FORT WORTH, Texas -- Arkansas offensive tackle Dan Skipper blocked another field-goal attempt Saturday night, but this was by far his biggest one.
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Skipper, a 6-10 senior, used his long reach for a sixth career blocked field goal to help the Razorbacks beat No. 15 TCU 41-38 in double overtime at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
TCU looked ready to break a 28-28 tie with 10 seconds left in regulation with Ryan Graf lining up for a 28-yard field goal attempt.
Then Skipper got way up to block the kick with his left hand and give Arkansas new life in overtime.
"The one thing I knew when we recruited Dan is, he's 6-10 and he's got long arms to match," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. "I mean, 6-10 is 6-10 and he's got the wingspan of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."
Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen had the winning score on a 5-yard touchdown run on the game's final snap and had a 19-yard pass to Jeremy Sprinkle in the first overtime to tie it 35-35, but he never would have gotten the chance to make those plays if not for Skipper's block.
"It was almost like I knew he was going to block the field goal," Allen said. "I've seen him do it for four years now and whenever we put the diesel unit in, it always feels like we have a really good shot at blocking that field goal."
Skipper's other five blocked field-goal attempts came against Toledo last season, Missouri in 2014 and Rutgers, Florida and Mississippi State in 2013.
Arkansas lost of all of those games.
"It's awesome to finally get a block and we win, because that's one of those things that goes through your head, with them all being in losses," Skipper said. "That's something we'd joked about when I was back at home with my family.
"It's great the tables finally turned for us and we got in position to win and were able to take advantage of it and come back with a big team victory."
Skipper said the field-goal block team "lined up the direction where we thought the kick should go" and he credited defensive linemen Austin Capps and Deatrich Wise with getting pressure inside.
"Austin and Deatrich did a great job pushing their guys out of the way," Skipper said. "We were fortunate enough that everything worked out and I got a hand up.
"I got it with my full left hand."
Arkansas tailback Rawleigh Williams, who rushed 28 times for 137 yards, said the Razorbacks sensed Skipper would send the game into overtime.
"You could see in Skip's eyes before that kick he was going to get the job done," Williams said. "We had no doubt in our minds he was going to do it.
"He did his thing and we won the game."
Skipper's block gave Arkansas back the momentum after TCU seemingly had stolen it rallying from a 20-7 deficit in the fourth quarter.
"It was just huge relief when Dan got that block," said Arkansas senior linebacker Brooks Ellis, who had a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown and 13 tackles. "He just did a great job on that one getting his hands up and getting a really good piece of it.
"I love that he we've got the tallest guy on the field on our team."
Skipper said he didn't surprise himself on the block.
"I try to go in with the mindset that I'm going to block all of them," he said. "So I was expecting to block that one.
"It just came at an opportune moment."
Bielema said he envisioned Skipper being able to block field goals when he was being recurited.
"From the time we saw him, I said, 'Once you get O-line down, I'm going use you as a block specialist on field goals,' " Bielema said. "Tonight it was a really, really good effort individually by Dan and good execution by everybody."
Sports on 09/11/2016