McFadden rushes back into picture FAYETTEVILLE — Darren McFadden’s 321-yard game against South Carolina on Saturday gave a jolt to his Heisman Trophy campaign, put him on ESPN 2 twice Monday and put him in prime company.
McFadden joined former Georgia great Herschel Walker as the only backs in SEC history to rush for 1, 000 yards in their freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.
McFadden appeared on ESPN 2 ’s First Take on Monday morning, then had a taped segment run on College Football Live in the afternoon, before his weekly teleconference with reporters.
One of the big topics was McFadden’s reemergence on the Heisman scene.
“I had fell off the [Heisman ] radar for a while, but after a performance like that, you rush for 300 yards, you pick it back up right quick,” McFadden said.
McFadden took a shot to the chest in the first half, then had a shot of Toradol at halftime.
“It’s a mild pain reliever, given in the hip,” Arkansas trainer Dean Weber said. “It’s injectable and it doesn’t make you drowsy, so it’s not like some things they’ve used in the past.” Toradol is described as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug by Rxlist. com, an Internet drug index.
McFadden said he felt a little sore Monday, the result of a major hit by safety Emanuel Cook on which he fumbled during the first half.
“It was a great shot,” McFadden said. “He got a good hit on me. Everything just went black, it seemed like. When I got back on the sidelines, I took a knee and then it seems they got me some water and I got myself back together a little bit.” Weber said McFadden was “hurting some” after the big hit. He isn’t convinced the shot of Toradol was a big elixir that helped McFadden run for 214 yards in the second half.
“Adrenaline has something to do with this,” Weber said, adding that adrenaline has pain-killing capabilities of its own.
McFadden’s 355 all-purpose yards broke his school record of 315, which the Little Rock native had last season at South Carolina.
McFadden’s 80-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was his longest ever at Reynolds Razorback Stadium and tied the longest of his career, which was against LSU last year. McFadden’s rushing total of 1, 314 yards is the fourth-best single-season mark in Arkansas history.
TV update Arkansas’ home game in Little Rock on Nov. 17 against Mississippi State was not picked up Monday for television by the SEC broadcast partners. The game is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. from War Memorial Stadium. Going deep South Carolina tried at least 13 home run-type passes, deep posts or long sideline routes, and completed only three of them. The low percentage was partly due to strong coverage by the likes of starting cornerback Matterral Richardson, who had a big game, and partly due to quarterback Blake Mitchell being slightly off in rhythm or accuracy.
“I still think we can cover a little bit better, [and ] there are some things we can do better,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “But... there were some deep balls that were very well covered with no place to throw the ball but an incompletion. That’s a credit to Matterral Richardson and [fellow starting cornerback ] Michael Grant.” Mitchell missed back-toback open flag routes for would-be touchdowns to Dion Lecorn and Kenny McKinley in the first quarter and also had too much juice on a potential post-pattern touchdown for McKinley in the third quarter. He did connect with McKinley for 31 yards on a firstquarter field-goal drive and found Lecorn open for a 22-yard touchdown on a post pattern.
RoJo’s throw Reduced in impact in Arkansas’ shootout victory over South Carolina was the third-quarter touchdown celebration by senior receiver Robert Johnson that cost the Hogs 15 yards and helped set up a Gamecocks touchdown drive.
Johnson leaped and caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Darren McFadden over cornerback Carlos Thomas then immediately turned and fired the ball into the foampadded Razorbacks bumper beyond the end zone.
“Yeah, [I ] didn’t like it at all,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “Very uncharacteristic of him. That really hurt us and could have hurt us even more.” The penalty backed up Arkansas on the ensuing kickoff, which South Carolina’s Chris Culliver returned 44 yards to the Razorbacks’ 36, setting up a three-play touchdown drive.
“He got the message really quick on the sideline,” Nutt said. “I don’t know. That was just a bad, bad deal.”
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