http://www.hogwired.com/tablestory.asp?Home_ID=1&Story_ID=6100UA Sports Information- Sunday, September 12, 2004 ---
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Safety Phillip Geiggar recovered a fumble at the Texas eight with 2:42 remaining and then intercepted a pass with seven seconds to go as No. 7 UT held off Arkansas, 22-20, before a Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium record crowd of 75,671 late Saturday.
Trailing by two with 6:11 remaining, Arkansas drove to the Texas 13. On third-and-eight, UA quarterback Matt Jones scrambled to the seven, but Larry Dibble forced a fumble and Geiggar recovered at the eight.
The Razorbacks (1-1) gave up one first down, but forced the Longhorns to punt from the 33 with less than a minute to play.
On third-and-10, Jones, who was 13-of-27 passing for 249 yards with two interceptions, hit Marcus Monk for a 17-yard gain to the 43. After keeping for nine yards to the UT 48, Jones spiked the ball to stop the clock. With seven seconds left and under heavy pressure from behind, Jones’ last-second pass was intercepted by Geiggar at the 12.
Texas (2-0) snapped a three-game losing streak to Arkansas. The Razorbacks beat then-No. 5 Texas at Austin last year, 38-28.
"I give credit to Arkansas and how they played," UT head coach Mack Brown said. "It was a dog fight to the end. It was a question of how our young players would react to the crowd. A coach couldn't script it any better."
The script began with UT running back Cedric Benson. He ran for 188 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. Benson had 94 yards on nine carries in the first quarter. He also caught a 13-yard pass for another score.
“They had a great running back and a great offensive line,” UA defensive tackle Arrion Dixon, who had three tackles, said.
"Our guys played their guts out, but you can't fumble the ball against a good team," UA head coach Houston Nutt said. "We gave them too many gifts, but I'm really proud of them. They fought hard. I respect Texas. The thing that's so tough is that we could easily be singing our song right now."
In addition to the two interceptions, Arkansas fumbled three times and lost two.
“We felt like the two turnovers and the defense were the difference in the ball game,” Brown said.
Down 17-16, Texas moved in front 22-17 in the third quarter when Young spun away from two Arkansas defenders and found Benson in the right flat for a 13-yard touchdown. A 30-yard pass from Young to Tony Jeffery set up the score, but UA stopped Young on a two-point conversion attempt.
Texas had a chance to extend the lead, but Dusty Mangum's 41-yard field goal attempt was wide left. Arkansas took over on its 24 and drove 58 yards in nine plays, and closed within 22-20 with 9:58 remaining on Chris Balseiro's 35-yard field goal.
Big plays helped Texas take 9-0 and 16-7 first-quarter leads, but Arkansas made the big plays in the second period and led 17-16 at the half.
Trailing 16-7, Jones connected with Carlos Ousley on a 23-yard gain to the Texas 37. On the next play, Jones fired a lateral to Ousley in the left flank. Ousley rolled to his right and lofted a pass to DeCori Birmingham, who beat two UT defenders for the ball inside the five and got into the end zone for the score.
Following a Longhorn punt, Dedrick Poole took a swing pass from Jones for 50 yards to the Texas 10, setting up Balseiro's 27-yard field goal to give Arkansas the lead.
“Poole did a great job and made some things happen for us,” Nutt said. “We have a lot of good backs.”
Poole entered the game with 14 rushing yards for his career, but gained 31 yards on nine carries and had the one reception for 50 yards.
Arkansas gave Texas a break on the game's first possession when the snap from center on a punt sailed through the end zone for a safety.
Texas didn't need any help on its first two possessions. Young found David Thomas down the middle of the field for a 49-yard score and a 9-0 lead. On UT's next possession, Benson's 60-yard run set up his own three-yard touchdown.
Between Texas' scores, Arkansas got on the board when Peyton Hillis beat the defense to the left corner of the end zone on an eight-yard scoring run. Jones hit Chris Baker for a 46-yard gain to the 17 and followed with a keeper to the eight, setting up Hillis' score.
Young was 11-of-22 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns, and ran 14 times for 56 yards. Jeffery had four receptions for 39 yards.
Jones led the Razorbacks with 93 yards on 11 carries. Birmingham had 38 on 12 carries. Monk had three catches for 42 yards and Hillis three for 15.
Well... That game made me lose hope in humanity as asecond by second ticked away opn the last drive by the miracle worker Matt Jones who fell just short. We had the game. It was our game. Turnovers and bad calls killed us. The only thing you can say to make any person in Arkanssas forget about this sad day in Arkansas history is the simple fact this game had to hurt Texas's ranking.