Slowing the Hurricane
Posted on Sunday, November 2, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Tulsa had been the only team in the nation to score in every quarter this season.
But Arkansas put a stop to that to hang on for a 30-23 victory over the Golden Hurricane on Saturday.
Tulsa drove from its 20 to the Arkansas 3 in the game’s final minute, where the Razorbacks’ goal-line stand ended the Hurricane’s hopes for a perfect season after an 8-0 start.
“We knew we had to stop them,” said Arkansas free safety Matt Harris, who had a teamhigh 12 tackles. “All 11 guys did their jobs. It was awesome.”
Tulsa went with its “Wildcat” formation on second-and-3 from the Arkansas 5, and Harris and cornerback Ramon Broadway stopped receiver A. J. Whitmore — who took a direct snap at quarterback — for a 1-yard gain.
Whitmore (Nashville ) then stayed at quarterback on thirdand-2 from the 4, and Harris and tackle Zach Stadther dropped him for a 3-yard loss.
“Coach Robinson called a perfect defense [against the Wildcat plays ], and we executed to a T,” Harris said, referring to Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson. “He put us in a great position to make the stops, and we did.”
The Razorbacks had one more stop to make, on fourthand-5 from their 7 with senior starter David Johnson back at quarterback for Tulsa.
Johnson threw into the end zone for Trae Johnson, who was covered by Jamar Love, and the pass fell incomplete with 41 seconds left.
Arkansas’ goal-line stand ended Tulsa’s streak of 35 consecutive quarters in which the Hurricane had scored this season, including 103 points in the fourth quarter.
Tulsa came into the game leading the national in total offense (601. 1 yards ) and scoring (55. 6 points ). The Hurricane gained 528 yards but were held 32. 6 points under their season average.
“Goodness gracious,” Robinson said. “But we are SEC and we should be able to do that.
“ Obviously we had a lot of bend, but don’t break. But, shoot, we caused [three turnovers ]. We did our part, I think.
“ What we made mistakes on, cost us. But what we didn’t make mistakes on, we won with.”
Tulsa scored just three points in the second half, on a Jarod Tracy 22-yard field goal that tied the game 23-23 with 36 seconds left in the third quarter. Then came Dennis Johnson’s kickoff return for a touchdown that put Arkansas ahead to stay.
The Hurricane had just two possessions in the fourth quarter, an 11-play, 52-yard drive that ended at the Arkansas 39 with a punt and the final drive stopped by the Razorbacks.
“I’m really, really proud of our guys. They did a great job,” Robinson said. “They wanted to send the seniors out with their last home victory.”
Arkansas’ defense had failed to come up with late stops in losing to Kentucky (21-20 ) and Ole Miss (23-21 ) the previous two games.
“They were tired of losing, tired of losing the close ones,” Robinson said. “It meant a lot to them, and they wanted to finish the right way.”
The Razorbacks’ defense started by sacking Johnson for a combined 15 yards in losses on Tulsa’s first two snaps in the game.
“I didn’t want to stand back.” Robinson said. “We watched game after game after game where people took an approach that they were going to play soft and not give up anything long.
“ We got together as a staff and as the week went along, we said, ‘The heck with it, let’s just go after this kid [Johnson ] and get after their offense.’
“ We wanted to set the pace.”
Harris said the Razorbacks were fired up before the game after hearing some talk on ESPN’s GameDay that Tulsa would win soundly.
“We wanted to make a statement,” Harris said. “We wanted to hit them in the mouth and show them what our defense and the SEC is all about.
“ We wanted to hit them hard and let them know we’d be there all day.”
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