Record of no concern to Hampton, winning is

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Robby Hampton became the first Arkansas quarterback to throw four touchdown passes since Houston Nutt was a graduate assistant coach for the Razorbacks.
Nutt, in his third season as Arkansas' head coach, worked with the running backs on Lou Holtz's coaching staff in 1983, when Brad Taylor threw for four touchdowns against Rice.
No Razorback had done it in the 17 years since Taylor's school record-tying performance until Hampton threw touchdown passes of 44 yards to Michael Snowden, 7 to Boo Williams, 6 to Desmond Garcia and 29 to Richard Smith in Arkansas' 52-6 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night.
Hampton and Taylor share the record with Arkansas quarterbacks coach Joe Ferguson, who threw four against TCU in 1972, and Ronnie South, whose four came against SMU in 1967.
Ferguson tied the record on another Oct. 7 -- exactly 28 years before Hampton matched it.
"I hadn't even thought about it," Ferguson said. "I didn't even know my name was still on the thing to be honest with you.
"The important thing is that it was a great opportunity for Robby and he responded well, as he has all year."
After setting the record, Hampton responded with a shrug.
"I didn't know anything about it until after the game when a reporter told me," Hampton said. "It's just one of those things that happened."
It seemed like it couldn't happen at a better time for Hampton and the Razorbacks, who were coming off a 38-7 loss to Georgia.
On Arkansas' first snap of that game, Georgia cornerback Jamie Henderson intercepted a Hampton pass and returned it for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 10-0 lead from which the Razorbacks never recovered.
But Hampton, a redshirt sophomore who took over as starter this season for Clint Stoerner, the Razorbacks' all-time leading passer who is now a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys, said he didn't look upon Saturday night's showing as one he needed to rebuild his confidence.
"I'm going to tell you what, my confidence really wasn't down," said Hampton, who ranks third in the SEC in passing efficiency on 83-of-145 passing for 1,023 yards and 11 touchdowns with 4 interceptions. "I wish I could have had that one throw back that was run back for a touchdown, but my confidence wasn't shot.
"I knew what I did wrong on that one ball. ... And I don't think I'll do that again.
"People may have been down on me, but I wasn't down on myself at all."
Nutt said Hampton's calm reaction is a result of his maturity. Hampton is 24, married and played four minor-league baseball seasons before coming to Arkansas.
"Robby has handled everything perfectly," Nutt said. "That's what you love about Robby is his heart.
"He is such a team player, he doesn't worry about what people say about him. He's more concerned about our team and how we can win and how we can get better."
The Georgia game broke Arkansas' 16-game home winning streak and was the most-lopsided loss for Nutt as the Razorbacks' coach.
"It was one game, and it was magnified because it was the first home loss, and it was magnified because of the score and the way we got beat -- Georgia just whipped us," Hampton said. "I think that [Saturday night] was important for us as a team in that we got back to executing plays and won, and we did that."
The record that matters to Hampton is 4-1 -- which the Razorbacks improved to by beating Louisiana-Monroe -- not his four touchdown passes.
"It's really not too important to me," Hampton said. "I mean that, it's really not."
Ferguson laughed when asked if sharing a record with Hampton means he can't get on his starting quarterback now.
"He's got to break the record," Ferguson said. "Until he does that, I can still jump on him."

This article was published on Monday, October 9, 2000

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