Arkansas' football season ended Nov. 28, but the Razorbacks might be on the verge of pulling off the bowl season's biggest upset.

Yes, we're talking about the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Year contest (pontiac.com/ncaa). If you're a Hogs fan, surely you've heard about this thing by now.

If not, here's the three-step skinny:

1. ESPN picked four "Game Changing" plays in each of the 14 weeks of the college football season.

2. Fans voted online to determine the weekly winners, and there was a subsequent playoff (Gee, what a novel idea.) to determine the four finalists.

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3. Arkansas advanced to its first Final Four since Montell Jordan ("This Is How We Do It") mattered.

Now this might be the point at which some will reasonably wonder, "Did Arkansas really produce a 'Game Changing Performance' this season? A team that finished 5-7 must've been on the wrong end of too many "Game Changing Performances."

Well, as everybody's favorite adult Cabbage Patch Kid (Lee Corso) likes to say, "Not so fast, my friend."

Remember the Miracle on Markham, Part II? That 24-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass from Casey Dick to London Crawford that lifted Arkansas over LSU in the Hogs' last game of the season?

Well, the folks at ESPN decided that was one of the top four "Game Changing Performances" of that week. The play eventually beat out three others in online voting to advance to the playoff portion of the contest, and an intense undertaking in investigative reporting has uncovered why voters chose Arkansas.

A deflected pass Oklahoma used to score a touchdown in a 61-41 victory over Oklahoma State was one of just eight the Sooners scored that night, and the OU faithful was too busy mocking its in-state rivals to log on.

The touchdown pass Kansas used to defeat Missouri with 27 seconds remaining was deemed irrelevant to would-be Jayhawks voters too busy either celebrating the basketball team's victory over Coppin State a day earlier, or camping out for good seats for a game against Kent State two days later.

A 60-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half that helped Georgia Tech rally past Georgia largely was ignored by Jacket alums more interested in preserving and enhancing Tech's reputation as one of the "oldest and most respected polytechnical universities in the United States."

Whatever the motives and mechanics, Arkansas has advanced to the finals of the contest. The winner will be announced during Thursday's BCS National Championship Game, and that school will receive a $100,000 prize.

(If Arkansas wins, the money will be dedicated to scholarships for U.S. veterans.)

As for the other three finalists, another round of profound scrutiny has revealed two of them are farces.

For starters, there is the 35-yard touchdown pass Buffalo used to beat Temple on the last play of their game on Sept. 13. Frankly, any two schools whose cheerleaders are all bottomof-the-pyramid types shouldn't even be eligible.

Then there is the interception Alabama's Rashad Johnson pulled down in overtime to help set up the Crimson Tide's 27-21 victory over LSU on Nov. 8. As obnoxious as they are, even Tigers fans shouldn't be subjected to being the butt of two "Game Changing Performances."

That leaves Arkansas with just one worthy and legitimate contender: The last-second touchdown pass from Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree that allowed Texas Tech to pull out a stunning upset of Texas on Nov. 1.

As rabid and loyal as they are, even Hogs fans must admit this play was significantly more dramatic than Dick's pass to Crawford. Harrell-to-Crabtree, after all, changed the course of the college football season.

If not for Harrell-to-Crabtree, Oklahoma would be preparing to demolish Ohio State tonight instead of playing Florida for a national title on Thursday.

Alas, "fan" is short for fanatic, and logic has no place in these kinds of contests. Voting ends Tuesday at midnight, so there is still time for Arkansas to pull off the upset.

Think of it this way: Surely Hog fans don't want Ole Miss to be the only team that beat Texas Tech this bowl season.