LITTLE ROCK — It was a shocker because the best team, at least Saturday night, won and it wasn’t the Arkansas Razorbacks.
If there were questions coming out of the season opener about the Arkansas Razorbacks’ defense, there are dozens more after the No. 8 Hogs lost 34-31 in overtime to Louisiana-Monroe, which converted seven of eight fourth downs.
Arkansas led 21-7 at the half, and whatever adjustments it made simply did not work as the Razorbacks’ defense allowed three secondhalf touchdowns to let the game go into overtime.
Probably the No. 1 and most obvious question was how in the name of John L. Smith did Arkansas miss so many tackles.
A close second would be how did the Razorbacks allow so many yards through the air.
The Warhawks looked more like they were from Baton Rouge instead of Monroe. The Razorbacks must have had at least a couple of dozen missed tackles, which allowed Louisiana-Monroe to rack up more than 500 yards of offense.
Quarterback Kolton Browning looked like an All-SEC quarterback; the only problem was he wasn’t recruited by any SEC schools.
Make no mistake, he was a slippery dude with a nice, soft southpaw touch, but no one is going to confuse his arm with Tyler Wilson’s.
Yet, for some reason, the Hogs went with a three-man rush most of the first half and Browning completed 18 of 24 passes for 167 yards and rushed for another 43.
Granted, the Razorbacks’ defense stepped up big at the end of the first half and stopped the Warhawks at the 2, but it didn’t faze the Sun Belt team.
Late in the third quarter, Louisiana-Monroe went for it on fourth-and-10. The Warhawks were like daytime burglars on fourth down, fearless and too successful to get caught.
With 5:41 to play in the third quarter, the Hogs led 28-14 and the usually outrageously loud War Memorial Stadium crowd was strangely quiet until the band fired some life back into it.
At that point, the Hogs had 340 yards of offense and Louisiana-Monroe had 357, and the Warhawks are known for their defense, which ranked 26th in the nation last year.
Granted, it was Louisiana-Monroe’s season opener, which meant the Warhawks had five weeks to prepare for Saturday night’s game.
It showed. Obviously with Alabama coming to Fayetteville next week, there is great concern about a defense that struggled against a no-name offense — even though it was slowed because of several injuries during the game, which included two players being carted off.
The Tide have names, plenty of names. Plenty of four- and five-star names.
It has to be mentioned that Wilson didn’t play in the second half. While Brandon Allen drove the Hogs 66 yards and tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mekale McKay, a first for both, the Razorbacks missed Wilson’s senior leadership.
Still, 28 points should be enough to beat any midlevel team, and that’s what the gutsy Warhawks are.
They were something else, too — unafraid, especially when it came to passing.
It was a 1-yard pass that made it 28-21, and it was their third fourth-down conversion in the second half and fourth of the game.
The defense stopped three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter, and with 2:59 left the Warhawks had 90 yards to go.
It took four plays to get to the Arkansas 35, and everyone was on their feet.
After a 12-yard reception, Louisiana-Monroe had fourth-and-10 at the Arkansas 23 with 55 seconds to play. The 510 yards of total offense was about to become 533, 404 through the air, and Browning’s 40th completion on 65 attempts.
Nick Saban likes to throw.
Allen tried too hard and was intercepted with 20 seconds to play, and the game was headed to overtime.
Sports, Pages 21 on 09/09/2012