BATON ROUGE - Before Saturday’s game against LSU, CBS announcer and radio talk show host Tim Brando talked about Arkansas football between bites of a hot dog.
Brando likes Bret Bielema. He thinks he’s the right guy for the job and that the Razorbacks will be back in a bowl next season. He clicked off names of Arkansas players he likes. Some were freshmen or sophomores - he likes Arkansas’ defensive ends, too - but he stayed away from a prediction on the game he was calling.
Because Brando lives in his hometown of Shreveport, some think he’s a bit of a LSU homer, but the guy who was an original hire when ESPN started up and chose to come home seems pretty fair in his assessments and play-byplay. He also is not an LSU graduate.
Maybe everyone should have predicted another wild and crazy season finale considering the history of this series, but most thought the Tigers would be just too much for the Razorbacks.
Who would have guessed, though, that the Tigers’ defense would spend the first half acting like it had never seen play-action or that Arkansas wouldn’t go back to it enough in the second half?
Few could have envisioned Les Miles’ decision to go for it on fourth-and-2 instead of kicking a field goal late in the game, which could have led to a hot week of discussion about the Mad Hatter’s decision-making late in the game.
Or that lightly used quarterback Anthony Jennings would be called into duty late in the fourth quarter when Zach Mettenberger was injured, and the true freshman would lead the Tigers on a game-winning drive that covered 99 yards in just eight plays and took just 1:49 off the clock.
Or that on the winning drive, LSU receiver Travin Dural would get wide open for the game-winning touchdown.
Well, that could have been guessed. Covering on every play has been a problem all season for the Razorbacks.
The best team won Friday, but not before getting some shock treatment as the Hogs led much of the game and were in a position to pull off the upset. They faded down the stretch, and that, too, has been a problem all season and one that Bielema is all too aware of.
After LSU took a 14-7 lead, scoring easily on its first two possessions when it averaged more than 11 yards per play, the Tigers’ offensive line gave up two big sacks that stalled drives. The sacks were aided by great pass coverage from the Razorbacks secondary, which was much improved until the Tigers’ final drive.
The Hogs relied heavily on play-action, which Brandon Allen ran extremely well. He twice drove the Hogs 86 yards for a touchdown, and they led 17-14 at halftime after driving 25 yards following a fumble and Zach Hocker kicking a 20-yard field goal.
The Hogs led 27-21 after a 2-yard pass to Hunter Henry, his second touchdown of the day, going into the fourth quarter. But the final 15 minutes turned into a disaster for Arkansas as the Razorbacks gave up 192 yards and 10 points while gaining only 24 yards and one first down.
Losing to a talented LSU team 31-27 - and the Tigers were all out all day - is not a moral victory, but it should give the Razorbacks Nation a glimmer of hope.
At least it should help wash down the bitter taste of the longest losing streak in school history.
It should help Bielema and the Razorbacks in recruiting.
Once again Arkansas and LSU gave the nation and CBS a thriller that wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter.
It makes you wonder who wanted to change this finale to the 10th game next season and why.
Sports, Pages 21 on 11/30/2013