ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas senior quarterback Casey Dick (11) carries the ball through the Western Illinois defense during the Hogs' 28-24 win Saturday in Razorback Stadium.

Here’s something even wilder than Arkansas at home

trailing lower division Western Illinois with under two minutes to

play.

Slow-footed senior quarterback Casey Dick denied the Leathernecks’ upset bid, 28-24 with the only two rushing touchdowns of his collegiate life.

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Dick’s shocking 23-yard scramble and his game-winning 4-yard keeper with 1:49 left sandwiching his 26-yard TD pass to freshman Greg Childs accounted for Arkansas’ three second-half touchdowns overcoming off the charts underdog Western Illinois, 28-24 Saturday night before

70,547 at Frank Broyles Field at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

It marked both the season opener for both teams and the opener of the Bobby Petrino coaching era at Arkansas.

The Razorbacks needed Dick’s feet and his arm ( the seventh-best Razorback QB passing stats ever at 25 of 41 for 318 yards and 2 TDs to

keep Petrino from debuting in defeat.

Even that appeared dicey to suffice as WIU, with Arkansas missing four interception chances, rallied in the final 1:49 before Arkansas freshman safety Elton Ford broke up WIU quarterback Matt Barr’s last pass with 32 seconds left.

Ironically, Ford closed the very game he opened fumbling the kickoff, setting in motion a first half Arkansas trailed, 10-7 at intermission and 24-14 with 10:34 to play.

The Leathernecks of Football Championship Subdivisioin (formerly Division 1-AA) not only played intensely for interim coach Mark Hendrickson while head coach Don Patterson is being treated for cancer, they sported the best running back in the game and one of the best in

all of college football.

WIU senior Herb Donaldson lived up to his billing and then some. The 5-11, 225-pounder shredded and eluded defenders for 157 yards on 35

carries while rushing for one TD and catching a Barr TD pass.

Petrino knew Donaldson was a great back and knew his Hogs were without their best running back, Arkansas fourth-year junior tailback Michael Smith was suspended, it was announced before the game. Still, he didn’t envision this kind of nailbiter in what allegedly is the easiest game on Arkansas’ schedule.

“It certainly was a lot harder than we anticipated,” Petrino said. “Hats off to Western Ilinois. We know we have to play better than that.

"But we did hang in there and we did come away with the win. Casey learned how to compete and ran the ball and we had a bunch of freshmen like Greg Childs making plays down the stretch. And our defense hung in

there and tried to rush the passer. I just wish we had one of those four picks at the end that we dropped.”

Dick said the Hogs didn’t panic even as the upset bid became ever more evident.

“We were on the sidelines calm,” Dick said, “and knew what we had to do.”

He sure did on those keepers that stunned even his teammates on defense watching it from the bench.

“I’ve never seen Casey run,” junior defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard said. “That was new to me from last year.”

Well, it’s a new staff with new ideas and no Darren McFadden and Felix Jones to run as those All-American tailbacks are in the NFL now.

“We preached the run to him,” Petrino said. “Especially with the look Western Illinois was giving us rushing three and dropping eight guys back.”

Up 10-7, WIU took the second half kickoff and promptly made it 17-7 with a 57-yard scoring drive with Barr throwing a 12-yard TD to Donaldson.

Hitting big passes to Lucas Miller and freshman Joe Adams, who caught Dick’s first-half TD pass, Dick devastated the Leathernecks with his convoluted 23-yard scramble with no receivers open but WIU open to the run.

Arkansas’ aroused defense forced a three and out.

Dick hit Carlton Salters with a 13-yard screen pass but Salters got

stripped of the ball by Jason Williams and Robert Hodges recovered the

ball and momentum for WIU at the Arkansas 35. The Leathernecks chewed

up 35 yards and 8:45 in 13 plays, finally prevailing on a five-down

goalline stand, Arkansas was penalized for illegal substitution.

Fullback Javid Milton scored from the one at 10:34.

Dick hit a huge 20-yard pass on third and 10 to Lucas Miller before his TD throw to Childs.

Salters, on fourth down and Miller, Childs and Childs again all caught critical passes from Dick on the game-winning drive. All dropped passes previously before catching on.

“We kept feeding people the ball,” Dick said. “We knew they would make plays. Greg Childs dropped a ball but I went right back to him and he scored a touchdown.”

Beginning with a bobble and deteriorating from there, the Razorbacks were edged, 10-7 on the first-halfscoreboard and behind in all first-half phases.

Arkansas true freshman Elton Ford bobbled the game-opening kickoff of the Petrino that WIU’s Robert Hodges recovered at Arkansas’ 15.

A big third-down lost-yardage hit by Razorback true freshman linebacker Jelani Smith and a weak pass attempt off a fumbled field goal snap enabled Arkansas to dodge a field goal bullet that WIU fired again and

hit with Taylor Rowan’s 42-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 6:12 left in the first quarter.

Arkansas survived a first-quarter interception thrown by Dick that really wasn’t Dick’s fault.

The pass first glanced off wideout Lucas Miller’s fingers.

Arkansas put together its lone first-half scoring drive in the second quarter.

Dick’s 19-yard first-down pass to D.J. Williams and a second-and-10, 18-yard draw by true freshman De’Anthony Curtis in the Camden

freshman’s first college carry, fueled a 10-play 81-yard drive that included key Casey Dick passes on second and 19 and third and 7 and a 12-yard pass to Crosby Tuck before Dick threw a 10-yard TD out of an empty backfield to freshman Joe Adams.

Alex Tejada kicked the PAT for Arkansas’s lone lead, 7-3, of the half. Arkansas wouldn’t lead again until the end.