Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

9/25/2011 at 2:15pm

Image by Will Flowers

Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson is hit while trying to deliver a pass against Alabama.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bobby Petrino was flummoxed. He wanted to keep things moving in Bryant-Denny Stadium, but had run into what seemed like a door that didn’t want to open.

Actually, it was a door that wouldn’t open. Petrino was locked out of his own locker room following postgame comments to media. For a few seconds — which must have seemed like an eternity in light of the day he just had — Petrino couldn't get into the locker room which shared a door with the media area and he once again found his forward progress stopped courtesy Alabama.   

It was that kind of day for the Razorbacks and their head coach, who seemed to be moving backwards — or not at all — far too often in a 38-14 loss.

Alabama stymied Petrino and his offense as a CBS audience tuned in and 101,821 watched in Bryant Denny-Stadium. The Crimson Tide racked up 10 tackles for loss and held the Razorbacks to only 226 yards of total offense.

“One of our goals going into the game was move forward, not have negative plays,” Petrino said. “That’s really what hurt us. Anytime you go backwards and have negative plays against Alabama, that gets you behind the sticks and you’re in trouble.”

And Arkansas seemed to almost always be behind the sticks on Saturday.

How rough was the day? Even Petrino’s first team — that 5-7 bunch who lacked talent, leadership and team chemistry — managed 309 offensive yards. That same team, blown out 49-14 at home, ran for 92 yards on the Crimson Tide.

All Arkansas could muster Saturday was 17 yards on 19 carries. Few offenses stand a chance against the Crimson Tide, particularly one-dimensional ones, which the Razorbacks very much were on Saturday.

Alabama Coach Nick Saban continued his masterful work against Petrino and what is ordinarily one of the nation’s best offensive units. Saban’s defense held Arkansas to 4 of 15 on third down and frustrated the Razorbacks throughout the day.

“I’m really proud of the way we played on defense,” Saban said.

Saban should have been pleased. It continued a trend against the Razorbacks, who average 34.3 points per game against anybody not named Saban and 13.75 points against Saban.

Outside of a 39-yard pass from Tyler Wilson to Ronnie Wingo, the normally explosive offense was stalled.

Wilson in particular had a rough day. He wasn’t sacked, but was knocked to the ground at least 10 times by Alabama’s fierce defenders. The fiercest hit came on a 19-yard pass to Cobi Hamilton that came with 8:54 left in the third quarter. Eventually, one of the hits drew a flag, but the damage was done and Wilson was eventually pulled in the fourth quarter. Presumably Wilson, whose jersey was covered in grass stains on the back, left side, left the game so coaches could protect him. The sidelines were the only place Dont’A Hightower & Co. couldn’t get to him.

“I felt sorry for him,” wide receiver Jarius Wright said. “ I would run my route and I would turn around and see Tyler running, moving around and sometimes taking a shot. I would look on the replay screen, look at the shots he took and he did all he could. It’s good to know your quarterback will stand in there and take shots for you and try to get you the ball.”

Wilson shrugged off the beating as “part of SEC football.” But it was a tremendous amount of punishment for him to take.

Arkansas’ run game was no help in taking pressure off him. Wilson hurt his own cause with an interception that turned a one-possession game into the eventual blowout it was.

A poor decision by Wilson and great play by Alabama gave the Crimson Tide a 17-7 lead in the second quarter. DeQuan Menzie tipped the ball to himself and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown and the Crimson Tide were well on their way to improving their record to 23-1 at home since 2008.

“I’m not taking anything away from their defense. They do a great job. There’s a reason why they’re the top in the nation defensively,” Wilson said. “We’re a top offense, though, in my mind. I think we’ve shown it.”

Arkansas just can’t figure out how to show how great that offense is against Alabama.

Tagged: Nick Saban, Ronnie Wingo Jr., Jarius Wright, Tyler Wilson, Alabama Crimston Tide, Bobby Petrino, Arkansas Razorbacks