Razorbacks Hold Steady Under Petrino
Last updated Saturday, November 1, 2008 7:07 PM CDT in Columns
By Harry King
The Morning News
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FAYETTEVILLE -- Despite woodshed whippings and what-if heartbreakers, Bobby Petrino has never lost this Arkansas football team.
That was obvious watching defensive end Damario Ambrose limp off the field, waving his arms, imploring the crowd. It was crystal-clear tracking Matt Harris as he missed Trae Johnson in the Tulsa backfield for a 15-yard loss, got up and chased him down to be part of minus 10. It was underlined when 20-something defenders joined the on-field huddle before Tulsa’s fourth-down failure from the Arkansas 7 at the end.
Players don’t do such things unless winning means something.
Considering the Razorbacks led 23-20 at the half, it is almost unimaginable that the final would be Arkansas 30, No.18 Tulsa 23. Tulsa was favored — nobody could remember that being the case during the past 50 years — and the Golden Hurricane’s pursuit of a BCS bowl game, a stated goal for months, is kaput.
Any voters who were undecided about Tulsa will vacate that wait-and-see position after digesting the final. Losing to a team that is 1-4 in the Southeastern Conference shoots down any claim from the best of Conference USA.
Three times in the third quarter, Tulsa had the ball needing a TD for the lead. Twice, possessions ended on fool ‘em plays that didn’t. One was a fourth-down pass that started out with a pooch-punt look; the other was a halfback pass that was intercepted. On the other possession, Tulsa had a first down at the Arkansas 2, but settled for a field goal after losing 12 yards on a bad snap.
It is odd that each team averaged better than 6 yards per play, but that the deciding touchdown was Dennis Johnson’s 96-yard kickoff return when it looked for sure as if the game would be tied at 23 with a quarter to play. “If you would have told me at halftime we would not give up an offensive touchdown, I would’ve liked our chances to win,” said Tulsa coach Todd Graham.
The Arkansas defense made a ton of plays and still gave up 528 yards. The offense couldn’t run the ball at all, missing on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 in the third quarter. When a team does that and wins, there is some grit involved, and some effort plays:
• Rashaad Johnson’s hang-on tackle when it looked like A.J. Whitmore was TD-bound.
• Jerico Nelson chasing down Charles Clay after a big completion.
• Tramain Thomas replacing an injured Johnson and immediately bumping a receiver out of bounds on a fourth-down pass.
This didn’t have to be a nail biter. With third-and-6 at the Tulsa 15, Arkansas let the play clock run down and Casey Dick called time with 3:10 to play. He consulted with Petrino who considered a run to set up Alex Tejada’s fourth field goal of the game, but decided to “take a shot.” He told Dick to throw the ball away if Greg Childs was covered. Instead, Dick threw to the inside of the receiver, right where Roy Roberts was positioned.
Most of the rest of the game, Dick was productive, completing 25-of-38 for 385 yards — 6 feet shy of Arkansas’ one-game record held by Clint Stoerner.
Following Roberts’ interception, Tulsa zipped to the Arkansas 12 in four plays. A first-down run netted 7 and Whitmore made another yard. Next, Harris came flying from the open side of the field and dumped Whitmore for a 3-yard loss.
On a fourth-down pass, Jamar Love — sidelined with an injury for the past few weeks — refused to give up position and the throw was not close.
“Relief,” was the first post-game word that filtered into the pressbox from Petrino.
Harry King is sports columnist for The Morning News. 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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