Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

10/1/2011 at 7:00pm

Image by Mark Wagner

Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson challenged teammates during the week. He delivered a strong performance with a school-record 510 passing yards.

ARLINGTON, Texas — During an early break in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Arkansas-Texas A&M game, a cameraman caught Tyler Wilson on the sidelines glancing up at the gargantuan video screen in Cowboys Stadium. Wilson was being recognized for what had already been a record-setting passing performance.

Except Wilson wasn’t soaking in the moment. Instead, the camera captured Wilson looking like a man who knew his work was far from finished. He tugged at the front of his shoulder pads and exhaled deeply before heading to the offensive bench area.

What was running through his mind? How did he post the first 500-plus yard game in school history as the 18^th-ranked Razorbacks rallied to erase an 18-point deficit to pull off a 42-38 victory against the No. 14 Aggies?

“It’s not getting caught up in how many passing yards you’re throwing for or what the score is,” Wilson said. “It’s just chipping away every time.”

This wasn’t a victory that came easy for the Razorbacks (4-1), who outscored A&M 25-3 in the second half. These weren’t yards Wilson piled up in a hurry.

Wilson completed 30 of 51 passes for 510 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target was Jarius Wright, who also enjoyed a record-setting day, catching 13 passes for 281 yards. Almost as crucial as the catches was Wright’s fourth-quarter fumble recovery for a touchdown in the end zone.

Coach Bobby Petrino struggled for words when asked to describe what he saw from Wright and Wilson. They worked to exploit the middle of the field time after time and ensured the game didn’t get away from Arkansas, even as A&M built a 35-17 halftime lead.

“There’s not a lot you can say. It’s pretty awesome,” Petrino said. “Jarius was just out there competing. … Tyler did a very good job of standing in there, competing and playing one play at a time.”

It was only right that Wilson and Wright deliver.

Talk as much as they did, air locker room thoughts as publicly as they did during the week and a no-show performance could have opened them up for criticism. Wright and Wilson, both elected as captains in the preseason, put their reputations on the line to a degree.

Together they organized an offensive meeting on Sunday in an effort to rally the team from a performance at Alabama that led to coaches questioning the team’s “competitive spirit.” Wilson told reporters on Wednesday that the game against the Aggies was a must-win for the team. Wright conveyed embarrassment for the way the team had played and questioned his teammates concentration and knowledge of the offense.

They etched their names in the record books, but more importantly fought and executed in just the way they’d implored other Razorbacks to do throughout the week. By playing the way they did against Texas A&M, the duo surely strengthened their standing with teammates.

Wright and Wilson did their thing — chipping away, play after play, as they waited on the rest of the team to catch up with them.

“Me and Tyler being leaders, I think the team bought into what we had to say. Me and Tyler came out today and we put it all on the line. It paid off for us today.”

There were moments against the Aggies you couldn’t help but wonder if Wilson and Wright were the only guys who showed up to the meeting. They made play after play to keep the Razorbacks in the game even as penalties and poor execution piled up.

"It was amazing," tailback Broderick Green said of watching Wright and Wilson work. Eventually, the rest of the team stopped watching and made crucial plays.

Finally in the fourth quarter the defense stiffened on crucial third and fourth downs. Texas A&M moved almost at will against the Razorbacks, piling up 602 yards of total offense. But the Aggies couldn't convert when it mattered most.

Arkansas running backs Dennis Johnson and Green didn’t have exceptional days rushing, but did enough in the fourth quarter to get Arkansas the win. Johnson and Green combined for 50 of the Razorbacks’ 71 rushing yards in the final period and did just enough and at just the right times.

Johnson had 17 yards on the game-winning drive. Green punched it in from three yards out to put the Razorbacks up 41-38 before a Zack Hocker PAT set the final score.

Green, five months removed from ACL surgery, ran in a way that made it easy to forget his past failures and hard to question his toughness. Johnson ran in a way that made you question why Petrino seems to underutilize him.

There was nothing to question about Wilson and Wright. They delivered time after time on Saturday, helping the Razorbacks keep the season headed in the right direction.

A loss would have surely knocked the one-time BCS title contenders out of the Top 25. By winning, a double-digit victory total doesn’t seem so out of reach.

Asked about the importance of winning the game, Wilson briefly allowed himself to soak in the moment. Then he sounded a lot like a guy who knows his work is far from finished.

“Morale going forward is going to be completely different,” Wilson said. “I think the excitement, the energy within the team, we’re in a much better position. I’m excited.

“We’ve got to go get us a win next week.”

Tagged: Tyler Wilson, Broderick Green, Dennis Johnson, Ronnie Wingo Jr., Jarius Wright, Bobby Petrino, Texas A&M Aggies