Auburn’s front. Smith had holes to run through on his way to 176 yards.
Twice, Petrino reminded that he is very good at calling plays on the goal line. Who would expect Dick to get the call to run outside on fourth down from the 1 or anticipate Dick catching a 6-yard TD pass from left-handed wide receiver Joe Adams?
A nice blend of 26 runs and 19 passes produced a dozen first downs in the first half. Against the best third-down defense in the nation, Arkansas was an astounding 7-of-11, including conversions when needing 6, 10, 6, and 9.
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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NUTT HATER wrote on Oct 12, 2008 10:54 AM: