No. 12 Arkansas didn’t come to paint in Little Rock.
The Hogs played to knock off No. 5 LSU.
That was the Razorbacks’ philosophy in their 31-23 win against the Tigers (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) at War Memorial Stadium as they clinched the Golden Boot trophy and a second-place finish in the SEC West.
The Hogs (10-2, 6-2) put the mantra to practice leading 21-20 in the fourth quarter and facing a fourth-and-3 in LSU territory. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino elected to go for it and quarterback Ryan Mallett lofted a 39-yard touchdown pass to an open Joe Adams with 14:10 left in the contest.
“There was a lot of thought that went into it,” Petrino said. “I even called coach (John L.) Smith over one time and asked, ‘What do you think? Should we punt it or go for it? I worked with coach Smith a long time ago and we always had a saying that we didn’t come to paint. We came to win the game.”
The Razorbacks moved one step closer to securing the program’s first BCS bowl bid with the win.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our football team,” Petrino said. “They’ve shown a tremendous amount of character, a tremendous amount of toughness. They are a group that that, when we started this journey, had a great work ethic, a very positive attitude and tremendous leadership.
“They are a special group of players. It was a heck of a game tonight. It was a battle. Our guys just kept at it and made some big plays on offense and defense.”
The contest were tied 14-14 and Arkansas had the ball on its 20-yard line with six seconds left. Rather than run the clock out, Mallett found receiver Cobi Hamilton for an 80-yard touchdown as time expired.
He caught the pass at the 50, two LSU defenders collided and receiver Jarius Wright blocked Tigers’ cornerback Patrick Peterson, paving the way for Hamilton to score.
“The thought process is always, ‘go for it,’” Petrino said. “Ryan said, ‘What do you think?’ We called one of our plays we like a lot. We have an in-cut with the post over the top. When they line up I thought, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance here.’
“(Mallett made an) unbelievable throw, he was getting hit right as he was throwing the ball. Cobi did a great job on his route, made a great catch. That’s where luck comes into it, because he had to guys run into each other and that opened him up for running.”
Mallett threw for 320 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. His first touchdown pass broke Clint Stoerner’s UA record for career of 57.
“He’s certainly an unbelievable player,” Petrino said. “He’s had a great year. He’s worked extremely hard to focus on getting better as the year goes on. He gets better in practice. He works harder to make sure he understands the game plan.”
Arkansas sophomore running back Knile Davis ran for 152 yards and one touchdown on 30 carries as the Hogs racked up 464 yards of offense.
The Razorbacks got the ball at their own 10 with 12:12 remaining. Arkansas used a 13-play drive to use six minutes, setting up freshman Zach Hocker’s 19-yard field goal with 6:09 remaining in the contest.
“We really felt like our offensive line was taking over the game and we wanted to try to go get points and use as much clock as we could,” Petrino said. “I really didn’t plan on making every play a run, it just ended up that way. We were moving the line of scrimmage and our backs were breaking tackles. It’s really nice to be able to power the ball like that.”
The Tigers pulled within 31-23 on Josh Jasper’s 36-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining, but Hamilton recovered the ensuing onside kick.
“They said it was the biggest play of the game and I agree,” Hamilton said. “I took the a big hit on that play.”
The Hogs would punt, leaving LSU 94 yards to cover in 49 seconds.
Arkansas senior safety Andru Stewart forced quarterback Jordan Jefferson to fumble and junior linebacker Jerry Franklin recovered at the 1-yard line with 39 seconds left, clinching the win. The Razorbacks held the Tigers to 294 yards, including just 71 in the second half.
“It seems like (the defense) has gotten a lot better,” Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “A couple weeks ago we did the same thing against South Carolina.”
LSU was forced to settle for three field goals and missed another field goal. The Tigers started three drives in Arkansas territory, but Arkansas’ defense consistently stepped up.
“That’s very big to able to hold them to field goals,” Robinson said. “You score touchdowns, they kick field goals, you’re going to win the game.”
Hamilton’s big catch gave the Hogs momentum heading into halftime when Arkansas’ players thought the coaching staff would run the clock out.
“We were in the huddle thinking we were just going to run a run play and go into halftime tied up,” Hamilton said. “He called a play that had my number on it and I took advantage of the situation.”
Hamilton also hauled in an 85-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to put the Hogs ahead 14-7. Hamilton has six catches for 295 yards and four touchdowns in two SEC games played in Little Rock.
“I’ve been hearing that a lot – everyone is telling me I love Little Rock,” Hamilton said. “I’m just taking advantage of it.”
Arkansas might have qualified for its first BCS game if No. 2 Auburn beats South Carolina in the SEC Championship game.
“We don’t have any control over that, unfortunately, but its fun to talk about it, making it to the BCS,” Petrino said.