ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas junior tailback Michael Smith (21 ) carries the ball to the end zone as Tulsa junior safety Charles Davis (24 ) reaches to make the tackle near the goal line during the Hogs ’ 30-23 win Saturday in Razorback Stadium.

Arkansas fans probably assumed their Razorbacks would beat Tulsa by a bunch if they outpassed the nation’s passing leader 385 yards to 344.

And Tulsa fans had to assume if their Golden Hurricane outrushed the Hogs, 184-50 and grounded Hog superstar running back Michael Smith that TU easily would stay undefeated.

Neither proved true though those stats don’t lie. Instead a kick return touchdown decided it in Arkansas’ 30-23 favor after Tulsa had caught up from the Hogs ’ 23-20 halftime edge.

Freshman Dennis Johnson’s 96-yard third-quarter kick return to be exact. The former Texarkana Razorback become Arkansas Razorback snapped a 23-23 tie for Arkansas’ 30-23 homecoming victory before 70, 021 Saturday at Frank Broyles Field at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

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“ It feels good, ” Johnson said. “ The greatest feeling in the world, but the defense had to make stops after that to win it. ”

No understatement, that.

Arkansas couldn’t call it won until a fourth-and-5 Tulsa pass from the Arkansas 7 landed incomplete in the end zone with 41 seconds left.

Only then could the 4-5 Hogs know they had beaten the 19 th-ranked team in the country (now 8-1 ) and had held the nation’s highestscoring team to just a field goal for the second half.

“ Well, ” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said, “ that’s a relief. ”

And the death of Tulsa’s bid for an unbeaten season.

“ It killed us, ” Tulsa coach Todd Graham said of Johnson’s return. “ That was the difference in the game. If you had told me at halftime we would not give up another offense touchdown, I would have liked our chances to win. ”

Ah, but this game was like a visit with Alice in Wonderland where nothing is as it seems.

Like Casey Dick, the quarterback and Crip Hall Award winner as Arkansas ’ outstanding senior in the homecoming game, nearly wearing goat horns instead of the hero’s mantle.

Dick had completed 25 of 37 passes for 385 yards and a touchdown without a pick while tight end D. J. Williams had caught 6 for 129 yards and freshman Jarius Wright, 5 for 112. The Hogs were third and 6 on the Tulsa 15, just a play it safe run then kick a field goal away from 10-point lead with just over three minutes left.

Petrino opted to try for the jugular, but Dick threw an end zone pick intended for receiver Greg Childs but filched by TU cornerback Roy Roberts.

In a flash it seemed Tulsa marched from its 20 to second and 3 at the Arkansas 5.

Gus Malzahn, the Tulsa offensive coordinator who operated the Wildcat formation with running back Darren McFadden when Malzahn was Arkansas’ offensive coordinator under former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt in 2006, went to the Wildcat at the fourth-quarter goalline.

Running back A. J. Whitmore, an Arkansas native from Nashville, took the direct snap but got directly taken. He netted a 1-yard gain and a 3-yard loss with safety Matt Harris in on both tackles. Regular quarterback David Johnson (17 of 31 for 322 yards with a pick and a TD ) threw the fourth-down incompletion defended by cornerback Jamar Love.

Casey Dick was off the hook, though he was never on it with the Razorback defense.

“ Casey had played a hell of a game all day, ” Matt Harris said. “ We weren’t going to let that affect us. And if they scored on us, it wasn’t on Casey’s back. It’s on us. ”

Dick anticipated the defense had his back.

“ It was totally my fault, but I had a lot of confidence in our defense, ” Dick said of the interception. “ They had made plays all second half and they dug down. ”

Harris said, “ defense, offense, special teams, we all clicked. ”

Certainly everything clicked early as Arkansas led 17-0 with 2: 22 left in the first quarter.

Dick quarterbacked a 9-play, 80-yard scoring drive for openers, including a 35-yard pass to Smith before a 13-yard TD to tight end Andrew Davie.

Arkansas immediately sacked Johnson twice, forced a punt and scored again on the first of three Alex Tejada field goals. The sophomore kicker heralded in high school then banished early season to the bench has reemerged.

The 10-0 lead became 17-0 as the defense forced another punt and Dick hit key passes to Joe Adams and Lucas Miller before Smith gashed TU for a 27-yard run and 7-yard TD run at 2: 22.

The Hurricane defense did not let Smith, just 67 net yards on 23 carries, factor much as a runner again.

“ We didn’t think we would be throwing as much, ” Petrino said. “ We felt we could run the ball but they really hunkered down inside and didn’t give us any creases. But Casey did a great job distributing the ball. ”

Tulsa’s Charles Clay, a Little Rock Central product and son of former Razorback tight end Charles Clay Sr., revived Tulsa with a 47-yard catch on TU’s first scoring drive capped by backup quarterback Jacob Bower’s 22-yard TD pass to Trae Johnson.

Clay, 7 catches for 117 yards plus 31 yards on 2 rushes, caught two secondquarter TD passes though TU missed one of the PATs.

Arkansas missed secondquarter TD opportunities, one on a wide-open drop by Joe Adams, and settled for two more Tejada field goals for the 23-20 lead.

Tulsa had to settle for a game-tying field goal after the Hogs stopped TU on third and goal at the five with 36 seconds left before Johnson returned the game to Arkansas.

Arkansas’ Willy Robinson-coordinated defense netted three turnovers, two by linebacker Jerry Franklin on a pick and a fumble recovery and a pick by cornerback Isaac Madison. The UA defense patchworked through several key injuryrelated absences while holding Tulsa to 32 points under its 55-points average.

“ We had to patchwork, ” Matt Harris said, “ but this defense with Coach Robinson is so fundamentally sound. If you play your job, strictly yours, then you come out victorious against a good team like Tulsa. ”