FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas is 0-3 against Florida at The Swamp going into Saturday’s game against the No. 18 Gators.
Members of the 2009 Razorbacks team, which lost 23-20 that season in Gainesville, Fla., take issue with that record.
“We felt robbed, and we also felt like something should have been done about it,” said Ramon Broadway, a junior cornerback for the Razorbacks that season.
Defending BCS national champion and No. 1-ranked Florida, a 25-point favorite, rallied from a 20-13 deficit behind quarterback Tim Tebow in the fourth quarter of that game Oct. 17, 2009, but the circumstances surrounding the comeback have been a sore subject for Arkansas the past four years.
“We knew the game was taken from us,” said running back Michael Smith, a senior team captain that year.
“You feel like you got cheated out of something that could have been real special for you,” said defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard, whose fourth-quarter personal foul penalty - which later was deemed a mistake by the SEC office - served as the flash point for the ire of Arkansas fans.
“We played our hearts out and it looked like the game just got taken away from us towards the end with … a personal foul call and pass interference calls that should have went the other way,” said defensive end Adrian Davis, a 2009 senior captain.
The SEC crew working the game, led by referee Marc Curles, was suspended for a week in the aftermath. The reason given by the SEC for the suspension revolved around the personal foul on Sheppard during Florida’s game-tying touchdown drive midway through the final quarter.
The flag was thrown on Sheppard when replays clearly showed Florida offensive lineman Marcus Gilbert rushing toward Sheppard and initiating contact, far from the action, where three Razorbacks held Florida’s Brandon James to a 1-yard gain on a swing pass from Tebow.
CBS Sports analyst Gary Danielson, who was calling the game, questioned a pass interference call against Broadway on the previous snap, then said of the play involving Sheppard, “What’s the guy supposed to do? … I don’t get that. The guy hits him 20 yards from the play and he gets called for that. My goodness. If you’re the official you’ve got to see it, be sure of that call.”
Sheppard, who has been on the rosters of the Houston Texas and Tennessee Titans and is preparing to head to Hamilton, Ontario, for a go in the Canadian Football League, still questions the motives of the officiating crew.
“It’s like somebody taking destiny or free will out of your hands,” said Sheppard, who was a senior captain.” Every play on that drive was big, and every penalty made us feel more and more helpless.”
The call on Sheppard led to the crew’s suspension, but it might not have been the most egregious mistake.
Then-Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino was most riled by a non-call on Florida receiver Riley Cooper late in the game. With Florida facing second-and-10 from the Arkansas 40 on the drive that led to a game-winning field goal, Tebow threw into the end zone where cornerback Andru Stewart had inside position on Cooper and was in line for an interception.
Replays clearly showed Cooper reaching around and pinning Stewart’s right arm to his body before the ball arrived and fell incomplete.
“I felt him grab my arm, but that’s football,” Stewart said the week after the game.
Florida converted on third-and-10 and went on to take a 23-20 lead on Caleb Sturgis’ 27-yard field with 9 seconds left in the game.
Arkansas fans burned for weeks after the game, setting up Web pages that detailed a series of what they felt were missed calls, bad calls and bad judgments from the officiating crew.
The disputed plays included a 51-yard field goal by Sturgis in the third quarter on which it appeared the play clock had expired, and a scramble by Tebow on Florida’s game-winning drive during which it appeared he was stopped a yard shy of the first-down marker but appeared to be given a favorable spot that gave the Gators a first down.
Petrino called then-SEC supervisor of officials Rogers Redding to ask for an explanation of several calls.
“He didn’t give me anything that satisfied me, but that’s just how it goes,” Petrino told reporters after their conversation. “Obviously, everyone here knows that the First Amendment, when it comes to football coaches talking about officials, does not apply.”
The SEC released a statement saying its crew had erred on the Sheppard foul but noted that “other calls that were referenced are judgment calls and a review of those calls has been communicated to Arkansas.”
Petrino was reprimanded by the SEC office for commenting on his TV show about a no-call on what he thought was a late hit delivered to tailback Dennis Johnson at the end of a tackle-breaking 25-yard run that ended on the sideline.
“In most places, that’s a late hit,” Petrino said. “Whey they hit you when you’re on the white, it’s supposed to be a late hit, a 15-yard penalty. Unfortunately in Florida they don’t call it that way.”
The Gators, who were coming off a 13-3 victory at No. 4 LSU, were a huge favorite against the Razorbacks going into that game.
“We really understood we had to beat Florida badly, and I remember very, very blatantly the referees were not going to allow that to be done unless we had beaten them by 21 points,” Broadway said. “Those referees get suspended … take a little pay cut, but we don’t make history. I think that’s what bothered us the most about that game.”
Smith, who was held out of the game with a hamstring injury, said the referees “dictated the entire fourth quarter” for a reason.
“It was because they wanted to be sure that Tebow came out as the greatest player in college football history,” said Smith, who cohosts a radio show in Little Rock and serves as a Razorback analyst for KTHV-TV. “That was it.
“Tebow turned around and said some unfavorable, some un-Godly things a couple of times. … Everything that he did, touched or said was golden. That’s how they looked at it, and I felt like they missed a couple of calls because of it.”
Arkansas sacked Tebow six times and recovered four Florida fumbles, including two inside the Razorbacks’ 10-yard line, but Arkansas also had key mistakes.
Alex Tejada missed two f ield goals, including a 38-yarder after Florida tied the game at 20. Quarterback Ryan Mallett overthrew uncovered fullback Van Stumon in the end zone on a third-quarter possession that ended with a field goal. Receiver Greg Childs slipped to the ground while running with a 46-yard reception in the second quarter on a series that ended with a 22-yard field goal.
Arkansas was penalized 10 times for 92 yards, while Florida was hit with three penalties for 16 yards.
“I can see maybe one bad call, maybe even two,” Sheppard said. “But when it’s just blatantly that people are just out to alter a game, at least it felt like that. … It probably wasn’t the case. They were probably just making some bad calls that night.”
Smith said the postgame reaction from Petrino differed from other losses.
“The coaching staff understood the game was taken from us,” Smith said. “Usually when we lose a game, Petrino is upset. He’s hot. He’s mad. No one can talk. He understood that game was taken from us. He didn’t treat anybody like we lost the game. He was mad at the referees, and that’s where his frustration was. That’s where it was targeted.
“People were upset about the refs, but it didn’t feel like we had lost the game ourselves. It felt like we had the game taken from us.”
Florida went on to lose to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and finish 13-1, while the Razorbacks finished 8-5 with a Liberty Bowl victory over East Carolina.
The biggest regret for Arkansas’ players was missing out on what could have been a long-lasting achievement.
“It was a game that could have been one of those games that you remember for the rest of your life,” Sheppard said, “but now you’re going to remember it for the rest of your life for the wrong reason.”
Up next ARKANSAS AT NO. 18 FLORIDA WHEN 6 p.m. Central Saturday WHERE Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville Fla.
RECORDS Arkansas 3-2, 0-1 SEC;
Florida 3-1, 2-0 TV ESPN2 RADIO Razorback Sports Network.
Sports, Pages 17 on 10/04/2013