Gamble pays off for UA FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ game-saving fourth-down conversion wasn’t a gamble simply because Coach Bobby Petrino tried converting a fourth-and-1 from the Louisiana Monroe 32. It was because the call — the “Cowboy Get It” play — was a pass and it turned into a lowpercentage play-action throw into double coverage.

Casey Dick ran the play fake to Michael Smith to perfection, held the ball to his hip for a couple of seconds, but had to rush when a defender came scrambling into the pocket. Freshman receiver Chris Gragg, lined up on the right wing in the Cowboy personnel group on his first offensive snap of the game, was to release upfield during the fake. However, two Warhawks defenders tracked into the secondary with Gragg.

When Dick’s pass descended, the 6-3 Gragg went over 5-10 Nate Brown and 6-1 Greg James for the all-hands catch and a 25-yard gain that electrified War Memorial Stadium.

“We’d like to have had better protection,” Petrino said. “If we had, it might have been a touchdown, but it might have been a blessing that it wasn’t, so we worked a little more time off the clock.” An earlier failed fourthdown running play set the stage for the risky pass, as Arkansas staged its second successful-but-frantic endof-game drive, complete with fourth-down conversion.

“I mean... the crowd, the game was on the line and that’s what I like to do,” Gragg said. “At receiver, you have to like those moments like that.” Arkansas center Jonathan Luigs described his perspective: “I was on the ground and I looked up and just saw the ball in the air with three defenders and a young kid going up and catching the ball.” Gragg wasn’t the only option on the play, which the Razorbacks had repped four times during the week, but he was the best option.

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“I just tried to give Chris Gragg a chance to go up and get the ball, and he did a great job of that,” Dick said. Longhorns’ first look Texas played a late game in El Paso on Saturday, and viewers who switched off the ESPN 2 telecast late in the third quarter missed some fireworks.

Texas led 28-13 early in the final period, but Colt McCoy threw his fourth touchdown strike of the game, then Rod Muckelroy returned a fumble 26 yards for a touchdown and the Longhorns (2-0 ) wound up with a 42-13 victory over the Miners.

Quan Crosby caught eight passes for 154 yards and a touchdown and looks to be a dangerous target against the young Arkansas defensive backfield on Saturday.

Takeaway-free It was slightly surprising to see a no-turnover game in Week 2, but the Razorbacks and Warhawks pulled it off. Arkansas freshman Joe Adams alertly pounced on his own fumble in the second quarter, and Louisiana-Monroe regained a fumble of its own in the third quarter to account for the near-miss takeaways. An alarming sign for Arkansas: It has no takeaways in its first two games, reminiscent of 2006 when its first forced turnover came in Week 4 against Alabama. “We have yet to get a turnover, so when that happens, you feel like they’re going to come in bunches,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “We need them to come in bunches next Saturday.” Fourth-down debut Aggressive fourth-down calls have been a key element in Arkansas’ 2-0 start, but they haven’t all worked to perfection. Trailing 17-6 midway through the third quarter Saturday, Coach Bobby Petrino rolled the dice with a fourthand-2 power play to Michael Smith off left tackle at the Louisiana-Monroe 47. Middle linebacker Cardia Jackson read the play, scraped off the edge and slammed Smith for no gain. “We anticipated the blitz they had run earlier in the game. They didn’t do it and kind of overshifted with the mike linebacker,” Petrino said. “We got a hat on everybody but their mike linebacker, and he stepped up and made a nice tackle. “ Maybe that’s not the right call for me with Michael Smith in there because that would take a big back to run through a guy to get the first down. Just didn’t do a good job of making the play call. That one’s on me.” Formation game Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said the combination of his unit’s inexperience and Louisiana-Monroe’s plethora of formations led to a slimmingdown of the Razorbacks’ defensive plan. “I’ve never gone into a game with a call sheet this small,” Robinson said. The concern from Arkansas’ standpoint was that too many defensive calls in the plan might have made recognition and alignment too confusing for the young players in the Razorbacks’ back seven.

Tube talk Here’s a prediction for the broadcast of Alabama at Arkansas on Sept. 20. With the Florida at Tennessee and LSU at Auburn games having more bearing on the early SEC races in both divisions, the bet is Arkansas vs. Alabama will wind up as the 11: 30 a.m. Raycom broadcast. The SEC is expected to release the television schedule for the Sept. 20 games today.

12 th man Arkansas was hit with two illegal substitution penalties Saturday, the second of which drew a chorus of boos from the impatient War Memorial Stadium crowd. Both infractions occurred because the Razorbacks broke the huddle with 12 players. Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino put the blame for those penalties on his receiving corps. “We have a lot of different personnel groups, and the guys who are going into the huddle shouldn’t step in until they make sure [the player he is replacing ] is out,” Petrino said. “One of them was a twotight [end ] formation, and London [Crawford ] shouldn’t have stayed in. Another one was a Muscle [package ], which there’s no receivers in the game and Joe Adams stayed in.... It’s a mistake that can’t happen.” Worth noting The Razorbacks have allowed eight sacks and registered just three of their own through two games. That’s not a ratio that promises good results with the difficult stretch of the schedule at hand. Quarterback Casey Dick has proved less adept at getting away from pressure than he has at making cool moves once he’s outside the pocket. Let’s not forget the best shot of the game, courtesy of Razorbacks jack linebacker Jerico Nelson. The true freshman leveled Louisiana-Monroe quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster on a third-down completion in the fourth quarter. Lancaster needed help getting off the field after having the breath knocked out of him, but was able to return moments later when the Warhawks failed to induce an offsides penalty with receiver Darrell McNeal barking the signals.

Looking ahead The Razorbacks hit the road for the first time this season, opening a brutal-looking stretch against traditional rival and No. 8-ranked Texas.