By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Mention their names and late-game heroics in the same sentence and somebody will recall specifics of a particular fourth-quarter touchdown drive.
From Johnny Unitas and Roger Staubach to Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, with Dan Marino, John Elway, Joe Montana, Steve Young, and Brett Favre along the way, the best NFL quarterbacks are measured by the comebacks they engineered.
College quarterbacks have far fewer opportunities for such exploits, but many Arkansas quarterbacks are remembered for one game above all others:
—Fred Marshall’s work in an 80-yard TD drive to beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl and secure an 11-0 season.
—Jon Brittenum throwing time after time to Bobby Crockett in an 80-yard drive that sunk No. 1 Texas 27-24.
—Barry Lunney Jr.’s fourth-down completion to Anthony Lucas and his low TD throw to J.J. Meadors with six seconds left in a 20-19 victory at Alabama, a Razorback benchmark since moving to the SEC.
—Clint Stoerner to Lucas for 23 yards and 28-24 over then-No. 3 Tennessee.
—Matt Jones to DeCori Birmingham to beat LSU 21-20 with a trip to Atlanta on the line.
In each case, circumstances made memorable the performance.
At the moment, any old fourth-quarter comeback would do for sophomore redshirts Ryan Mallett of Arkansas and Stephen Garcia of South Carolina and either could be in position to do that on Saturday. The Razorbacks vs. the Gamecocks has the look of 20-17 with 15 minutes to play.
Mallett’s opportunities have been sparse. Arkansas’ four victories were romps and the Razorbacks had only one possession while trailing Georgia 49-41 in the closest of their four losses.
His most realistic chance came against No. 1 Florida with the game tied at 20 midway through the fourth quarter. Mallett completed three passes for 48 yards as Arkansas advanced from its 23 to the Florida 20, but his deeds were lost in Alex Tejada’s missed field goal attempt.
South Carolina has won some close games, including 14-10 over Vanderbilt when Garcia threw a 43-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The other narrow victories were not because of anything he did in the final period.
The Gamecocks beat Ole Miss 16-10 when the Rebels were No. 4 in the country, but South Carolina led 16-3 midway through the third quarter. In fact, the Rebels got close because South Carolina was three and out on its final four possessions.
Garcia almost qualified in a 28-26 victory over Kentucky. He threw three touchdowns and scored from the 1 with 8:22 to play, but his TD came with South Carolina in front 21-20.
Both Arkansas and South Carolina have prizes to pursue. A victory would put the Razorbacks in position to finish at least 7-5; conversely, the Gamecocks would be looking at 8-4 and a nice bowl game.
If either quarterback is in a deep hole in the fourth quarter, keep in mind what Peyton Manning once said: “I hear so many times about how many fourth quarter comebacks a guy has. What I want to know is how he got so behind in the first place.”
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
