FAYETTEVILLE — Heisman winners bad sign
Alabama’s 24-20 victory over Arkansas on Saturday dropped the Razorbacks to 0-5 all-time against a team featuring a player who won the Heisman Trophy the previous year.
Crimson Tide junior tailback Mark Ingram, the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner, rushed 24 times for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday.
Arkansas was 0-2 against Florida and quarterback Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, the previous two seasons, losing 38-7 in 2008 and 23-20 in 2009.
In 1949, SMU’s Doak Walker - the 1948 Heisman Trophy winner - led the Mustangs to a 34-6 victory at Dallas. In 2005, Southern California beat the Razorbacks 70-17 in Los Angeles with Matt Leinart at quarterback after winning the Heisman Trophy in 2004. Wright stuff
Arkansas junior receiver Jarius Wright, who last week at Georgia had his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch ended at 20, came back in a big way against Alabama.
Wright had six catches for 131 yards, becoming the third Razorback with at least 100 receiving yards in a game this season, joining Joe Adams and Greg Childs.
Big comeback
Alabama’s rally from a 13-point deficit against the Razorbacks (20-7 in the third quarter) marked the second largest in Nick Saban’s four seasons as the Tide’s coach.
The largest was 14 points, when Alabama won 26-21 at Auburn last season after trailing 14-0 in the first quarter.
Good vs. good
Alabama improved to 11-2 against teams ranked The Associated Press Top 25 the past three seasons with its victory over the No. 10 Razorbacks.
Record crowd
Saturday’s announced crowd of 76,808 set an Arkansas record for largest home attendance. The previous high was 76,728 against Tennessee on Nov. 11, 2006, when the Razorbacks beat the Volunteers 31-14.
There’s Dennis
Arkansas tailback and kick returner Dennis Johnson watched Saturday’s game from the sideline two weeks after undergoing surgery for a bowel injury.
Still no Stadther
Arkansas defensive tackle Zach Stadther missed his fourth consecutive game for undisclosed reasons. He’s continuing to practice with the team.
Childs OK
Greg Childs lay on the field after extending for a catch in the second quarter, and it appeared he might be seriously injured.
But Childs was able to come back and play and finished with three catches for 44 yards.
McElroy perfect
Alabama senior quarterback Greg McElroy is 34-0 as a starter in high school and college, including 18-0 with the Tide. His last loss as a starting quarterback came in the eighth grade.
Big leg
Arkansas freshman Zack Hocker kicked a 48-yard field goal for the second consecutive game and is 4 of 4 on the season.
Four in a row
Alabama beat Arkansas for the fourth consecutive time and fifth time in the past six meetings, counting the final score on the field.
Including two Alabama victories vacated by the NCAA and one forfeit, the Tide lead the series 11-8.
Alabama is 4-4 at Fayetteville and 2-2 at Little Rock.
Lots of interest
Arkansas’ sports information office issued more than 300 credentials for Saturday’s game.
The media outlets included Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, CBS Sports, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, AOL.com, The New York Times, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star and Dallas Morning News.
There also were representatives of the Cotton Bowl and Capital One Bowl, the Heisman Trophy, Davey O’Brien Award and Thorpe Award and the National Football Foundation.
CBS College Sports Network hosted its national pregame show from the Arkansas campus, and the Goodyear Blimp provided aerial coverage of the game.
Big shots
Celebrities from the world of politics, sports and entertainment attending the game included Bill Clinton, Jerry Jones and John Daly and Kris Allen.
Snout entry
Instead of running on the field through the mouth of the giant inflatable Razorbacks’ head, Arkansas’ players ran through a snout attached to the Broyles Center.
Sports, Pages 32 on 09/26/2010