TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Just when it looked like the Arkansas secondary had things figured out, it became clear just how far they have to go.

Costly penalties and poor coverage caught up with the Razorbacks as Alabama worked over a mostly inexperienced group of safeties and cornerbacks with its two-minute offense in rallying for a 41-38 victory.

Junior cornerback Jamar Love lost track of Matt Caddell and the ball on a game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback John Parker Wilson. Arkansas safety Kevin Woods was flagged for two pass-interference penalties that kept the Crimson Tide's hopes alive.

Woods had trouble hiding his emotions in the aftermath of the loss. He sat in stunned silence in front of his locker until a reporter approached to question him about the secondary's last-minute breakdown.

"This feels bad," Woods said. "It hurts worse than anything."

ADVERTISEMENT

Woods was initially called for an obvious holding on Crimson Tide receiver Keith Brown. That moved Alabama from the 28 to the 13 on third down-and-9.

Officials flagged Woods on what appeared to be an uncatchable ball from Wilson to Mike McCoy. One play later, the game was over on Wilson's completion to Caddell with 8 seconds remaining.

"The penalties are what kept the drive alive," Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring said. "It was either you stop them or you don't and we didn't stop them.

" We didn't get it done the last drive. That's the bottom line. We did not get it done."

Arkansas clearly had trouble late, but also struggled early.

Sophomore cornerback Jarrell Norton was among those that seemed lost during the first half as Arkansas gave up 172 yards and two touchdowns through the air. Norton was responsible for early coverage of DJ Hall and struggled, mightily before halftime. Hall caught 5 passes for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half.

Hall finished with 172 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 catches. His 43-yarder came at the expense of Norton, who shouldered the blame for Arkansas' devastating loss.

"I had 10 guys on defense, plus the whole offense that had my back and I didn't have their back," Norton said. "That's on me. I put this on myself. I feel like I let the team down."

Norton had a second-half interception that gave the Razorabcks some life. He and the secondary looked better much of the second half, but ultimately had too many breakdowns.

Wilson took advantage of the Razorabcks secondary for 327 yards and 4 touchdowns. He entered the game averaging ©. 5 yards per game and had not completed a touchdown pass in victories against Western Carolina and Vanderbilt.

"They're young," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. "I thought they really grew tonight. They did some good things, but they gave away some things. They really came back and made some plays for us, but we need to come back and play better."