WholeHogSports
Missouri 38, Arkansas 7 The Cotton Bowl Dallas : Missouri dominates rudderless Razorbacks as Temple breaks Cotton Bowl rushing record
Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/60816/
DALLAS — Arkansas headlines two-time Doak Walker Award winner / two-time Heisman runnerup Darren McFadden and another two-time All-American, Felix Jones running the football. Missouri back-pages runner Tony Temple to the heroics of quarterback Chase Daniel, Mizzou’s Heisman finalist quarterback.
So how come Temple considerably outrushed McFadden and Jones combined Tuesday to set Cotton Bowl records of 281 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead the sixth-ranked Tigers (12-2 ) to a 38-7 rout of the Razorbacks ? Arkansas closes 8-5 but closed the SEC season with a triple overtime victory at then No. 1 ranked LSU.
In their own ways, Arkansas interim coach Reggie Herring and interim defensive coordinator Louis Campbell explained what 73, 114 witnessed at the Cotton Bowl as Temple shattered the Cotton Bowl rushing record 265 yards set by Rice’s Dickey Maegle against Alabama in 1954. “ Missouri played extremely well today and we probably did everything we could to help them, ” Herring said. “ Kicking game we made some mistakes. Defense, we didn’t tackle well and offense we stumbled all day long. I really am embarrassed right now. ”
Campbell didn’t see any resemblance to Tuesday’s defense and the defense he’s coordinated in practice since coach Houston Nutt’s Nov. 26 resignation to go to Ole Miss, elevated Herring from defensive coordinator to interim coach and moved the former longtime defensive backfield coach from assistant athletics director to interim coordinator. “ You don’t get off blocks and miss tackles, anybody can run the ball good, ” Campbell said. “ They are not the Green Bay Packers, but they are a good football team. And by the same token, I don’t think we could have beat Woodland Junior High, the way we played. ” McFadden and Jones played decently enough to average 5. 0 and 4. 5 yards respectively. McFadden was 21 for 105, with Arkansas’ lone touchdown plus a 33-yard kick return, and Jones, 10 for 45 plus a 46-yard kick-yard return and 3 catches for 65 yards. But that went for naught when the Hogs stopped themselves with missed big plays and an ill-timed timeout in the first half and penalties and five turnovers in the second half. “ We’d make a big play, ” Arkansas junior Rimington Award winning center Jonathan Luigs said, “ then shoot ourselves in the foot or Missouri would make a big play. We’d either get a holding call or something and that sets us back. Our third down conversions, we were 4 of 18. That’s terrible. ” Though shut out the first 30 minutes, Arkansas played turnover free in the first half before giving away more prizes than Dialing for Dollars. The second-half turnovers, one interception thrown by quarterback Casey Dick and returned for a 26-yard touchdown by Mizzou safety William Moore, and four fumbles including one fumbled punt, two by Jones and fullback Peyton Hillis after big pass receptions, and one by defensive end Adrian Davis returning an interception off Daniel, helped turn Mizzou’s 14-0 lead into an absolute rout.
“ Once it started, they seemed to come falling like dominoes, ” Jones said of the turnovers. They couldn’t seem to make Temple fall either half. Even Daniel only completing 12 of 29 passing couldn’t slow the Tigers Tuesday. “ We didn’t throw very well today, ” Daniel said. “ But it didn’t matter because Tony was the guy. ” Temple aw-shucked, “ All I did was run through holes. ” Swiss cheese doesn’t have as many holes as Temple saw Tuesday. “ He was running over air, ” Herring said. “ He’s a great back, but we tackled so poorly. ”
Campbell had the defense primed to stop Daniels ’ passing game but adjusted accordingly as Temple had more runs than old stockings.
“ We put six in the box and they had five blockers and it still didn’t work, ” Campbell said. “ When you outnumber them in the box and still can’t stop them... ”
Believe it or not with all that went wrong, Arkansas had its chances.
Three plays into the game, Hillis looked about to throw a flea-flicker touchdown pass to split end Marcus Monk.
“ Monk was wide open, ” Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee said. “ But our protection broke down. The guy just splattered Peyton so fast he couldn’t finish the throw. ”
Arkansas kept marching that drive, but normally reliable placekicker Alex Tejada kicked right of Rush Limbaugh missing a 35-yard field goal try. Another firsthalf drive ended with Tejada missing left from 33 yards out. Another dagger was a timeout called by some Razorback assistant or player that Herring wouldn’t name. It voided Reggie Fish’s ensuing 7-yard run for a first down to the Missouri 28 off a fake punt. Forced to run that fourth and 5 again, Herring tried another fake, this time with upback Farod Jackson running after faking to Fish. The Tigers didn’t hook on the Fish bait. “ We went with the counter fake, ” Herring said. “ It was trying to create something and it didn’t work out. ” The second-half kickoff after Temple’s 22 and 4-yard TD runs in the first and second quarters didn’t help Arkansas, either. Brian Vavra was supposed to squib it to the 20 making it difficult for dangerous return man Jeremy Maclin. Instead, Vavra lined the squib like an onside kick directly to Cornell Davis at the Arkansas 48. With just 48 yards to go, Mizzou’s quickly upped it to 21-0 on Temple’s third TD, another 4-yarder. Safety William Moore, named Defensive MVP while of course Temple was Offensive MVP, had picked and returned the Casey Dick wafted duck in the flat for the 26-yard TD before McFadden capped Arkansas’ 10-play 71-yard drive with a 3-yard TD with 3: 38 left in the third quarter. The game was so disastrous for Arkansas that Herring was asked about the red pants the Hogs wore instead of their customary white. “ Do you think it would have made any difference if they were purple ? ” Herring said. He said the Hogs wore red pants to stand out in tribute to retiring athletics director and former longtime coach Frank Broyles. With coach Bobby Petrino taking over the Razorbacks and expected to name Ellis Johnson of Mississippi State as defensive coordinator today, Herring leaves the Razorbacks. He’s been reported to be a defensive coordinator candidate at Texas A & M, LSU or Miami.
Five other assistants, including Lee and Campbell, join Nutt at Ole Miss while juniors McFadden and Jones said they will meet with their families and then announce whether or not they will declare for the spring NFL draft.