When Arkansas went into its victory formation Saturday night with the clock ticking down on a 17-0 victory over LSU, UA officials had a plan in place.
Anticipating a storming of the field by young and middle-aged adults alike, the goal posts -- like LSU -- were taken down.
Now comes the obligatory $25,000 SEC fine for a celebration that ended up on the field. The price is $25,000, instead of $50,000, because it has been more than three years since the Razorbacks Nation had a reason to storm the field.
Just hours after Mississippi State got a quality loss and Alabama a quality victory, the Razorbacks got a conference victory, and it didn't really matter that it was a quality victory over a very good LSU team that might have still had some Crimson Tide hangover.
The reason Mississippi State is mentioned is that last week, the College Football Playoff selection committee moved one-loss Oregon in front of undefeated Florida State using the argument that the Ducks had more quality victories, along with a quality loss. Mississippi State suffered a quality loss, but it will most likely drop out of the top four tonight when the latest poll is released.
If a team is going to lose, it is always better to lose early than late; but in this opinion, the Bulldogs should drop to no worse than fourth.
Meanwhile, the Razorbacks have put themselves in the position of needing one more victory to be bowl eligible.
It won't be easy, not with Ole Miss coming to town after taking a bye week while looking to position itself for an upper-tiered bowl. That is followed by a trip to Missouri to play a team that lost 13 starters from its East Division championship squad a year ago and now needs two victories to get back in the SEC Championship game.
Yes, the same Missouri team that found a way to lose to 3-7 Indiana at home and then get shutout by Georgia, 34-0, also at home, needs to win at Tennessee and stop the Hogs the day after Thanksgiving in Columbia to earn a second consecutive title.
Neither game will be easy for Missouri. Tennessee is tough at home, and the Razorbacks finally have some confidence.
The key to Saturday night for Arkansas -- and maybe the season -- has been the defense.
The defensive front appeared to be the only real strength coming into the season, but new defensive coordinator Robb Smith changed a lot of the schemes and linebackers coach Randy Shannon has gotten production out of his players.
North Little Rock's Martrell Spaight was all over the field Saturday night, shouting out coverages and pointing to places to cover. His bone-jarring tackles are now referred to as being "Spaighted." He finished with 10 tackles and was named Defensive Player of the Week by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Linebacker Braylon Mitchell added nine tackles and Brooks Ellis, the other starting linebacker, had five. Spaight's impact was so significant that LSU was driving on one series with Spaight on the sideline, until he was put back in the game.
It wasn't just the linebacking play. There seemed to be more passes broken up Saturday than during the entire season combined, and the defense had five tackles for loss, including four sacks. Arkansas also put tons of pressure on LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings.
LSU's defense held Arkansas to a season-low 264 offensive yards. A couple of dropped passes contributed to the low yardage, but quarterback Brandon Allen seemed especially accurate on third down, especially to tight ends Hunter Henry and AJ Derby, who each had four catches.
So victory flooded the field at Reynolds Razorback Stadium for the first time in a long time, and the fine is fine this time.
Sports on 11/18/2014