STARKVILLE, Miss. — Arkansas had a chance to wrap its arms around another road victory a couple of times late Saturday.
But the Razorbacks let a 10-point fourth-quarter lead get away, missed a field goal in the first overtime and couldn’t secure their double-overtime thriller until defensive end Tenarius Wright wrapped up Mississippi State quarterback Chris Relf on fourth down in the second overtime.
No. 13 Arkansas survived the slugfest 38-31 before a crowd of 56,406, the fourth largest in Davis Wade Stadium history.
Arkansas (9-2, 5-2) posted its first nine-victory season since 2006 and won its 11th game in the last 13 outings against No. 21 Mississippi State (7-4, 3-4).
“This was hard,” Petrino said. “We had to work extremely hard to get the win.”
Arkansas tailback Knile Davis rushed for a careerhigh 187 yards on 30 carries and scored 3 touchdowns, but he had to come through late in the game to overcome two critical fumbles. Davis caught a 7-yard pass from Ryan Mallett with Mississippi State in full blitz mode to score on second down on Arkansas’ second overtime possession.
The Bulldogs managed one first down in the second overtime, but were forced into a fourth-and-7 attempt after linebacker Terrell Williams had a tackle for loss and Relf threw incomplete. Wright blew past an offensive tackle and collapsed Relf, who feebly threw the ball to the turf as he took a nose dive.
The errant pass sent the jubilant Razorbacks onto the field to celebrate their third victory in four SEC road games. Arkansas also improved to 9-2 all-time in overtime games and 2-1 under Petrino.
Arkansas had a chance to win in the first overtime. Linebacker Jerico Nelson knocked the ball away from Vick Ballard as the Mississippi State tailback reached out for the end zone, and the loose ball went through the end zone for a touchback.
Petrino played it safe from there with three Davis runs up the middle, but Zach Hocker, who had made 12 of 13 field goal attempts up to that point, pulled his 39-yard try wide left to keep the drama going.
“Yeah, I was shocked,” Petrino said. “I have a lot of confidence in him. He’s a very, very good kicker. He’s done a great job for us all year.”
The SEC West rivals played a knockdown affair at Mississippi State’s slow-as-molasses tempo. The Bulldogs owned time of possession 37:24 to 22:36, managed to get off 100 snaps and piled up 486 total yards. Arkansas had 488 total yards and posted the highest point total on Mississippi State’s No. 16-ranked scoring defense this season.
Ryan Mallett overcame a shaky first half to complete 17 of 26 passes for 305 yards and 3 touchdowns. Mallett’s 89-yard touchdown completion to Jarius Wright down the middle of the field gave Arkansas a 24-21 lead late in the third quarter.
Ballard rushed for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns on 33 carries for the Bulldogs, whose option attack helped set up a nice play-action performance from Relf, a sturdy right-hander not known as a top-level passer. But Reif had big moments against a depleted Arkansas secondary and went 20 for 30 for 224 yards. Relf also rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Arkansas led by 10 on Davis’ 1-yard run with 10:06 remaining. The score was set up by Joe Adams’ 22-yard catch and run with a screen on which he almost scored.
But the Bulldogs, buoyed by a surge of emotion in their first home game since defensive end Nick Bell died of cancer two weeks ago, would not give up.
Relf led a 75-yard drive that took up 5:42, and the Bulldogs scored on Ballard’s 4-yard run, his third touchdown.
Arkansas managed one first down and forced Mississippi State to use all of its timeouts on its next series. But on a third-and-8 near midfield, Davis lost his second fumble of the night and defensive lineman Fletcher Cox recovered.
The Bulldogs quickly moved into scoring range, and it appeared they had the momentum to get into the end zone after back-to-back plays of 15 yards and 11 yards.
Arkansas called timeout to rest its defense, and the move paid off for the Hogs defenders, who had forced two Mississippi State red zone turnovers on the night. Terrell Williams and Tenarius Wright had back-to-back big stops and Arkansas forced a 25-yard Derek DePasquale field goal on the final play of regulation for the 31-31 tie.
“We turned the ball over twice in the red zone, and that’s coaching,” Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen said. “You can’t do that and win championship-level football games.
The Bulldogs struck early with an 86-yard drive on their first possession. Relf had completions of 17 yards to Chris Smith and 29 yards to tight end Brandon Henderson on the series. Relf took it in himself on a delay up the middle, spinning free from Tramain Thomas on the 23-yard touchdown run.
Arkansas hit back immediately. On the second snap of their ensuing possession, Knile Davis steamed through a seam on the left side and sprinted 62 yards for the tying touchdown.
Tight end D.J. Williams, named a Mackey Award semifinalist last week, sparked a go-ahead touchdown drive for the Hogs late in the opening period. Williams caught a 5-yard pass on fourth-and-1 to keep the drive alive, and on the next snap he caught a screen and followed downfield blocks from Jarius Wright and Knile Davis to score on a weaving 25-yard catch.
Mullen, whose team went 4 of 4 on fourth-down conversions until the final play of the night, called a fake punt on fourth-and-2 and it paid off when Heath Hutchins ran for 3 yards. That calculated gamble set up a 15-play drive that ended on Ballard’s 1-yard touchdown run.
Sports, Pages 25 on 11/21/2010