From the Bench

Razorback Defense Set the Tone in Best Moments of the Year

Robert Shields

For the Razorback football team and its fans, it was a fantastic year -- the Hogs went 10-2 with both losses coming to the team ranked No. 1 at the time.

You would think the most important moment of the season might have come in one of those games against Alabama and LSU, but my nomination for the biggest moment was when Vanderbilt missed its field goal to tie the game and instead lost 31-28. In overtime, Arkansas probably wins, but we don’t know. If the Razorbacks had lost that game, suddenly we are talking about a season that would have been extremely disappointing. The win was a reminder of just how difficult it can be to win on the road in the SEC.

The runner-up for most important moment was at Oxford against Ole Miss when Tramain Thomas intercepted a pass to end the game. Arkansas struggled all day against the Rebels and had to come back from being down double digits. Houston Nutt pulled out all the stops, and in the end his team almost came up with a miracle comeback after a successful onside kick. Ole Miss was driving for the game-winning touchdown when Thomas came up with the game-saving and season-saving interception that again proved life on the road in the SEC is tough. There is no telling where the Hogs go if they had actually lost this game.

Honorable mention for most important moment was in Dallas against Texas A&M after the Razorbacks fell down by 18 points at 35-17. Arkansas stormed back in the second half to take the lead. A&M leveled one last challenge as it began its game-winning drive, which stalled and came down to a fourth and short. The Razorback defense stopped the run on the fourth down and took possession and the game to win 42-38, which probably set the tone to ruin the remainder of the Aggies’ season.

One other moment deserves mentioning, but it will be lost in history because the Razorbacks lost the game badly. The Arkansas defense made one of the most impressive goal-line stands in the school’s history against Alabama at Tuscaloosa when it held for four downs at the goal line to deny a Tide touchdown. This was all the more impressive considering the Hogs were without their two starting defensive tackles and Alabama had the best running back in the country in Trent Richardson.

Odd how all these very significant plays were on the defensive side that really built the great season, yet the defensive coordinator was let go.

The offense also had its moments. The offensive explosion against Mississippi State was impressive with Tyler Wilson completing a school-record 32 passes. Chris Gragg was used extensively in this beat down. The offense amassed a whopping 539 yards. The offense also exploded on Texas A&M, and it was Wilson’s best game of the season as he threw for an incredible school record of 510 yards. Most of it was to Jarius Wright, who had 13 catches for an astonishing 281 yards. The Hogs scored in the A&M game with 1:41 to play, which was by far one of the most exciting games of the season. It was also the welcome game for the Aggies to the SEC.

The offensive play of the year to me was actually on special teams. It was Dennis Johnson’s 98-yard kickoff return against South Carolina. The return kept the Hogs close early in the game and made a big difference in giving the Razorbacks confidence to win what was a huge game in the first victory in a top 10 matchup in Fayetteville since 1965.

The unforgettable special team play of the year was the Joe Adams punt return against Tennessee. In the end, the punt return was meaningless as the Hogs pounded a helpless Volunteer team. The return, though, was spectacular as Adams ducked and dived through the entire Tennessee roster and essentially ran circles around them. The punt return was so spectacular it was replayed numerous times later on ESPN and ended up being the play of the week.

But not all that happened this past season was grand, so I end with three bad things.

The first was after holding Alabama on four downs at the goal line, the offense had a significant interception. Wilson’s pass was deflected and then snatched out of the air by the same defender and returned for a touchdown to make the game 17-7.

The second occurred with the Hogs winning 14-7 at LSU. After dropping a pass that would have been a first down to keep the drive alive, Arkansas instead had to punt. Tyrann Mathieu fielded the ball around his own three yard line and went the distance. The Hogs were never the same after that play.

Last was the heartbreaking news of the Razorback family losing Garrett Uekman on the Sunday after the Mississippi State game. As a graduate of Catholic High School, it really hit me. I had seen him play several times in high school. Catholic High has an alumni dinner each year, and at the dinner they read the names of the alumni who have died in the previous year in graduating class order. Unfortunately, I’m not getting any younger and this past year three names of my classmates were read. Garret Uekman’s name will be read this coming October. Hopefully, and surely, his will be the last read.



Send your favorite memories of the season to fromthebench@yahoo.com.


Robert Shields is the bestselling author of “Scarlet Fever: A Razorback House Divided” and “The Economics of Sex” and has written the weekly “From the Bench” sports column for the last 14 years. His upcoming novel, “Daphne and The Mysterious Girls Secret Bathroom Society” will be part one in the series that will be released in January.

You can follow me on Twitter @rsfromthebench