Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

1/7/2012 at 9:55am

Image by Mark Wagner

Arkansas' Jake Bequette, the game's defensive MVP, sacks KSU quarterback Collin Klein and forces a fumble.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Arkansas’ new defensive coordinator, Paul Haynes, can count on a long honeymoon with Razorback fans — at least through next September — thanks to the way the Hogs' defense handled Kansas State in a 29-16 win in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Friday night at Cowboys Stadium.

Arkansas took care of its biggest concern — dealing with hard-running KSU quarterback Collin Klein — by holding Klein to 42 yards rushing on 24 carries, a 1.8 yards-per-carry average. Klein had 29 yards in losses on six sacks.

The Hogs held KSU to 87 yards rushing on 40 attempts and 260 total yards. They made Kansas State have to pass in the second half — and at times, Klein and the Wildcats did that successfully against the soft cushions they were afforded. But when Kansas State threatened in Arkansas’ end of the field, the Wildcats went back to the tried-and-true of a 10-2 regular season and Arkansas’ front seven stuffed it.

Haynes, formerly the secondary coach at Ohio State, was hired in early December after veteran defensive coordinator Willy Robinson “resigned” on Dec. 5 after four turbulent seasons. Arkansas’ defense under Robinson showed promise in 2010, but with a senior dominated group back for 2011, the Hogs regressed.

Enter Haynes, but most assuredly Petrino also dictated the Cotton Bowl defensive plan, and it was focused on making Klein and Kansas State have to throw the football.

When the Wildcats did that on first down, it worked. At one point in the fourth quarter, Kansas State was eight for eight on first-down passes.

It rarely worked on third down, or late in the game, though, when it was obvious the Wildcats were passing. The defensive ends, led by senior Jake Bequette, were able to outquick the K-State pass protection and record seven total sacks. Bequette had two for 10 yards in losses and a forced fumble.

Bequette’s play earned the fifth-year senior out of Little Rock Catholic the McKnight Trophy as the game’s Outstanding Defensive Player. (Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, who hit 20 of 31 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns, made it a clean sweep for the Hogs by winning the Sanford Trophy as the Outstanding Offensive Player.)

“We came into this game with kind of a chip on our shoulder,” Bequette said of the defense, which he admitted here earlier in the week had underperformed during the regular season. “Coach Haynes did an excellent job preparing us. We knew on first and second down that if we could stop the run, get them in third-and-long, we'd have a great chance to tee off on the quarterback.

"We stayed patient, played our gaps, didn't bounce around too much. When we had the opportunity to get off, really make things happen in the passing game, we did that."

Bobby Petrino said later he had to convince the pass-rush-happy Bequette and fellow end Tenarius Wright that priority No. 1 on this night was stopping the Kansas State run, and they would play a huge role in it.

"Jake loves to rush the passer, and so does Tenarius. This game was about we need to stop the run, stop this quarterback. We tightened them up. Did a great job on the tackles, did a great job of keeping our linebackers free. They really understood the situations of the game.

"Once it became third down, they widened out and teed off, made huge plays for us — the turnover early and the sacks. They're both very, very good football players."

Bequette and Wright combined on the first big turnovers of the game, when Bequette crushed Klein and knocked the ball loose, where Wright then fell on it at the KSU 13.

Arkansas’ offense, having just as much trouble with KSU defense as the Wildcats' offense would have with the Hogs, only moved the ball three yards before Zach Hocker gave the Razorbacks a lead they’d never relinquish with a 26-yard field goal with 4:19 left in the first quarter.

Special teams got into the act when the mercurial Joe Adams fielded a punt over his shoulder at his 49, circled across the field to his right side and used three crunching blocks to cover the 51 yards and give Arkansas a 10-0 lead less than a minute the second quarter.

KSU had the momentum early in the third quarter after covering 60 yards in seven plays — right after ending the first half with a score that was set up by Tyler Wilson's fumble at the Arkansas 13 — cutting what was once a 19-0 Arkansas lead to 19-16. For the first time all game, the Razorback defense was on its heels like it was for so many games in 2011.

But, while the Hogs' defense bent a little to the Wildcats’ offense the rest of the game, it never broke. Kansas State’s only other scoring chance ended in a 43-yard field goal miss with 6:36 to play and the Hogs back up by 10, 26-16.

“The difference [in the game] was how well we played on defense and the field position we were able to give the offense,” Petrino said. “And our seniors, it was a great job by them.”

Senior linebacker Jerry Franklin led the Hogs with eight tackles. Senior tackle Zach Stadther was in on plays in the interior early when Arkansas showed its dominance in the trenches. Senior safety Tramain Thomas never let anything behind him in the passing game. Senior outside linebacker Jerico Nelson, who totaled seven tackles, had a fitting final play for the Hogs when he intercepted Klein and returned it 61 yards, finally being run down just short of the end zone.

“It’s been an incredible journey, that's for sure” Bequette said, not only for himself but for his 16 fellow seniors, most of whom played as yearlings in Petrino’s 5-6 first season. “It hasn’t been easy. I think any one of my teammates and seniors would say that. Especially those first couple of seasons, it was really a learning experience for all of us.

"But then now, it's really paid off the last two years. To get this program consistently in the Top 10, in a BCS bowl game, great bowl games like the Cotton Bowl, hopefully in the top five in the country with 11 wins, it means so much to me personally, and to this group of seniors. It's just been such a fun ride."

Award-winning 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. He knows his way around music and food, too. Email: jharris@abpg.com, and follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360

Tagged: Bobby Petrino, Jake Bequette, Tenarius Wright, Paul Haynes, Jerry Franklin, Tramain Thomas, Jerico Nelson, Zach Stadther, Collin Klein