Hogs find real-life Tigers difficult to harness
OTIS KIRKARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
|
| (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MICHAEL WOODS) |
| LSU wide receiver Josh Reed breaks around Arkansas defensive back Ahmad Carroll for significant yardage in the first half of Friday's game in Baton Rouge. Arkansas's hopes for a miracle finish -- and the SEC West title -- fell short 41-38 in a wild game filled with big plays and plenty of turnovers. |
"The film is deceiving," Carroll said. "We looked at them on film and it's like, 'They're not that good, we're going to do this and do that to them.' Rohan Davey is a good quarterback, but he made a lot of bad decisions. We made a hell of a lot of mistakes, though."
Davey, LSU's quarterback, made the Hogs pay for their mistakes. He teamed with receivers Josh Reed, Jerel Myers and Michael Clayton for 359 yards and three touchdowns.
The Razorbacks intercepted four passes, including one Carroll returned from the Arkansas 16 to the LSU 41 early in the fourth quarter with the Hogs trailing 27-25. But Arkansas failed to capitalize as kicker Brennan O'Donohoe missed a 43-yard field goal, and LSU scored on a 38-yard pass from Davey to Reed to take control.
LSU finished with 518 total yards, but Arkansas defensive coordinator John Thompson said his team was prepared.
"I think they executed," Thompson said. "We had so many times we had a chance to set the tempo. We had the crowd out of the game at times and we just let them right back in it. The crowd dictated a lot of stuff out there.
"It was really an odd game to get all the things we did, all the interceptions and to give up all those plays, too. You've just got to give them credit. They had a great plan and executed it."
Arkansas' defensive coaches had hoped to get to Davey early, much like Ole Miss did earlier this season, and keep the LSU senior out of sync. It appeared to work early, as Davey was 2 of 6 for 18 yards with 2 interceptions in the first quarter.
But Davey came back with 148 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter, and he was on his way.
"That's the mark of a great player," Arkansas secondary coach Dave Wommack said. "That's what he is. He's a competitor, too, and came back to make some big plays."
Wommack said Davey did a good job of finding the open man.
"We tried to match our best on their best, and theirs was better today," Wommack said. "They didn't do anything different. We tried to mix up a lot of different things. We gave them different zone looks. We came up with four interceptions and a turnover, but we just gave up too many big plays."
Davey said he was impressed with the Razorbacks' defense and was proud to escape with a victory, only LSU's second this season against a team with a winning record.
"We made it tougher than it really should have been," Davey said. "To Arkansas' credit, they were a good football team. They came out and played hard, and you could tell the stakes were high. They did a good job of disguising their coverages and doing that type of thing. They did a real good job."
This article was published on November 24, 2001
Copyright and permissions
Copyright © 2001, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.