Pass goes just as Caver dreamed it up

ROBERT TURBEVILLE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Quinton Caver laid his head on a pillow after a Thanksgiving feast and was ready to get a good night's sleep before facing No. 24 LSU.
Maybe it was the full stomach caused by too much turkey and dressing or too much pie. Maybe it was the strange surroundings of a hotel room. Whatever the reason, Caver didn't sleep too soundly.
Arkansas' senior linebacker had a dream, a good dream, but the kind that gets a football player pumped up.
Josh Booty drops back to pass, releases the ball, and ... Caver picks it off! He's at the 10, the 5, touchdown Arkansas! Caver gets his first career interception and first career touchdown!
Fantasy met reality a few hours later, and Caver's dream turned into a nightmare for LSU.
Just like his dream, Caver intercepted Booty and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown. His first career interception and first career touchdown ignited the Razorbacks to a 14-3 victory and made them bowl-eligible for the third consecutive season.
"It was a lot similar to the dream," Caver said.
Caver, a two-time SEC defensive player of the week, intercepted a Booty pass intended for receiver Jerel Myers on LSU's first possession of the game. He tipped it, then brought it down and ran down Arkansas' sideline untouched for a touchdown with 12:08 left in the first quarter.
"That was a big play, probably the biggest play of the game," Razorbacks defensive end Randy Garner said.
Arkansas never trailed after that. Its defense, under defensive coordinator John Thompson's hectic scheme, allowed LSU only 149 yards total offense and didn't even need Brandon Holmes' fourth-quarter touchdown run to beat a team that was fighting for a share of the SEC West title.
As it turned out, all it needed was Caver's play.
"Once he did that, it was all downhill for LSU," fellow senior linebacker J.J. Jones said.
Jones was one of the Razorbacks that Caver talked to about his dream.
"He told me this morning and said it again before we were going to take the field," Jones said. "It was kind of amazing."
Almost unbelievable, or at least the physical aspect of the play was, according to Booty, who wasn't sure of Caver's name but was sure he was a player.
"Caver, Carver, No. 53 made an unbelievable play," Booty said. "I probably would have tried to throw that ball again. I don't think it was a bad read or anything like that. He just tipped it up, caught it and made a great play."
It started with the confusion at the line. When LSU broke the huddle on first-and-10 at its 32 and lined up in the I formation, Arkansas had its nickel package on the field. But Caver was standing at the line of scrimmage, and nose guard Curt Davis was lined up at linebacker.
Caver then walked back to linebacker, leaving Arkansas with only two down linemen. When Booty took the snap, the end and tackle slanted inside, Arkansas bandit Tony Bua and rover Corey Harris blitzed from the outside, and Davis blitzed between the left tackle and tight end.
Caver had man-to-man coverage on Tommy Banks, but Banks stayed in the backfield to block. Caver's options were blitzing or playing pass coverage. He chose the latter.
"Josh Booty, he looked at the receiver the whole time," Caver said. "I looked at his eyes and made a play on the ball."
"Instincts. Ballplayer," Thompson said, describing Caver. "He had man on the back and read the quarterback, breaks out there, picks it off and is gone, the whole stadium erupts, and we've got momentum from that moment until now."
Thanks to that play, Arkansas now has a shot at a bowl game, though nothing is guaranteed.
Garner joked that maybe Caver can guarantee a bowl bid with another dream.
"We're going to ask him and hope it's something good," Garner said. "If it's something bad, we're going to ask him not to tell us."

This article was published on Saturday, November 25, 2000

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