Cold day turns hot for freshman backup

ROBERT TURBEVILLE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Brandon Holmes spent a good part of Saturday's game against No. 13 Mississippi State standing near a sideline heater in the rain, sleet and snow, just trying to fight through 37-degree weather.
Then the Arkansas freshman running back was called to action early in the fourth quarter against a Bulldogs run defense that ranked third nationally.
No more worrying about the cold. Instead, he caught fire.
"I just pictured it as practice, running plays," Holmes said.
Holmes went through the Bulldogs like they were the Razorbacks' scout team, rushing for 95 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and overtime as Arkansas beat Mississippi State 17-10.
He ran for touchdowns of 2 and 7 yards, but his most impressive run came on a second-down play to set up the touchdown that sent the game into overtime.
That one run, on a play called 4-Arc Power, summed up Holmes' performance against Mississippi State. It was a 12-yard gain, which wasn't his biggest of the game, but the one that put the Razorbacks in the game and kept their bowl hopes alive.
Arkansas drove from its 45 to the Mississippi State 15 in five plays, thanks largely to runs of 9, 13 and 14 yards by Holmes.
On second-and-10 and with about two minutes left, the Razorbacks lined up in the I formation with a receiver to the left and a tight end and receiver lined up to the right.
Holmes took the handoff from Robby Hampton and looked to run up the middle. There was nothing there, so Holmes bounced outside to the left, then at the 10 ran through the arms of Mississippi State's leading tackler, 6-3, 253-pound linebacker Mario Haggan, before being tackled at the MSU 3-yard line.
"I didn't see that guy [Haggan]," Holmes said. "I was looking at the end zone. I'm hungry. I'm trying to get in the end zone. The offensive line and receivers did a great job blocking. He was in my way, stopping me from what I need to do, so I got the job done."
Two plays later, Holmes scored on a 2-yard run, and Brennan O'Donohoe kicked the extra point that tied it 10-10.
"The offensive line did a great job blocking today," Holmes said. "At the end, they made it easy for me to run."
Holmes played a little bit early in the game as a fullback but spent most of the time on the sideline until tailback Fred Talley went down with what is believed to be a sprained knee with 12:30 left in the fourth quarter.
A strong, power runner, Holmes, 6-2, 215, might have looked ideal for the poor field conditions, and, as it turned out, he was.
"Talley is more of an east-west runner," Mississippi State cornerback Fred Smoot said. "The other guy came in, I think his name is Holmes, he is more of a north-south type of guy. He was straight forward. That's the type of back you need in this type of weather."
But Holmes, one of four tailbacks to start for Arkansas this season, has had trouble holding on to the ball in practice and fumbled against Louisiana-Monroe, so a wet football might have given him and the Razorbacks more problems.
Plus Talley had run for 517 yards in Arkansas' last three games and had already gained 91 yards against Mississippi State.
"I'm not going to lie to you, it was a little scary," right guard Kenny Sandlin said. "But after the first [big] run of Brandon's, I knew it wasn't no doubt, we're going to be all right. It wasn't that I was doubting Brandon's ability, but we've seen that all season with injuries killing us."
Holmes' first carry was for a 3-yard loss, but he gained 22 yards on his next four carries, and Mississippi State struggled to stop him after that. He ran through sometimes gaping holes and broke tackles when he needed to break tackles.
"You saw, the first guy can't tackle him," Arkansas running backs coach Danny Nutt said. "He's a strong man. It takes two or three to get him down. There's just something about a big old back."
They're hard to stop in the mud, especially when they're on fire.

This article was published on Sunday, November 19, 2000

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