The college football season is quickly approaching. Only 60 days are left until Arkansas takes the field at War Memorial Stadium to face UAPB. The number 60 just so happens to be the number of yards of the best punt return in college football history. So, let’s take a look back at Arkansas’s game against Tennessee in 2011.
Thirteen years ago, Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks were humming like a finely tuned engine going into Arkansas’s game against Tennessee. Before then, Arkansas had a single blemish, albeit a big one, against Alabama, losing 38-14 to the No. 3 team in the nation. However, Arkansas had won by double digits in five of their eight wins to that point in the season.
Nevertheless, the time for the No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks to face the unranked Tennessee Volunteers arrived. The Hogs were trying to make their first BCS Nation Championship game, but they needed to win out to stand a chance, and the Vols were just an obstacle in their way.
Tennessee’s opening series ended within field goal range, but instead of taking the points, it went for a fake and failed. Arkansas took over on its 25-yard line and drove the field on 13 plays for a Jairus Wright touchdown.
The teams traded possessions a few times in the first quarter before the Vols had to punt with 40 seconds left. Joe Adams received the punt on Arkansas’s 40-yard line and quickly found himself in trouble. Backtracking, he became surrounded by Volunteers, but as play-by-play announcer Mark Jones states in ESPN’s broadcast, “Houdini was in the house.”
Adams broke six tackles, including two by the same Tennessee player, then tip-toed down the sideline before breaking off and outrunning the Volunteer defense.
Tennessee would only score once with a reverse in the second quarter, but the Razorbacks would score five more touchdowns before the night ended, giving Arkansas its sixth double-digit victory.
Arkansas went on to beat Mississippi State (again by double-digits) and moved up to No. 3 in the BCS rankings. The Hogs’ final game of the regular season — and their chance to make the national championship — was against the No. 1 LSU Tigers. Unfortunately, the Hogs fell 41-17 and settled for a Cotton Bowl bid, beating Kansas State 29-16.
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Publish date : 2024-06-30 13:22:45
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