C’mon coach, just kick the dang field goal!
In his first shot at Razorback redemption since falling off of his Hawg on Hwy. 16W over 12 years ago, Bobby “Mr. Football” Petrino laid a big, fat egg in Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon in his re-debut as Arkansas Head Coach, losing to the Tennessee Volunteers and frumpy-looking Josh Heupel, 34-31. A victory would have paved the way for MF regaining the HC job he so desires, but another hard-fought loss did nada for his future in Fayettenam.
Miraculously, MF, sporting sunglasses to hide fading colors laid down by former DC Travis Williams, managed to rally the troops and present a unified and focused front that nearly pulled off the upset. For it was only a fortnight ago that AD Hunter Yurachek canned Sam Pittman and promoted MF to interim HC. Yet instead of getting the morale-boosting dub, the Won brothers, or Patron Saints of Arkansas Razorback Football – Woulda, Coulda and Shoulda – ruled, rued and ruined the day enroute to yet another grueling, one-possession loss.
Oddly enough, regardless of who is calling the shots, this game was almost a carbon copy of the Ole Miss and Memphis contests in effort and outcome. Proving once again, that the Curse of JFB is still alive and well up on the Hill. It all reminds me of a most-confusing Bob Dylan tune, “Señor, señor, do you know where we’re headin’? Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?”
Despite playing, perhaps, their finest 45 minutes of football this season and winning the majority of statistics (aside from turnovers, of course), the Hogs simply failed to outscore the Volunteers in the third quarter and suffered their fourth-straight defeat. Tennessee, meanwhile, snapped a four-game losing streak to the Razorbacks and hope to ride Uncle Mo into their match up next week against the high-flying Crimson Tide.
The first half saw our beloved Razorbacks battle toe-to-toe with the 12th-ranked Vols and head to the locker room with their heads held high and the score knotted at 17 points. But as has been the case all year, the third quarter dealt another shutout to the Razorback offense, and the 10 points Tennessee tacked on were more than enough to seal the dub for the Vols.
Yet with sixish minutes remaining in that fateful, third quarter, trailing 20-17 and facing a fourth down and three yards to go, instead of calling on kicker Scott Starzyk to boot the 43-yard FG and tie the score, MF, after burning an unnecessary timeout, elected to go for it, and the rest is history.
So, as much as I hate to admit it, this loss is on MF, plain and simple.
Graciously, the Razorbacks face home games against Texas A&M, Auburn and Ms. St. the next three weeks to right the ship, but it’s gonna take a miracle.
Meanwhile, I hear that Dan Mullen is #1 on the list of potential replacement HCs.
Alas, basketball season will be here before you know it.
WooPig!!