COLUMBIA, Mo. — A 7-play span late in the third quarter turned momentum in Missouri's favor and sparked the Tigers' 28-24 comeback win over Arkansas on Friday at Faurot Field.
Leading 24-14, the Razorbacks were driving in the red zone with a chance to reestablish a three-possession lead. Arkansas faced a third-and-goal from the Missouri 8 when things began to unravel.
Cale Garrett intercepted Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen to give the Tigers possession. Receiver Drew Morgan was open in the back of the end zone, but Allen was pressured by Aarion Penton and hit as he was releasing the ball, which caused the pass to be under-thrown. Garrett caught the ball at the goal line and was tackled at the 3.
The interception ended a 13-play, 66-yard drive that had taken 7:51 off the clock following a Missouri touchdown to open the second half.
"I saw Drew late, got hit when I was throwing and just kind of fluttered it," Allen said. "It's a game of inches."
Arkansas nearly got the ball right back, but cornerback Ryan Pulley couldn't make an interception when he read a pass well and undercut a Missouri receiver on third down.The incompletion forced Missouri into a fourth-and-7 from its own 7.
That's when Tigers coach Barry Odom made the gutsiest decision of the game and called for a fake punt from the shadow of his own goal line. The play was executed to perfection by up-back Anthony Sherrils, who ran around the right side for 14 yards and a first down.
"We tried to gain some momentum there," Odom said. "We carry two or three fake punts into every game with us each week and wanted to line up and see if they gave us a look that we wanted and they did. Our guys did a great job executing it.”
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema indicated the Razorbacks were caught off-guard by the call.
"They aren't going to run a fake there, they're just trying to get us offsides and we don't have enough intelligence to hold our water and not make that play happen," Bielema said of his thought process on the play. "That was a big play."
Missouri quarterback Drew Lock for passed for 12 yards on the next play, then hit Johnathon Johnson for a 67-yard touchdown on the following play and what had nearly been a 31-14 Arkansas lead was only 24-21.
The catch was one of three big plays Missouri hit in the passing game in the second half. Lock also had passes of 48 and 49 yards to J'mon Moore to set-up touchdowns. The Tigers routinely had receivers get a step on the Razorbacks' secondary, but multiple passes were either overthrown or dropped.
"They've taken shot plays," Bielema said. "By statistics they're one of the teams offensively in the SEC that takes the biggest amount of shots downfield. They've not completed them all that well, but they got behind us and they were easy catches for those guys uncontested. Obviously that was a big part of their success."