Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

9/25/2011 at 2:16pm

Image by Will Flowers

Alabama Coach Nick Saban is now 4-0 against Arkansas and Bobby Petrino.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In the long-gone glory days of Arkansas football, when the Razorbacks won almost as much as Alabama, though they were in different leagues at the time, the Hogs typically started Southwest Conference play by beating TCU. They did it 22 straight times, from 1959 to 1980. It meant everything to Arkansas' players to start out conference play 1-0 and it became expected every year, whether the coach was Frank Broyles or Lou Holtz.

The way things are going in this Arkansas-Alabama series, which often is the conference opener for Alabama, Arkansas may be the Crimson Tide's "TCU." We were thinking of another word the youngsters use these days to put in place of "TCU," but we'll be nice.

It's beginning to look like Alabama may never lose to Arkansas as long as Nick Saban is in charge of the Crimson Tide. Understand that he has outrecruited most of the country in four years, and Arkansas has been close to Alabama in collecting good football players under Bobby Petrino. But on Saturday, with his better players, Saban's staff also outcoached Petrino and his coaches.

Arkansas' players and coaches talked a tough game in the spring and summer leading up to this season. They believed the 14th-ranked Razorbacks deserved mention with Alabama and LSU as the leading Southeastern Conference teams in 2011. Razorback faithful may have been fooled seeing the Razorbacks compete well and, in fact, beat a more-talented LSU three out of the last four years. LSU Coach Les Miles, though he may be as lucky as any coach, is no Nick Saban.

Last year, with Ryan Mallett at quarterback, Arkansas' Bobby Petrino and his squad felt they let one get away to Saban and the Crimson Tide in Fayetteville.

This time it would be different. Forget that the game was being played in front of 101,821 mostly partisan 'Bama fans, and that Vegas oddsmakers set the opening line on this game at Alabama giving 13 points; in Arkansas, the feeling was that Vegas and nobody else really knew these Hogs.

In a waning sunset behind Bryant-Denny Stadium on this Saturday, it seems it was only Arkansas — its coaches, players and supporters — who didn't know the Razorbacks and who vastly underestimated the gap in talent between the two teams.

But not only that, Alabama's Nick Saban and his staff seemed vastly superior to the Arkansas brain trust in terms of special teams and adjustments. And, while Bobby Petrino's renown is offense, he didn't have a whole lot of success finding much against the No. 1 defense in the country.

Alabama took the initial lead just 3:12 into the game on a perfectly executed fake field goal on fourth-and-4 from the Arkansas 37. Quarterback A.J. McCarron was on the field as the holder but then dropped back into the shotgun while the kicker moved to a flanker position. Arkansas made a quick adjustment to drop three men off the line, but none of those players had a clue where the ball was going. Tight end Michael Williams drifted behind Razorback defensive end D.D. Jones and gathered in McCarron's lob toward the left side and finished a 37-yard play, to the roaring delight of the packed house.

Petrino admitted after the game he should have called a timeout in that situation. Meanwhile in Alabama's post-game meeting with media, Saban confirmed former quarterback's Greg McElroy's "tweet" during the game that 'Bama had been working on that play for a year.

"I said when we were kicking a field goal today, no matter what the situation, whether we were up 21 or down 21, we were going to run that play," Saban said.

The other coaching adjustment in special teams showed up in the third quarter. Saban said later that Arkansas had been doing a good job getting its players wide to the sidelines to hem in punt returner Marquis Maze in the first half. "I told the guys, we're just going to block them the other way and we're going to stick it right up the middle."

Maze fielded Dylan Breeding's first punt of the second half, one that was long in distance but lacking enough hang time, and sure enough the Hogs headed toward the sides, as Saban expected. Maze went right up the gut as planned before veering wide open to the right sideline. Breeding made a futile dive at Maze's feet, and then the returner zig-zagged and weaved 40 more yards with Hogs in chase.

That score didn't put a knife in Arkansas' heart, but it made it 24-7 when the Razorbacks probably figured they had to hold Alabama to 21 to win, considering the strength of the Crimson Tide's defense.

So, Arkansas gave up a fake field goal for a touchdown, a punt return for a touchdown, and handed the Tide another touchdown in the second quarter when junior quarterback Tyler Wilson's slant pass went right to DeQuan Menzie, sitting back in a zone. Menzie caught his own deflection and carried it back untouched 25 yards.

That hurt for myriad reasons, but mostly because it came seconds after Arkansas' defense had stood up to the Tide and thrown them backward at the goal line, forcing a field goal. Alabama's basic offensive unit, to the point Maze broke on his 83-yard punt return, had not scored a touchdown.

That, of course, would change when running back Trent Richardson, turning into a dangerous receiver on short passes that let him break tackles and break free, took a screen pass, eluded the Hogs' All-SEC linebacker, Jerry Franklin, and sprinted 61 yards for a 31-7 Tide lead.

Alabama's power duo of Richardson and Eddie Lacy punched it in for the final score, a 1-yard Lacy dive late in the third quarter, then the teams just sparred during the fourth.

Throughout the lineup — and this shouldn't be a shock to anyone — Alabama had many great players that Arkansas simply couldn't match. Arkansas landed 14 players on the All-SEC preseason team, but not many of them played like it Saturday. Three, of course, are gone. Knile Davis was lost in August to a broken ankle, but on Saturday it didn't appear Davis or anyone could have found many running lanes. Ronnie Wingo led Arkansas with 35 yards on 11 carries (3.2 per play). As a team, the Hogs managed just 17 yards on 19 carries.

All-SEC defensive end Jake Bequette was sidelined with a hamstring injury, and the Hogs lost another all-league defensive end, Tenarius Wright, to a broken arm in the first quarter. Arkansas doesn't have enough stars to handle those kinds of injuries.

The Hogs have to hope that Trent Richardson, who they've barely tackled in his three years, leaves after this season for the NFL. It would also be nice for Arkansas if junior cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, whose crunching hits on Hog receivers (namely Jarius Wright) set a tone for the entire Tide defense, also departed early. Middle linebacker Dont'a Hightower, who has no peer on Arkansas' side and maybe no other SEC team, singlehandedly blew up a fourth-and-1 carry by Dennis Johnson in the third quarter at Alabama's 43-yard line when Arkansas may have held some hope it could stage a miraculous comeback.

Alabama's speed on its coverage teams never gave Joe Adams on punts or Dennis Johnson on kickoffs much room to get loose. Saban noted later that the Hogs had returned two punts and a kickoff for scores in their first three games and said his special teams were outstanding.

Special teams is where the non-starting talent often plays, giving the regulars their rest. That means Alabama has speed galore still waiting in the wings when this current group of stars moves on.

Arkansas looked like just another mid-major team that Alabama feasts on in September. To the long-time observer of Arkansas football, it looked like just a typical Saturday in Austin when Texas would steamroll the undermanned Hogs. Texas always had more talent.

With the exception of the receiver positions, it doesn't appear that Bobby Petrino has recruited well enough over four years for Arkansas go man-to-man with Alabama. While the Hogs' defense has improved over those four years, it still has miles to go to be mentioned in the same breath with Alabama's and LSU's. If Hog fans are paying attention to the SEC East, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia last February are outrecruiting Petrino's program. Auburn may look down this season after last year's national championship, but the Tigers have terrific freshman and sophomore athletes that simply need seasoning.

Arkansas has proven it can beat a team with more talent, but it needed lots to happen in the way of good fortune — such as turnovers, where the Hogs lost two and forced none — to beat a vastly superior team such as Alabama on the road. Besides never creating a turnover, what the Hogs didn't need was to get beaten in special teams preparation and adjustments, or hand Alabama a touchdown with its offense.

That's a recipe for the kind of game TCU seemed to have against the Hogs way back in the day — over and over, every year.

Tagged: Knile Davis, Ronnie Wingo, Marquis Maze, Bobby Petrino, Bryant-Denny Stadium, Southeastern Conference, Alabama Crimson Tide, Nick Saban, Trent Richardson