Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

10/1/2011 at 5:23pm

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Looking for some toughness in a game that was fast getting away from them, the 18th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks found some from a most surprising source. Broderick Green's stat line, outside of his two touchdowns, won't draw any award-winning attention, but his physical presence as a runner and pass blocker was huge in Arkansas' thrilling 42-38 comeback win over Texas A&M on Saturday at Cowboys Stadium.

Add in the hard running by the squatty-built Dennis Johnson, who finally looked like the Johnson before he was severely injured with a torn bowel in the second game last season, and Arkansas' running game contributed something in the second half while quarterback Tyler Wilson and receiver Jarius Wright put on incredible, record-setting performances with the passing game.

While Wilson's Arkansas single-game record 510 yards passing and Wright's 281 yards receiving on 13 catches were the catalysts to the Hogs overcoming an 18-point halftime deficit, the Razorbacks wouldn't have won without Johnson and Green giving some life to the running game in the second half.

"You know what? We weren’t down," Green said of shockingly trailing A&M 35-17 at the half. "We went into the locker room and said, 'We can pull this win off. We’re not going to shut down like last week. We’re going to pick it up.' And we all motivated each other, the offense got with the defense, defense got with the offense and we kept one another alive."

The rushing stats only show Arkansas with 71 yards, but that's 58 more than they had at the half. It also includes 31 yards in losses suffered by Wilson, who again took a beating from an opponent's pass rush, but one not quite as damaging as what he endured last Saturday against Alabama.

Wilson hung in to throw three touchdown passes, including an 68-yard bomb to Wright, the Hogs' longest pass of the year. He hit 30-of-51 throws.

Typically, that many pass attempts by an Arkansas quarterback is usually a stat line for a loss, and for a half it seemed that the Hogs were headed that way. The Razorback defense was rarely able to stop Texas A&M's nice blend of quick, hard running from backs Christine Michael and Cyrus Gray and possession passing by quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

A&M had 404 yards of total offense, and five touchdowns, by intermission. The Aggies piled up 225 yards on the ground. It was a gouging reminiscent of Coach Bobby Petrino's first season at Fayetteville, and some of the problems may have been the result of playing young backups at both defensive ends and cornerbacks because of injuries to starters.

However, Arkansas' defense found a way to play harder and tackle better after halftime, and the Hogs cut the A&M offensive output nearly in half in the last 30 minutes. More importantly, they held the Aggies to 3 points after the break, giving Wilson and the offense a chance to win the game.

And, when Wilson was driving the Hogs to the go-ahead touchdown in the final five minutes, 20 of the last 25 yards were accomplished on the ground, with Johnson finding creases on draw plays and Green going in from 3 yards out.

"I thought it was huge, the tackles that he broke," Petrino said of Johnson's running. "It really helped us on that last drive, go score to win."

With 1:41 to play, A&M still had time to do what it had done early on and drive the distance on Arkansas' defense. But the one time all day the Aggies HAD to have two yards, facing a fourth-and-2 at their 39, Arkansas expected what was coming and stuffed Michael with penetration through the Aggies' right side.

Arkansas also bent on A&M's longest drive of the second half, but on third-and-6 from the Arkansas 10, Tannehill tried a quarterback draw and was stopped by safety Eric Bennett after 4 yards. That led to a 23-yard Randy Bullock field goal, the Aggies' only points in the last half.

"And, to hold them to a field goal. We didn't think the quarterback draw was coming, we thought they were going to throw the ball. We just reacted real well to it and tackled. That was a great tackle on that play to stop him, getting a big man like that who can run from getting a first down," Petrino said.

After A&M's fourth-down failure, Green rambled 10 yards for a first down for the Hogs on a third-down snap with 1:04 left and A&M could no longer stop the clock.

Green's first appearance of the year resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run with 9:09 left in the second quarter, pulling Arkansas within 21-14, before A&M threatened to blow the Hogs right out of Cowboys Stadium.

"The feeling was amazing," said Green, who was a high school standout at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock. "I wanted to cry in the end zone. I was just overwhelmed from excitement."

Green had a knee injury and surgery that usually requires 12 months for recovery. Somehow Green cut that time in half.

"It took so much hard work, day in and day out in the training room with those guys pushing me," Green said. "It was intense but I kept going and kept pushing and I’m where I am now."

He told Petrino he wanted to play -- this season, right now. Petrino said he was skeptical, but doctors gave the senior running back the green light.

"This was his first week of 'full go.' He worked really hard," Petrino said. "He's a great young man."

Wright, after burning the Aggies' safeties deep for his 68-yard touchdown reception for Arkansas' first answer to a pair of A&M touchdowns, kept finding an open area in front of the A&M safeties and Wilson kept finding him.

Wright wasn't always Wilson's first option, but it was too good to for the quarterback and the Hogs to turn down. A&M didn't adjust to the open middle until the second half, and that opened up more sideline routes for the Razorbacks.

"It was something we had seen on film," Wright said. "We saw they left the middle open a lot and they did it against us, too. We made 'em pay."

Wilson bettered Ryan Mallett's Arkansas record for passing yards in a single game (409) by more than 100, and Wright already had the receiving yardage mark by halftime, even though Arkansas was down 18. Wright said, "I wasn't really paying attention [to the record], I was just trying to get a win for the Arkansas Razorbacks ... I'm happy about the record but more happy about the win."

Wright, also trying to block for Cobi Hamilton after a Hamilton catch near the A&M 10, was in the perfect spot to fall on Hamilton's fumble into the end zone, and Wilson's two-point run tied the game up for the first time, 35-all.

“That’s amazing," Green said of Wilson's and Wright's yardage totals. "I started to pick up on it when J [Wright] had 9 or 10 catches for over 200 yards. I was just like, hey, keep giving it to him."

That seemed to soften the Aggies for the hard stuff: Johnson and Green, who combined for 17 carries and 79 yards. Johnson had 54, with a long of 19 yards and a 6.8 yards-per-carry average.

Green has never been the sprinter-type back, but he seemed to be decidedly quicker Saturday than the lumbering short-yardage man of the past two years.

"Yeah, I do think I'm quicker now," said Green, who packs 243 pounds on his 6-2 frame. "I think it’s from all that leg strengthening and stuff."

Looking for leaders, Arkansas seemed to find them Saturday. The Hogs' coaches and players knew Wright and Wilson were two of them, since both led a team meeting Sunday after returning from Tuscaloosa and the embarrassing 38-14 loss to Alabama. But two more with decided toughness about them emerged Saturday in Green and Johnson, and it flowed into the rest of the team in an amazing second-half turnaround.

Columnist Jim Harris wasn't around when Hugo Bezdek named the Razorbacks, it only seems that way. His acumen for UA football history is renowned and he has covered the Hogs and the state sports scene since 1976. Email: jharris@abpg.com, and follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360

Tagged: Cowboys Stadium, Southeastern Conference, Southwest Classic, Texas A&M Aggies, Cyrus Gray, Ryan Tannehill, Bobby Petrino, Jarius Wright, Tyler Wilson, Dennis Johnson, Broderick Green, Christine Michael