FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas proved Saturday it belongs in the upper echelon of college football.
Alabama showed why it is the defending national champion and a favorite to win it all again.
The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide played from behind all game, but intercepted two Ryan Mallett passes in the fourth quarter to pull ahead and hold on for a 24-20 victory against the No. 10 Razorbacks before a school-record crowd of 76,808 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas (3-1, 1-1 SEC), which tied Alabama 421-421 in total yardage, had a 20-7 lead late in the third quarter, but couldn’t close it out. The Razorbacks dropped their fourth game in a row to Alabama and missed out on a prime opportunity to enter the national championship dialogue.
“We just couldn’t find a way to win it in the fourth quarter, and we certainly had our chances,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “It’s going to take us a little while to get over it.”
Alabama (4-0, 1-0) won its 19th consecutive SEC opener, its 18th game in a row and its 28th consecutive regular season contest. The Crimson Tide dodged Arkansas’ game upset bid by asserting control with its ground game - almost doubling the Hogs in time of possession in the second half - and rallying from a 13-point deficit by scoring the final 17 points in the last 15:44.
“The good news is great competitors respond, and the better the fighter, the better they fight,” said Alabama Coach Nick Saban, who improved to 7-2 against Arkansas, 4-0 during his stint with the Crimson Tide.
“We should have finished that game out and had a win right now,” said Mallett, who completed 25 of 38 passes for 357 yards and 1 touchdown, but suffered the first three-interception game of his career.
“We had them right where we wanted them,” Arkansas defensive end Jake Bequette said. “We had them down going into the fourth quarter and just didn’t get it done.”
Said Alabama receiver Julio Jones, “It’s a 60-minute game. Ain’t no 30-minute game.”
Mark Ingram, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, rushed for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns on 24 carries to power an Alabama run game that accounted for 227 yards.
Alabama outgained the Razorbacks 94-48 in the fourth quarter and converted one key third down after another on a critical fourth-quarter scoring drive.
“I think they couldn’t stop us when they needed to stop us, and we got them stopped when we had to get them stopped,” Saban said.
“We had a chance to beat the national championship football team today, and we didn’t,” Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “But we played well enough that we could have. My hats off to them. That’s why they are what they are.”
Arkansas scored on the second play of the game on tailback Ronnie Wingo’s 43-yard catch and run from Mallett and kept its massive crowd, which included fans gathered on the knoll outside the northeast corner of the stadium, energized throughout.
Ingram hit a crease on an Arkansas run blitz and scored on a 54-yard run at 6:21 in the first quarter to tie it 7-7. It would be Alabama’s only points in the first 44 minutes.
Arkansas built its margin on Zach Hocker’s 31-yard field goal late in the first quarter and a 1-yard Mallett sneak to end a two-minute drill in the second quarter for a 17-7 Razorbacks lead at halftime.
Arkansas intercepted Greg McElroy twice in the opening half, an end zone interception by reserve safety Andru Stewart and safety Rudell Crim’s interception that set up the two-minute drive.
The Razorbacks took their first possession of the second half 53 yards and burned off 6:32 to move ahead 20-7 on Hocker’s 48-yard field goal.
When Alabama responded with a touchdown drive, ending on Greg McElroy’s 20-yard scoring pass to tailback Trent Richardson on a quick screen with 44 seconds left in the third, the stage was set for a dramatic finish.
Arkansas’ momentum carried through until the third play of the fourth quarter, when it appeared Alabama cornerback DeQuan Menzie bumped Joe Adams before a Mallett pass arrived on third and-7 from the Crimson Tide 39.
After that point, Arkansas had the ball for just 2:51, and both of its possessions ended on interceptions.
Conversely, Alabama was finding its feet. The Crimson Tide reeled off a drive that consumed 8:15 and pulled within 20-17 on Jeremy Shelley’s 36-yard field goal.
A holding penalty pushed Arkansas back to its 10 on the next series, which turned the game Alabama’s way when Mallett threw high and was intercepted by Robert Lester, who returned it 33 yards to the Arkansas 12.
Ingram ran three consecutive plays from the Wildcat formation, scoring from 1 yard out to put Alabama ahead 24-20 at the 3:18 mark.
Arkansas moved into Alabama territory in its dangerous two-minute offense. But facing pressure on second and-9, Mallett’s attempt to throw a ball out of bounds didn’t make it there and Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick intercepted it on the sideline.
Three Ingram runs from the Wildcat netted 9 yards, and after an attempt to draw Arkansas offside and two timeouts, McElroy converted a quarterback sneak to finish off the game.
Mallett tore up the inexperienced Crimson Tide secondary through three quarters for 21 of 28 passing for 313 yards and 1 touchdown. One of his few mistakes during that span was a decision to throw into the end zone on third and goal from the Alabama 6 with Arkansas ahead 10-7 early in the second quarter. Lester picked off that pass.
“The best thing they do is when you rush four guys and try to cover with seven, I mean the guy will eat you alive,” Saban said of Mallett. “You’ve got to try to mess with him, get him out of rhythm, get some pressure on him.”
The Crimson Tide indeed brought more blitz pressure as the second half wore on and forced Mallett into mistakes.
After bouncing back from a difficult fourth quarter to snag a victory away at Georgia last week, the Razorbacks couldn’t recover against the more physical Tide in the fourth quarter.
“We couldn’t kill any time off the clock on offense and on defense we couldn’t stop them in the running game when it mattered,” Bequette said.
“I think that mentally they were tougher than we were in the fourth quarter,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said.
Sports, Pages 23 on 09/26/2010