By Harry King
MEMPHIS — East Carolina coach Skip Holtz might never make sense of his Pirates loss to Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl.
His Pirates outplayed the Razorbacks down after down. Even Dr. Lou — the ESPN analyst and the coach’s dad — would have trouble perusing the numbers and correctly identifying the winner.
Thirteen times, Arkansas had third-and-something. Thirteen times, the Razorbacks failed to make a first down — quite possibly a record for a winning team.
East Carolina ran for 176 yards, 99 more than the Razorbacks, and held the ball almost 38 minutes.
“This hurts, this hurts bad,” Holtz said.
Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said he wasn’t sure who outplayed whom, but he was certain which team had won.
The Razorbacks’ offense was so inept that there was no name to put on the ballot as Arkansas Outstanding Offensive Player. Safety Tramain Thomas came to mind. Starting because Matt Harris was suspended for a curfew violation, he got the Razorbacks even at 10 when he returned a pass interception 37 yards. Prior to that, the offensive leader was linebacker Jerry Franklin, who moved to the middle to stand in for suspended Wendel Davis, and intercepted a pass that led to Arkansas’ first score.
After Alex Tejada kicked the game-winning field goal from 37 yards, snapper Rhett Richardson and holder Austin Tucker were tongue-in-cheek candidates for the offensive award.
The media settled on Jarius Wright, who caught four passes, including one for 41 yards and a TD. That completion was made possible when defensive back Van Eskridge fell at the Pirates’ 5 while backing up to get under Ryan Mallett’s fly ball.
Considering that Mallett missed on 21 of his 36 passes, it is surprising that he was named the game’s MVP. East Carolina’s Dominique Lindsay was much more deserving, gaining 151 yards on 33 attempts.
Lindsay’s missed all of 2008 with a knee injury and was only an honorable mention all-conference pick in Conference USA. Not to be confused with the best in the Southeastern Conference, he did well partly because the Pirates’ offensive line was often successful against Arkansas’ front — an indication that the Razorbacks sorely missed defensive tackle D.D. Jones, out with an ankle sprain.
Those of us who thought Arkansas would win by a touchdown or more must plead guilty to putting great stock in the supposed superiority of the SEC and pooh-poohing Conference USA.
Appropriate punishment would have been banishment to the outdoor seating since the wind chill was 23 at kickoff.
East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney and kicker Ben Hartman helped the Razorbacks immensely. Pinkney was 5-of-5 for 73 yards on a 99-yard TD drive, but the sixth-year player looked like a sixth grader on the two interceptions. Franklin’s pick was the first off Pinkney after 148 throws.
Hartman missed 39-yard field goals left and then right in the final 1:03 and stayed in step by missing left from 35 yards in overtime.
Tejada knew his kick was good immediately, turning and running towards the other end of the field. Most of the Razorbacks poured off the sidelines and pursued him, catching up with the much-maligned kicker as he reached the end zone.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
