Close call sinks in with Hogs

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks had a light workout Sunday and Labor Day off Monday to contemplate just how close they came to losing their season opener at home to a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA ) team.

It took fourth-quarter heroics by senior quarterback Casey Dick and the passing offense, including a fourthdown connection, plus a key stop by the defense to rally past Western Illinois 28-24 on Saturday night.

“They were a little better than I expected,” Arkansas defensive end Adrian Davis said. “They gave us their best shot.”

With Louisiana-Monroe heading to Little Rock for Saturday’s 6 p. m. game at War Memorial Stadium, the Razorbacks must again be on upset alert.

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“Louisiana-Monroe’s going to watch this film thinking they’re going to have a chance to beat us, too,” Davis said.

“I’d think the same thing,” Arkansas linebacker Jerry Franklin added. “Like, if I was in their shoes, I would think the same thing. But we’re going to prepare a lot harder.”

Personnel report

Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said Monday that senior linebacker Elston Forte is probably a week away from being ready to play. Forte injured a knee in camp and did not play in the opener.

Tailback Michael Smith, who missed the opener because of a violation of textbook policy, will be back with the starting lineup in today’s practice.

Receiver London Crawford (concussion ) was doing better Monday, but he’s still questionable for Saturday’s game.

“I saw him this morning, and he said he was feeling a lot better,” Petrino said. “I don’t know what that means as far as getting on the field just yet, but it was encouraging and he had a smile on his face.”

There was still no word on why guard Mitch Petrus was ineligible Saturday or what his status is for this week, but Petrus was not listed on the depth chart on the Monday media release. Instead, tackle Michael Aguirre was listed as the backup behind tackle Ray Dominguez and guard Wade Grayson.

Petrino said outside linebacker Ryan Powers, who did not play in the opener, should be available this week, and that middle linebacker Wendel Davis would get a hard look this week. Davis is coming off knee surgery and a hand injury.

“Last week [Davis ] looked good. He got everybody excited the way he ran around,” Petrino said. “But it was one week of practice, so you couldn’t stick him in the game there.” Fourth-down fever

With the game riding on the outcome, Bobby Petrino gambled on a fourth-and-10 call from the Western Illinois 33 with 3: 47 remaining and the Razorbacks trailing 24-21.

Casey Dick wound up throwing an 11-yard completion to Carlton Salters, but it came after Dick nearly ran with the ball.

“D. J. [Williams ] was running a little drag route, and the linebacker was covering him up,” Dick said. “So I knew with Carlton coming across the middle I had to wait on him.... I knew I had a small window, and I had to put it where only he could catch it.”

Petrino said he passed on a field-goal attempt because it was at the far range of his comfort level with Alex Tejada and because of the conditions.

“I just felt like 50 yards on that night, the way the ball was carrying on other kicks and punts, was a long way for us,” Petrino said. “We made the decision prior to the third-down play, that if we got about half the distance we might kick the field goal. If we didn’t, we’d go for it. I’m glad it worked.”

It’s my ball Western Illinois led in time of possession in every quarter and owned a commanding lead in total margin — 36: 43 to 23: 17 — over the Hogs in the opener. “It’s a big concern, yeah,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. “We allowed them to control the ball. They were watching the clock. They were watching that 40-second clock tick down and weren’t going to snap the ball until it was inside 10 seconds. “ They tried to shorten the game, and they did a nice job of it.” Go route gambling Western Illinois got away with some defensive gambles, a situation Coach Bobby Petrino hopes the Razorbacks will capitalize on in future games.

“They were kind of a little kamikaze,” Petrino said. “They had a lot of gambling going on out there, and sometimes they hit and sometimes they missed.

“ We probably had five or six plays where a guy was running scot-free down the field, and with a little more experience, a little more understanding of what we’re doing, we might have had a couple more big, big plays.”