From the Bench

Missed Kick Saves Hogs’ Season

Robert Shields

It was the worst win of the Bobby Petrino era. Even the ragged play was matched by a lack of discipline by the players. The sloppiness transferred to the field. It was a messy win for the Hogs.

Just like in 2006, Vanderbilt lost the game on a missed field goal at the end of the game. But way before the missed kick, it was a game of both sides wanting plays back. In the end, the Hogs survived and moved on, which is all that matters. SEC road wins are always difficult to come by even if in Oxford or Nashville. The Hogs have won back-to-back SEC road games and that does not happen very often.

It looked like the Dennis Johnson fumble was going to be a game changer as the Hogs were driving to take the lead because it stopped an important momentum-building drive. A couple of players later, Vanderbilt took it the distance on a run to go up 28-17.

Vanderbilt returned the favor in better fashion with a fumble at the 3-yard line that Jerry Franklin returned 97 yards. The Hogs made the two-point conversion in what amounted to a 15-point swing. The Commodores could have been up 35-20 but instead were tied at 28-28. It was the play of the game.

Regardless, Vanderbilt dropped scores of potential interceptions and the Razorback defense had a drop or two as well.

The game only got stranger when it looked like the Hogs were going to blow the game open with another fumble recovery and return for almost a touchdown. , in an effort to get into the end zone though, Jericho Nelson fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Vanderbilt.

I thought the key defensive stop came after that fumble by Nelson into the end zone. For one of the few times in the game, the defense stopped Vanderbilt on three downs and forced a punt. The offense took the ball and quickly moved it into field-goal range for the go-ahead field goal that proved to be the difference.

At the end of the game, Bobby Petrino won the chess match against his counterpart. Vanderbilt seemed content after driving 80 yards for a game-tying field goal as the clock ran down. Petrino called time out with 24 seconds. After that time out, Vanderbilt went for the touchdown. What transpired left a shaky right-footed kicker on the right hash mark, which is always difficult for a bad kicker. Their kicker’s longest kick was 33 yards. He kicked it true. The kick went almost right down the right hash mark to no good.

As bad as the defense keeps playing, it has on numerous occasions now this season come up with the game-winning stop or save. They did it against Vanderbilt, also, even though it probably gave a few Hog fans palpitations.

Everyone keeps harping on the defense starting slowly, but the offense has been equal to the task. The Hogs need to defer whenever they win the coin toss. Getting the ball first is not helping. It has typically ended up with a three and out and with the other team set up.

The big play maker of Cobi Hamilton has been missing. The Hogs need him the rest of the way. These Razorback receivers were trained by Ryan Mallett. They just fly down the field almost always beating the defenders. Tyler Wilson is struggling delivering the ball to them on the fly. On passes less than 20 yards down field, Wilson has been laser accurate just like the pass in the back of the end zone to Jarius Wright in the game. It was a beautiful thing. Conversely, Wright in the last few games has just flat beaten his defender down the field and Wilson has not been able to deliver. I think this lack of the huge strike down field as frequently as Mallett has hurt Hamilton and maybe even Greg Childs.

I can’t end the column without mentioning the late hit by Marquel Wade. It was out of effort. It was a vicious hit, but it was not flagrant. If Wade would have missed, another Razorback was going to kill the Vanderbilt player for him. The flag on the play was warranted. They just missed timing it by a fraction of a second just like roughing the punter. I don’t believe the Vanderbilt player signaled fair catch. If he did, he needs to do a better job if he does not want to get hit. After the hit, though, Wade acted the fool on TV and if for no other reason that should have gotten him ejected him from the game. He will be a great player, but actions like that won’t help him in the long run.



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