Sugar Sweet: Win over LSU gave Hogs only BCS berth

FAYETTEVILLE — Season three of the Bobby Petrino era at Arkansas produced a year-end crescendo — a showdown between the No. 12 Razorbacks and No. 5 LSU with a BCS berth on the line at War Memorial Stadium on Nov. 27, 2010.

The Razorbacks won it 31-23 behind a couple of bold calls by Petrino, record-breaking days from quarterback Ryan Mallett and receiver Cobi Hamilton, and three takeaways, including Jerry Franklin’s fumble recovery at the LSU 1 yard line in the final minute, to improve to 10-2.

As Mallett took a knee from the LSU 1 on the game’s final play, the Razorbacks had essentially punched their ticket for a Sugar Bowl date against Ohio State.

“It was great when we knew we had the game secured and to see the fans going crazy, throwing sugar cubes on the field,” said Little Rock’s Joe Adams, who caught a critical touchdown pass on fourth down in the fourth quarter. “It actually felt like we were big time.”

The 2010 victory in the Battle for the Golden Boot, Arkansas’ third over LSU in four seasons, was voted No. 10 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s countdown of the top 25 Razorbacks games during 25 seasons in the SEC. It is the first game in the countdown to receive a first-place vote from one of 15 panelists.

The victory produced two signature moments that epitomized Petrino’s aggressive play calling: Mallett’s 80-yard touchdown pass to Hamilton on the final play of the first half and Mallett’s 39-yard scoring strike to Adams on fourth and 3 early in the fourth quarter.

“The most memorable part to me was obviously before halftime,” said Mallett, who is now poised to enter his seventh year in the NFL as a member of the Baltimore Ravens.

LSU had a chance to run out the clock in a 14-14 game before halftime, but wound up punting into the Arkansas end zone with six seconds left.

As CBS analyst Steve Beuerlein assured viewers the Razorbacks would take a knee from their 20, Petrino was scheming.

“I go over there thinking we’re going to take a knee and Bobby is like, ‘No let’s run this play,’ so we ran 72 Z Topper,” Mallett said.

“72 Z Topper, that’s one of Petrino’s bread and butters right there,” said Hamilton, who grabbed an 85-yard touchdown pass at the 6:52 mark of the second quarter to give the Hogs a 14-7 lead.

“Coach Petrino, he always has a play up his sleeve,” said Adams, who teamed with former Razorback Jerico Nelson and Little Rock’s Michael Dyer on the Texas Revolution to win the Champions Indoor Football league championship two weeks ago.

Hamilton grabbed Mallett’s pass on the right hash at the 50-yard line and immediately LSU defenders Morris Claiborne and Karnell Hatcher collided as Hamilton shook them off. Hamilton planted a foot to juke cornerback Patrick Peterson at the LSU 40, then followed receiver Jarius Wright’s 15-yard screening block on Peterson to score the improbable 80-yard touchdown.

“That was probably the most exciting feeling I ever had,” Hamilton said. “That was probably the happiest Little Rock, Arkansas, has ever been.”

Mallett watched as his fellow former Texarkana teammate Hamilton sprinted to the end zone as the half ended.

“Cobi made a good play and made those two guys run into each other,” Mallett said. “I think that just changed the whole game right there for us.”

Hamilton, now poised to enter his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, became the first Arkansas receiver to catch two scoring passes of 80-plus yards in the same game. He also recovered an LSU onside kick after the Tigers pulled within eight points late in the game. Mallett, who entered the game with 57 career touchdown passes, tied with Clint Stoerner for the school record, threw three on the day en route to 13 of 23 passing for 320 yards.

LSU Coach Les Miles had called timeouts late in the half in an effort to get into field goal range, only to see the clock stoppage backfire.

“I would have liked to have had the [field goal] before the half, and who would have thought they would hit the long ball like they did for the score?” Miles said. “Certainly not I.”

LSU pulled within 21-20 on a pair of field goals in the third quarter, setting up a Petrino coup de grace. Facing fourth and 3 from the LSU 39 early in the fourth quarter, Mallett tried to get the Tigers to jump offsides with a hard count before having to call timeout. Petrino called Adams’ number on a hitch and go, expecting man coverage.

“We had been practicing that one play for LSU the whole year,” Adams said.

LSU came with a heavy blitz, which the Hogs matched with max protection, and Adams’ stutter step left freshman Tyrann Mathieu in his dust as Mallett feathered in the dagger touchdown.

“I had an option,” Adams said. “If he stayed too far back, I could just run a dig. Coach Petrino knew it was going to be man to man. He looked at me like, ‘Should I call it?’ and I told him to call the play and we scored.

“I knew once I broke his cushion, I sold the hitch and he bit on it, I knew he was either going to reach out and grab me or knock me out of the route. I ran right past him.”

Mallett needed just 25 games in two seasons to snatch the school touchdown passes record from Stoerner.

The Arkansas run game, paced by sophomore Knile Davis’ 152 yards, took over late in the game. The Hogs reeled off nine consecutive run plays that led to Zach Hocker’s 19-yard field goal with 6:03 remaining.

Freddy Burton, Maudrecus Humphrey and Franklin had fumble recoveries for the Razorbacks, who held LSU to 294 total yards.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our football team,” Petrino said after leading Arkansas to its sixth consecutive victory and the program’s eighth 10-win season.

Sugar Bowl President David Melius was at War Memorial Stadium signaling that the Razorbacks would indeed be Sugar Bowl bound if SEC West champion Auburn won the conference title game the following week to qualify for the BCS championship game.

“We’d be thrilled to have them if the opportunity comes,” Melius said of the Razorbacks.

Arkansas was trying to run out the clock late in the game with LSU out of timeouts when referee Steve Shaw, now the SEC supervisor of officials, called for a stoppage with Davis momentarily down on the field, angering those on the Arkansas sideline as it led to a late punt with the Hogs leading by eight.

A penalty on Patterson on the punt was followed by defensive back Andru Stewart’s sack-strip on Jordan Jefferson, which Franklin fell on at the LSU 1 to seal the victory.

Arkansas’ buses were filled with joy on the ride back to campus two days after Thanksgiving.

“Leaving that stadium, I just feel like the whole state was happy,” Hamilton said. “It was our first big BCS bowl game. I felt like the whole state was happy and it was a really big moment.

“I’ll never forget, I had like 115 text messages. It was like the craziest my phone has ever been, still to this day. It was a crazy, crazy, crazy night.”

Box Score

Nov. 27, 2010

War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock

LSU;0 14 6 3 — 23

Arkansas;7 14 0 10 — 31

FIRST QUARTER

ARK—Davis 14 run (Hocker kick), 2:30

SECOND QUARTER

LSU—Ridley 5 run (Jasper kick), 11:52

ARK—Hamilton 85 pass from Mallett (Hocker kick), 6:52

LSU—Ridley 3 run (Jasper kick), 2:20

ARK—Hamilton 80 pass from Mallett (Hocker kick), :00

THIRD QUARTER

LSU—FG Jasper 46, 10:39

LSU—FG Jasper 20, 7:52

FOURTH QUARTER

ARK—Adams 39 pass from Mallett (Hocker kick), 14:10

ARK—FG Hocker 19, 6:09

LSU—FG Jaspeer 36, 1:58

Attendance—55,808

LSU;ARK

First downs;15;19

Rushes-yards;39-100;47-144

Passing;194;320

Comp-Att-Int;17-29-0;13-23-2

Return yards;218;80

Fumbles-lost;4-3;4-0

Penalties-yards;7-51;2-17

Time of possession;28:47;31:13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—LSU, Ridley 17-75, Jefferson 14-34, Ford 3-15, Murphy 2-9, Shepard 1-(minus 5), Team 2-(minus 28). Arkansas, Davis 30-152, Green 6-29, Adams 2-9, Wingo 1-3, Breeding 1-(minus 12), Mallett 5-(minus 15), Team 2-(minus 22).

PASSING—LSU, Jefferson 16-27-0 184, Lee 1-2-0 10. Arkansas, Mallett 13-23-2 320.

RECEIVING—LSU, Ridley 4-16, Toliver 3-41, Boone 2-40, Shepard 2-30, Ware 1-29, Tolliver 1-12, Murphy 1-10, Wright 1-8, Randle 1-5, Peterson 1-3. Arkansas, Wright 4-68, Hamilton 3-164, Adams 3-60, Williams 3-28.