It’s game day: Arkansas at Missouri. Grab some Thanksgiving leftovers and turn the tv set on to CBS. The game starts at 1:30. Can the Hogs to continue the winning ways and beat the Tigers?
Jim Harris will be posting his thoughts throughout the game here, so check this page often. (Scroll down about halfway and you’ll see the posts from Jim.)
And this report from Fayetteville. Not only is the conference generated “rivalry,” this one also has a name, and not just a name – a sponsor of the name. FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –Arkansas will wear its all-Cardinal home uniforms for Friday’s Battle Line Rivalry presented by Shelter Insurance in Columbia, Mo. Missouri will also wear its black home jerseys. Friday marks the inaugural game of the Battle Line Rivalry and both teams have agreed to wear their respective home jerseys for the first two games of the series, including next year’s contest in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks are 2-0 this season when wearing the Cardinal helmet, Cardinal jersey and Cardinal pants combination. Arkansas wore all-Cardinal in shutout victories over No. 17 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss the past two weeks. The Battle Line Rivalry presented by Shelter Insurance will kick off at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28. The game between Arkansas and Missouri will be nationally televised on CBS.
Missouri 21, Arkansas 14, Final — So, that’s it. Check out the previous post on here for the pertinent or key stats that decided it. Here’s another: Arkansas converted none of 7 third downs in the second half after a 5 of 7 first half. Missouri was 9 of 19 on third downs. Missouri had five more minutes of possession and ran 83 plays to Arkansas’s 60. The UA defense could not sustain its play with that discrepancy.
See you in the bowl game, wherever that is.
I made the statement on the Hogzone before the game that it would be hard to image the team who had the most rushing yards wouldn’t come out the winner. And for the longest Missouri could rush at all. But in the end, the Tigers outrushed Arkansas 158 to 155 yards. Arkansas had just 122 total yards in the second half to Mizzou’s 301 yards.
Maty Mauk passed for 265 yards on 25 of 42 passes with one interception. Brandon Allen, who was 7 of 10 in the first half, was just 13 for 30 for the game for 133 yards and two touchdowns, no interceptions.
The turnovers ended up even at 2. Missouri got lucky recovering a muffed punt at its 15, as well as getting a favorable ruling on a play originally ruled a fumble on Maty Mauk inside the Tigers’ 20. The review changed it to an incompletion late in the half, and Missouri went on to kick a 50-yard field goal as the half ended to cut Arkansas’s largest lead of the game, 14-3, to 14-6. Arkansas couldn’t score again despite a couple of great opportunities in the third quarter with the edge in field position. Arkansas was not willing to take the 50-52 yard field goal on two occasions, either.
This game will end strangely. Nobody upstairs seemed to realize Alex Collins was bobbling the ball as he was hitting the ground at the Missouri 34-yard line, as Arkansas was desperately trying to tie the game back up. I believe this is irony, as all the experts on Twitter was wondering why Arkansas wasn’t running the football on this drive with still more than two minutes left. So, on the first run the Hogs attempt, Collins loses it. Frankly, he was outfought for it, asAlex Collins rush for 3 yards to the MU34, fumble forced by Kentrell Brothers knocked the ball loose and Markus Golden recovered at the Tigers’ 35. It took several minutes before a replay nobody was expecting up here revealed conclusively (apparently) that Collins had not regained possession in the fight for the ball.
Missouri then ran out the clock and the students and fans from the east sidelines have flooded the field.
Missouri, whose entrance into the SEC was pooh-poohed as almost a “why, they don’t play football” has now won the SEC East, as down as it may be, twice in a row. Texas A&M, for all Johnny Football managed to do the past two years, didn’t win a title and fell on harder times this season, with only the comeback win over Arkansas in overtime keeping the Aggies out of the cellar.
Fittingly, the stadium PA is playing one of the greatest songs of all time: Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind.”
Looks like Arkansas is finishing the season the way it started, faltering in the second half after a solid first half. Arkansas’ defense has been on the field too long today, especially in the second half, as the offense has done nothing of note. A few first downs on the initial snap or two of a series, but then nothing. Even with great field position, the Hogs couldn’t do anything.
Marcus Murphy spins out of several futile tackle attempts for a 12-yard scoring run at the end of a 12-play driving, all on the ground, all with the zone read with Missouri able to stay on blocks and Arkansas out of gas and unable to close space.
Back to back drives of 98 and 85 yard drives for the Tigers. With 4:38 left and Arkansas simply not in it offensively, I’d say it’s about time to turn out the lights.
Brandon Allen couldn’t hit the proverbial barn here in the second half. Either his painkiller before the game wore off or he took something to kill the hip pain in the second, but Allen is wildly overthrowing all his receivers here in the second half after a 7 of 10 first half.
Arkansas, after yet again another initial first down to start a series, can’t move it and puts it away. Missouri takes over against a tiring Arkansas defense at its 16.
Arkansas hasn’t had a drive of longer than 5 plays in the second half.
