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Unleashing WildHog was part of plan Published: Saturday, November 24, 2007 PRINT E-MAIL BATON ROUGE — Arkansas ’ Darren McFadden knew early in the week that the outcome of Friday’s game against No. 1 LSU was going to rest largely on his capable shoulders. Razorbacks offensive coordinator David Lee told McFadden as much at practice, when he told McFadden to expect to play a lot of quarterback against the No. 1 team in the country. McFadden’s response: “Bring it on.” “By me being a leader, that’s something I always want to do,” he said. “Carry my team on my back. That’s something I feel I did tonight.”
McFadden did it all for Arkansas — again — as the Razorbacks made their most extensive use of the WildHog formation to date. McFadden ran for 206 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 132 of the yards (including a 73-yard touchdown run ) coming from the quarterback position. He also completed 3 of 6 passes for 34 yards and another touchdown. All four of Arkansas’ regulation-time touchdowns came out of the WildHog in the Razorbacks’ 50-48 triple-overtime victory. All told, Arkansas ran the WildHog on 33 of the team’s 77 offensive plays (43 percent ). The Razorbacks ran the formation more than twice as often as they did against South Carolina, which was their previous high. “We intended for that today,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “We were going to go at least 30 percent, maybe more. Their defense is so fast, so good that we had to do something that we felt like gave us an advantage.” McFadden is all Arkansas needed for an advantage. McFadden either rushed or quarterbacked on 50 plays, and, with a nationwide audience watching, delivered his most resounding Heisman Trophy campaign speech yet. “He’s the Heisman Trophy guy,” Nutt said. “The guy deserves the trophy. It’s not right for his name not to be mentioned as No. 1 right now. He blocks, he catches, he quarterbacks, throws, he reads, he runs the football with passion and determination. I hope he won the Heisman today. You’ve got to give it to him.” “There’s no question,” Lee said. “Who else in the country can do all the things he did tonight ?” Lee said he decided to use the WildHog so extensively after seeing how effective Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who is McFadden’s main Heisman competition, ran the Gators offense against LSU. Tebow rushed 16 times for 67 yards and a touchdown when Florida played LSU, and Brett Schaeffer, Ole Miss’s quarterback, ran eight times for 94 yards and a score against the Tigers. LSU won close games against the Gators and Rebels, but Arkansas saw enough film to know the WildHog would be effective. “[Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick ] is not a running quarterback,” Lee said. “I love him, but he can’t run out of a closet. But we’ve got this other guy, McFadden. He gave us what Ole Miss and Florida had.” Arkansas only ran two Wild-Hog plays in the first quarter, but opened things up for five WildHog plays on a nine-play, 97-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that gave the Razorbacks a 7-6 lead. The touchdown came on McFadden’s 16-yard run up the middle from the WildHog. The most exciting play in a game full of them came on Arkansas’ first possession of the third quarter. McFadden, on second-and-14, took the snap and started right, then went wide left, broke through LSU linebacker Ali Highsmith’s tackle and scored on a 73-yard run after getting a key block from Dick. Arkansas took a 14-6 lead, and the WildHog was about to hit a new gear. On the next drive Peyton Hillis scored on a 65-yard run after taking a handoff from McFadden. LSU’s All-America defensive tackle, Glenn Dorsey, said it didn’t matter if McFadden kept the ball, handed it off, or threw it. “They had a great scheme. We made some mistakes, and they capitalized on them,” Dorsey said. The last of four touchdown plays out of the WildHog came with 5: 06 to play in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 21-21. McFadden took three steps toward the line of scrimmage, like Tebow, then stopped and lobbed a pass to Hillis, wideopen near the goal line. “I saw him so wide-open, I was just hoping I wouldn’t overthrow him, and then I almost underthrew him,” McFadden said. He completed the pass, and Arkansas went on to complete the stunning upset. McFadden wouldn’t settle for anything less. “I told him this week ‘You’re going to play a lot of quarterback [against LSU ], it’s not going to six or eight snaps,’” Lee said. “He said ‘Good, Coach, bring it on. I’m ready.’ That’s his way of saying ‘I want the ball in my hands.’ “ It was so much fun watching Darren McFadden execute and put the team on his back.” More Stories From: CHRIS GIVENS · Fortson provides bright spot for Hogs · Pelphrey: Room to overachieve · Warhawks’ late mistakes costly · UA goes for two at War Memorial Yesterday's Most Popular 2. Exceptions rule Fayetteville High alums well represented at FCC match-play championship Today's Most E-mailed 1. LIKE IT IS : Football prognosticators ready to fire up fans 2. FIRECRACKER FAST 5K : Former Hog Forrest too fast for competition |
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