ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas senior quarterback Casey Dick (11 ) gets up after throwing a pass in the second half against Alabama Saturday in Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. The Hogs lost 49-14.

Casey Dick had no one to blame but himself when he faced the question.

With the 49-14 loss to Alabama still fresh on his mind, his shoulders, now without the protection and the visual prominence provided by shoulder pads, were slumped as he sat down in the Razorbacks’ team meeting room. Sitting in front of the Arkansas and Alabama media Saturday afternoon, Dick described his careerhigh three interceptions as “ stupid” three times.

And then he put all the blame of two of his picks being returned for touchdowns on himself.

“ It’s a tough day, ” Dick said. “ We can’t give up 14 points off two stupid throws that I make. Those are throws I haven’t had in a while. I made two bad decisions and gave up points. We were moving the ball up and down the field in the first half and we’ve got to be able to convert. ”

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“ You haven’t seen [Dick ] struggle like that in a long time, ” UA tailback Michael Smith said.

Arkansas fans hadn’t seen such costly mistakes in the passing game since a 45-31 loss in 1999, when two interceptions were returned for touchdowns by Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.

“ They were bad. They were bad plays, ” Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said of Dick’s interceptions. “ He threw them both late out in the flat and flat-footed. ”

Dick’s first interception was returned 63 yards for a touchdown with 53 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Arkansas, it seemed at the time, was making its best drive of the opening quarter with double-digit gains by D. J. Williams and Smith occurring before the secondand-6 interception.

The play that resulted in the first pick for a touchdown, Petrino said, was one that had been implemented and practiced since the second day of spring practice. It was a play that Petrino felt his senior quarterback had “ executed well up until this point. ”

“ I think some of their rush must have had an effect on him because they were doing a good job of rushing the passer, ” Petrino reasoned.

But then the second interception happened, perhaps the most inexplicable. Dick turned left, didn’t find a receiver, then floated a pass to the opposite sideline, where Jarius Wright’s option route was nowhere near the ball’s trajectory. Cornerback Justin Woodall broke on the pass as Wright turned his back to see the ball fly behind him six yards. Woodall rushed down the sideline for a 74-yard return with Dick giving chase and missing a touchdown-saving tackle to give Alabama a 35-7 lead.

“ He needed to just have a bit more poise, sit in there and let the route take place and make his decision on the first [interception ], ” offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “ On the second one, he was late. You can’t throw it that late out there in the flat. It was two different circumstances. ”

After four plays that never converted for a touchdown on the Alabama 2-yard line, the Hogs returned in the second half with the opening possession on offense and hoping to correct mistakes.

Dick’s technique and the setting of his feet were stressed by his coaches at halftime. Senior center Jonathan Luigs, with enough on his hands with having to block the 365-pound Terrence Cody, took the time out at halftime and talked to his friend and teammate.

“ It’s one of those deals where you have to feel it out, ” Luigs said. “ You’ve got to see how his attitude is. If he’s upbeat, you go up and talk to him and just let him know we’re behind him despite what happens. ” It’s simple reasoning why he and several players tried to lessen the load on Dick’s shoulders at halftime, Luigs said. “ If your leader is down in the dumps then you’re not going to have anything, ” he said. And the coaches weren’t about to make the offensive game plan any lighter on the senior signal-caller. “ We try to keep going forward and try and get him out of it, and come back and show we have confidence in him, ” Bobby Petrino said. “... The biggest thing was, we wanted to show we had confidence in him, try and get him back going, try and make some plays and he moved the ball some. ”

On the first play of the second half, however, Marquis Johnson intercepted a slant pass and tailback Glen Coffee rushed 31 yards on the second play of Alabama’s ensuing drive to extend the Tide’s lead to 42-7. Dick finished Saturday 20-of-39 for 190 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. The first two picks returned for touchdowns in the first half, though, are what hurt and stick out the most, Dick said. “ If I hang onto the ball or just don’t throw the ball, it’s probably a totally different ball game than what it was, ” the senior said. “ But when you give a team 14 points like that, it’s just tough. ”