Getting crunched in crunch time

Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has an interesting article about the Razorbacks’ inability to mount comebacks and game-winning drives in tight fourth-quarter situations. You have to go back to 2003 to find the last example when the Hogs got it done when the pressure was on them.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

However, since the Miracle on Markham, last-minute Razorbacks rallies have been practically nonexistent. In fact, since [Matt] Jones directed a 71-yard drive that ended with his 3-yard touchdown pass to Richard Smith with 27 seconds left to tie the 2003 game at Alabama - a game the Razorbacks eventually won in double overtime - Arkansas has been an offensive bust late on fourth-quarter possessions when the pressure was on.

In 13 games since then in which the Razorbacks took possession of the ball while trailing or tied with a chance to tie or take the lead, they have spun their wheels.

This season, Arkansas’ two-minute drill has looked more like a Chinese fire drill than a confident, chain-moving operation. On the drives in which the Razorbacks have held a fourth-quarter lead and needed to burn up the clock, they also have come up lacking.

Filed under: Arkansas Football, SEC Football by Rainer Sabin. Posted on: September 27, 2007 at 12:23 pm