Instant replay

Tribute touches Broyles

Former Arkansas Coach and Athletic Director Frank Broyles calls the Hogs on Friday during a ceremony unveiling a statue in his honor outside the Broyles Athletic Center in Fayetteville.

— Frank Broyles, the most iconic athletic figure in Arkansas, was honored Friday with a larger-than-life bronze statue outside the football field and athletic center that bears his name.

On a chilly morning prior to kickoff of the Razorbacks’ season finale against LSU, Broyles participated in the unveiling of the 7 1/2-foot, 700-pound statue along with UA Chancellor Dave Gearhart, Athletic Director Jeff Long and Jim Lindsey, who played on Broyles’ 1964 national championship team and was instrumental along with former teammate and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in the funding of the statue.

“I’m flabbergasted and I’m proud of it, obviously,” Broyles said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Gary Renegar, a Fayetteville-based periodontist, sculpted the bronze tribute to Broyles, who is posed with his trademark partially untucked dress shirt and a rolled-up game plan in hand.

Gearhart recalled the epitaph at the funeral of acclaimed English architect Sir Christopher Wren during his remarks, stating, “If you seek his monuments, look around you.”

“Coach, you mean more to this university than you will ever know,” Gearhart said. “This statue will stand as a testament to you as long as the Razorbacks take the field and the Hogs are called, which is to say until we cease to be a university or Arkansas a state.”

Long said Broyles made an indelible mark in his 50-plus years of service to the university.

“It is truly an honor to be selected as the athletic director, to take on what he has literally and figuratively built over the last 50 years, and he’s built it brick by brick here at the University of Arkansas,” Long said.

Lindsey, who spoke at the podium with teammate and former Arkansas Coach Ken Hatfield, said the first statue at the UA facilities could have been of no one other than Broyles.

“It was the one that needed to be there, no doubt about it,” Lindsey said.

“Every one of us that played then and had connections since are ecstatic that it’s been done.”

Not again

Arkansas’ bench was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the second game in a row during Friday’s 20-13 loss to LSU.

It happened in the second quarter when an official apparently took exception to an Arkansas assistant coach’s comments about LSU being awarded a timeout, which negated a delay of-game penalty.

Even after the delay-of game penalty was waved off, LSU would have faced thirdand-4 at the Arkansas 39. The 15-yard penalty gave LSU a first down at the 24, and the Tigers scored a touchdown three plays later to take a 10-0 lead with 1:12 left in the first half.

Arkansas Coach John L. Smith - who drew a penalty last Saturday at Mississippi State - didn’t identify which assistant was penalized Friday but had something to say about the call.

“Some officials have rabbit ears,” Smith said.

“Normally you would not expect [Friday’s penalty] to be called. It’s not like he was cussing at him or any of that stuff. I know he feels terrible about the call because it did hurt us, but I would not have expected that to be called in any league I have ever been in.”

Early in the third quarter, Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers appeared to strip the ball from LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger and recover the fumble, but the play was nullified when the Tigers were called for a false start.

“That was the right call because there was movement, but it wasn’t like he threw the flag [immediately],” Smith said. “He waited until the play was over and then threw the flag. So if you’re going to make the call, make the call.” New kicker

Junior Zach Hocker holds Arkansas’ career record for most kicking points with 287, but after he had a 40-yard field-goal attempt partially blocked and had a 43-yard attempt go wide right in the second quarter, he was replaced by sophomore walk on John Henson.

Henson made field goals of 25 and 17 yards on his only two attempts.

“I thought Johnny deserved the chance, and I thought that probably prior to this game,” Arkansas Coach John L. Smith said. “I just decided Johnny ought to get this chance. Johnny is very accurate and very capable.”

Hocker made 11 of 18 field-goal attempts this season, including six misses on attempts of 43 or fewer yards. He continued to handle kickoff duties throughout Friday’s game.

Wilson’s legs

Senior quarterback Tyler Wilson led Arkansas with 41 rushing yards on nine attempts, including a 12-yard gain.

Wilson, who was surprised to learn he was the Razorbacks’ top rusher, said he hadn’t led his team since gaining 71 yards for Greenwood as a senior in 2007.

“Most of it was on one play,” he said. “I caught them sleeping.” Change the channel

It was a horrible season to watch the Razorbacks, but that was especially true when they played on CBS.

Arkansas finished 0-3 in CBS games this season, losing to Alabama, South Carolina and LSU by a combined 100-33.

Interim records

Interim coaches are 2-1 in the Arkansas-LSU series since the teams became SEC rivals in 1992 after the Tigers beat the Razorbacks and John L. Smith, who became the Razorbacks’ interim coach in April.

Joe Kines won 30-6 as Arkansas’ interim coach in 1992, the last time the teams had played in Fayetteville before Friday’s game. Hal Hunter served one game as LSU’s interim coach - after Gerry DiNardo was fired - when the Tigers beat the Razorbacks 35-10 in Baton Rouge in 1999.

Back in the game

Arkansas senior linebacker Terrell Williams and junior receiver Brandon Mitchell played Friday after serving suspensions. Williams was suspended for the previous two games after being arrested for driving while intoxicated. Mitchell had a four-game suspension imposed by Arkansas for an undisclosed violation of team rules.

For starters

Arkansas center Travis Swanson and guard Alvin Bailey, both redshirt juniors, started every game the past three seasons. Friday marked their 38th consecutive starts.

Other Razorbacks to start every game this season were receiver Cobi Hamilton, safety Ross Rasner and defensive ends Chris Smith and Trey Flowers.

David Hurd started the first 11 games at offensive tackle, but he was replaced Friday by Brey Cook, who started at tackle along with Jason Peacock.

The series

LSU extended its lead in the Tigers’ series against Arkansas to 36-20-2, including 13-8 in SEC games. LSU’s longest winning streak in the series since Arkansas joined the SEC is four games. The Tigers won four in a row from 1994-1997 and 2003-2006.

The teams are 3-3 against each other since 2007.

Sports, Pages 28 on 11/24/2012