By Scott Faldon
Times Record • sfaldon@swtimes.com
ARLINGTON, Texas — Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson loves the golf movie “Tin Cup.”
In fact, he’s adopted one of the movie’s quotes — “When a defining moment comes along, you define the moment or the moment defines you” — as one of his mottos.
Wilson certainly defined the moment Saturday at Cowboys Stadium as he threw for more than 500 yards in the 18th-ranked Razorbacks’ 42-38 comeback win against No. 14 Texas A&M.
Wilson finished with 510 yards on 30-of-51 passing with three touchdowns on Saturday.
Sarah Bentham • Special to the Arkansas News Bureau
The last time he topped 500 yards passing was in 2006 when he was a junior at Greenwood. That year, he posted 582 yards on 39-of-65 passing with six TDs in a 56-55 win against Pulaski Academy in the 5A state title game.
“This is a completely different story; you aren’t in Smalltown U.S.A. anymore,” Wilson said of playing in the billion-dollar stadium. “I actually didn’t (know), I knew I was throwing for quite a bit. But we were trying to win.”
Wilson shattered the previous school record for single-game passing yardage. The mark was set by Ryan Mallett with a 409-yard effort against Vanderbilt last season. Mallett and Wilson are the only Arkansas quarterbacks to throw for 400 yards or more in a single game.
Wilson wasn’t the only record-breaking Razorback on Saturday.
Receiver Jarius Wright broke the Arkansas single-game receiving yardage record as well with 281 yards. The old record was held by Mike Reppond, who posted 204 receiving yards against Rice in 1971. Wright’s 13 catches also tied the school’s single-game record.
“It’s good, I really can’t say too much else about it,” Wright said of breaking the record. “I’m happy about it, but I’m more happy about the win.”
Wilson said when he throws in Wright’s direction, he trusts the senior from Warren to always make the catch.
“I have always trusted Jarius. He’s a great route runner, he’s smart and football intelligent, finds passing lanes,” Wilson said. “I think we have a good chemistry. He found a way to get open and I found a way to get him to him. I’m glad we were on the same page.”
Arkansas needed every single yard posted by Wilson and Wright to beat the Aggies. In fact, the Razorbacks also needed a fumble recovery by Wright as well.
Early in the fourth quarter, Cobi Hamilton caught a Wilson pass and was inside the A&M 5 when he fumbled. The ball bounced into the end zone where Wright dove on it for a TD that cut the Aggies’ lead to 35-33.
“I was actually running over there to get a block for Cobi,” Wright said. “I saw the ball squirt out and I knew I just had to get it.”
Sarah Bentham • Special to the Arkansas News Bureau
Wilson followed Wright’s unconventional TD with a 2-point run that tied the game at 35. Wilson — who was sacked four times and knocked down 11 other times — scooted around the left side after faking a handoff to the right.
Most of Wright’s yards came on passes across the middle. He said the Razorbacks noticed A&M left that part of the field open quite a bit in a 30-29 loss to Oklahoma State last week. Aggies head coach Mike Sherman said the middle was left open because of defensive shortcomings by his team.
“There’s a number of reasons in the sense that we were bringing some pressure, and some of our pressure is designed to get there (to the quarterback),” Sherman said. “If you’re playing zone coverages and a two-safety coverage and you’re zone-dogging and zone-blitzing, there’s going to be some opportunities there (for the offense) if you don’t get home. And we didn’t get home on a couple of occasions.”
Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said the credit for slowing the blitz goes to the much-maligned offensive line.
“We communicated better upfront,” Petrino said. “We didn’t call as many protections … let’s keep it simple for the offensive line and see if Tyler and the receivers can make some plays.”
Few Razorbacks were making plays in the first half. The Aggies raced out to a 35-17 lead by the break. But Arkansas scored 25 points in the second half as Wilson completed 16-of-27 second-half passes for 239 yards and one touchdown.
“It’s playing one play at a time. It’s chipping away every time,” Wilson said. “I knew coming in before halftime we had success just spreading them out in an empty formation. I knew we’d be pretty successful in the second half if the defense got a couple of stops.”
